Texting Driver Causes Head-On Collision

Attorney Brendan Flaherty represented the client in the case detailed below. Brendan and our other attorneys have won millions for accident victims.

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In the fall of 2009, 20-year-old J.R. Trembly was driving home from college to Sioux City, Iowa when an oncoming vehicle suddenly swerved out of its lane and collided head-on with Trembly’s Volkswagen Passat. He found himself trapped amid shattered glass and acrid airbag fumes. His dog lay dying nearby.

Paramedics arrived and immediately transported him to a nearby hospital. The high-speed collision shattered Trembly’s pelvis so severely that local doctors ordered him airlifted to Hennepin County Medical Center for a complex emergency surgery on his pelvis, surgical repair of a cracked knee cap and treatment of his other injuries.

Texing While Driving Given the extreme wreckage and inexplicable loss of control, police at the scene immediately suspected that the other driver had been intoxicated. Upon investigating, police found only that the other driver had been texting.

“I can tell you firsthand that there is nothing more dangerous on the road than a driver who is texting,” Trembly said. “I don’t see much difference between texting while driving and drinking while driving. They both can be deadly and both should be stopped.”

He’s not the first to draw that comparison. In July 2009 The New York Times published previously unreleased documents from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that suggest using a cell phone while driving is on par with driving drunk. A June 2009 report by Car and Driver magazine tested the theory and found that drivers’ reaction times were much worse while texting than while driving under the influence.

The dangers of texting while driving have been a point of discussion amongst lawmakers and consumer advocacy groups as well. The Department of Transportation held a Distracted Driving Summit in September 2009, after which President Obama banned federal employees from texting while driving. The Transportation Department also plans to ban texting for bus and truck drivers who cross state lines and the National Safety Council has called for a nationwide ban on cell phone use while driving.

“Every year we represent more and more people injured by drivers who are texting,” said attorney Brendan Flaherty, who represents Trembly. He’s been advocating a ban on texting while driving and stiffer penalties for people who cause accidents while texting. “Policy makers need to catch up to what is clearly a growing public safety problem,” he said.

Brendan Flaherty and our other attorneys represent accident victims throughout Minnesota: Twin Cities, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester, Duluth, Moorhead, Mankato, Brainerd, Bloomington, Eagan, Eden Prarie, Apple Valley, Maple Grove, Edina, Plymouth, Minnetonka, Stillwater, Thief River Falls, Bemidji, Grand Rapids, Austin, Worthington, Woodbury, Maplewood, Golden Valley, Shoreview, Blaine, Anoka, South St. Paul, White Bear Lake, Roseville, St. Cloud, Arden Hills, Brooklyn Park, Forest Lake.

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