You were going so far but you narrowly missed my point.
Was the distraction itself a conscious decision?
The decision to talk on a cell phone, despite the fact that there has been an enormous amount of public controversy over the last several years because of the increased risks of losing control of your vehicle, means that if you do choose to use the cellphone behind the wheel you
consciously made the decision to ignore statistics, instead going on the old
'It won't happen to me' line of thinking. So you know the risk is there, that there is a much greater risk of distraction when talking on a cellphone than simply listening to loud music (unless maybe you are 'headbanging' while driving). So the mere act of talking on a cell phone, which has been shown to increase the risk of becoming distracted, is a conscious decision. Anything you do behind the wheel from the point you make the conscious decision to use the cell phone is
your responsibility.
Leading from the previous question, we ask: how can you charge someone for something you admit they didn't do?
What exactly did I admit they didn't do?
Spyke, if you take defensive driving courses they wont let you away with calling these accidents.
I understand your point, having once upon a time been a professional trucker, and having had to go through the months of drving training to obtain a CDL and drive rigs. And certainly a professional driver wouldn't be able to plead 'accident' in such instances in most any state. Hell, in many traffic accidents involving trucks and cars, even when it's obviously the 4-wheel vehicle driver's fault, such as running a red light and being hit by a truck, a professional trucker has many times been the one to pay because he is supposed to be alert to all potential hazards,and he was supposed to be watching both traffic approaching the intersection from both sides. I've seen truckers not be charged with the accident, but still be sued and lose in civil courts by the person who ran the light, and that person be awarded damages from the trucker's company. And yes, a trucker must be aware of all road signs, such as Deer Xings, and must do his daily vehicle inspections, including his tires, so he should know if he's got bad tread on a tire. However, states aren't normally so harsh on civilian drivers in such 'accidents' as blowouts or hitting animals. While they might be be charged for losing control of their vehicle and causing the accident, they're not going to be prosecuted for vehicular manslaughter, as they might for talking on a cell phone.