Lawrence County Missouri Rear Impact Car Accident Injures Three
A Missouri rear impact car accident moderately injured three Missourians. The Missouri car accident occurred on April 15, 2011 at 3:40pm in Lawrence County, Missouri.
20 year old Sherry C. Marks of Aurora, Missouri was stopped in traffic in a 2002 Dodge Stratus. Then, a 2004 F150 slammed into the rear end of the Dodge, causing a Missouri rear end collision. The F150 was driven by Clayton P. Sumners of Aurora, Missouri.
Marks was moderately injured in the accident. Her two occupants – Cory K. Haumann and Gregory T. Owens – were also moderately injured. The injured parties went to St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Missouri for medical treatment. The Highway Patrol did not report any injuries for Sumner, the 16 year old driver of the F150.
Missouri distracted driving is a serious problem affecting local teens. The Missouri State Highway Patrol says that distracted driving is the number one contributing circumstance of Missouri car crashes. According to the National Teen Driver Survey, 90% of teens say they have seen passengers distracting a driver or drivers using cell phones while operating a vehicle. While distracted driving affects all age groups, Missouri has adapted laws to specifically address distracted driving in teens.
Missouri statute §304.820 prohibits drivers 21 years of age or younger from sending an electronic message on a hand-held device while operating a vehicle. The statute specifically bans text messaging while driving. However, the law is written broadly enough to also ban emails, facebook messages, and miscellaneous app messages. The Missouri statute aims to decrease the Missouri distracted driving caused by electronic hand-held messaging.
Changes to Missouri’s graduated driver’s license aim to decrease the Missouri distracted driving caused by passenger distractions. Young drivers can only have a limited number of occupants while they operate a vehicle. Drivers 16 years of age may only have one non-family member under the age of 19 as an occupant for the first six months of a having a driver’s license. Fewer passengers mean fewer passenger distractions for the young driver.
If a Missouri distracted driver injures you or a loved one in a Missouri rear end collision, contact a knowledgeable Missouri car accident attorney today. Every accident victim deserves a Missouri car accident lawyer who knows how distracted driving laws affect your compensation.
