Skip to main content

Woman texting while driving crashes, ends up in a lake

nhtsa proposes in car smartphone guidelines texting while driving

Detailed by ABC affiliate WJLA, a 25-year-old Maryland woman was immersed in text messages on her smartphone when she crashed into a tree on Tuesday afternoon. Bouncing off the tree and sliding approximately 60 feet, her Hyundai was sent flying into a nearby lake and started to fill with water. However, the driver managed to stop texting, climb out the driver’s side door and safely escape the sinking vehicle. When emergency workers arrived, she had no visible signs of injury, but was transported to a nearby hospital.

white-Hyundai-lakeWhen questioned by officers about the accident, she told police that she was in the middle of texting when the vehicle veered off the road. The crash is currently under investigation by the local police department and charges are pending.

Related Videos

According to a study conducted by a research team at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, texting while driving increases the risk of a crash by 23 times when compared to driving while not distracted. Also, America recently came in at the top of a list of countries that are most likely to have drivers that use cell phones while behind the wheel.

Of course, this isn’t the first time someone has gotten into a driving or walking accident when obsessed with texting. Last year, a 21-year-old man drove off a bridge while sending the text “I need to quit texting because I could die in a car accident and then how would you feel…” Earlier this year, a woman in England was filmed walking into a canal while typing out a text message on her phone. 

Interestingly, a New Jersey appeals court recently ruled that a person can be held liable for sending a text to a driver, assuming that driver gets into an accident and the person that sent the text knew the receiver of the text was behind the wheel. 

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
What to expect at CES 2023, from mondo TVs to EVs
The futuristic Aska eVTOL quadcopter will take off and land vertically, like a drone.

Break out the champagne and roll out the red carpets, CES is back! After two rough, COVID-addled years that saw the world’s greatest tech show reduced to a shell of its former self, the show is primed to spring back to its former glory for 2023. And our team of writers and editors will be on the ground in Las Vegas, bringing it all to you.

But much has changed since the last “normal” CES of 2020. The economy has boomed and busted, supply chains have knotted, and attitudes over excess have shifted as climate change looms larger and larger in our global conversation. And as always, the tech itself has marched forward, rising to the challenges of our new post-COVID lives.

Read more
Bowers & Wilkins and McLaren launch special-edition Px8 headphones
The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 McLaren Edition headphones.

Luxury British supercar maker McLaren is known for making some of the world's fastest cars. But watch how fast your money leaves your wallet when you get a load of its latest collaboration with longtime audio partner Bowers & Wilkins -- the Px8 McLaren Edition headphones, which launched today and retail for $799.

The McLaren Edition is a "specially designed" version of B&W's premium flagship Px8 wireless headphones, tricked out with what B&W calls a "Galvanic" grey metallic finish and, most notably, a "Papaya" orange ring around each earcup and matching fabric covers inside, which pay homage to the early racing cars of founder Bruce McLaren.

Read more
The best EV charging apps help you find the right station for any electric car
apple maps to get new ev feature eliminate range anxiety close up of the hybrid car electric charger station with power suppl

Charging an electric car can be confusing. Unlike gas cars, there are all kinds of things to take into account when finding a charging station -- like how many chargers are at a station, how fast they can charge, and whether or not they offer the right charging connector for your car.

Thankfully, there are a number of dedicated EV charging apps out there, and the likes of Apple Maps and Google Maps have gotten better at helping users find charging stations near them. That's not to mention all the network-specific apps and car-specific apps that manufacturers and charging companies have made.

Read more