San Francisco-Oakland Injury Attorney Comments on Driver Inattention

According sfexaminer.com, Presidio Boulevard was closed Tuesday afternoon after an SUV struck and severely injured a pedestrian. The elderly driver says he wasn’t paying attention when he struck a woman in the crosswalk at the intersection of Park Presidio and Anza Street around 2:30pm. Officer Eric Chiang said that a 92-year-old driver in an SUV was attempting to make a left turn from Anza boulevard to Park Presidio to head south when he struck the pedestrian. The injured woman is estimated to be in her 50s, and her injuries are life-threatening.
A report put out by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) underlines the fact that many collisions occur, like in the case above, due to driver inattention, meaning the driver looked away from the forward roadway. Driver inattention is broadly defined as any point in time that a driver engages in a secondary task, exhibits symptoms of moderate to severe drowsiness, or looks away from the forward roadway. The categories of driver inattention are operationally defined as follows:
Secondary task distraction-driver behavior that diverts the driver’s attention away from the driving task. This may include talking/listening to hand-held device, eating, talking to a passenger, etc.
Driving–related inattention to the forward roadway-driver behavior that is directly related to the driving task but diverts driver’s attention away from the forward field of view. This includes reductionist observing drivers checking the speedometer, checking blind spots, observing adjacent traffic prior to or during a lane change looking for a parking spot, and checking mirrors.
Drowsiness-driver behavior that includes eye closures, minimal body/eye movements, and repeated yawning.
Non-specific eyeglance away from the forward roadway-driver behavior that includes a moment when the driver glances, usually momentarily, away from the roadway, but at no discernable object, person, or unknown location.
Here at the Brod Law Firm we have over 10 years experience helping people who were injured due to driver inattention. If you or a loved one suffered an injury due to driver inattention or have questions regarding a potential claim, please contact our firm.