Blame my Blackberry for car accident

Few months ago, a random car accident took place in Illinois, USA. Quite trivial on first glance – an unfortunate 70-year-old woman driving a small car was hit by a van; nothing special really. The story though, unfolded by US media, revealed the inevitable consequence of a recent frenzy in blackberry usage.

The driver, an electric company employee, consulted his blackberry device in order to navigate himself, as he was completely lost. Regrettably for him and the poor old woman, he didn’t care to pull over in order to plot his route efficiently, resulting into him running through a red light, in broad day light on a clear day and ramming the lady’s vehicle. The victim underwent five surgeries as a result of the crash, 2 of which on her neck. The case was settled with a staggering $4.1 million compensation, covered by his company’s insurance.

On this side of the ocean, a similar in stupidity accident took place in cosmopolitan Mayfair, London a few weeks ago. A 43-year-old male was driving a black Jaguar on Piccadilly heading west, fiddling with his BlackBerry and completely ignorant to believe traffic ahead on Piccadilly might come to a stop. What followed could have gone horribly wrong. He crashed in the rear of a van, causing an accident involving 3 cars with the later ending the “crash race” smashing into bus route 8 carrying 12 passengers. There were no serious injuries reported in this incident, nevertheless the accident led the London traffic authorities to conduct a study and consider intensifying penalties for lawbreakers.

Posted in: