There's a movement going on in Baton Rouge to try and reduce the number of accidents and traffic related fatalities involving teenagers. A large portion of teenagers do end up in the emergency room specifically due to motor vehicle accidents.

Though many of the teenagers killed in accidents was due to the fact that they were not wearing seatbelts, distracted driving is key in the number of crashes involving these young individuals. In East Ascension Health Education, educators are trying to get the message out concerning the dangers of distracted driving by playing a number of games designed to emulate reality.

There are statutes that prohibit distracted driving, demand adherence to traffic signs or signals, and require extra caution when one approaches an intersection. That these statutes seem uncomplicated and straight forward is belied by the fact that such accidents increasingly occur. Unfortunately, such statutes are most frequently ignored by that very group of drivers that many such laws are aimed - teenagers.

There are attorneys that can make sense of the rules and regulations on the road, and these same individuals specialize in investigating such accidents as the one that happened here. Law firms often have access to individuals and resources to make determinations as to how fast vehicles were traveling at the time of a collision, and such attorneys will usually have a good idea as to how such an accident occurred.

Whatever criminal penalties the individual that caused this accident, it will do nothing to help the family out that has suffered an indescribable loss due to distracted driving. Teenagers are not only putting themselves at risk when they are guilty of distracted driving: judging by the number of teenagers that die on the roads, these teenage drivers are also guilty of putting everyone else at risk including their friends.

Source: WAFB, "Sudden Impact: Crashes aren't accidents," by Phil Rainier, Feb. 2, 2012