A Jacksonville lawyer is splitting his time between representing clients and teaching Duval high schoolers about distracted driving.
Personal injury attorney Wayne Hogan said distracted driving is an epidemic that needs to be stopped.
Hogan, who has been talking to students about the issue for the past four years, recently made his presentation to the Duval County School board. Before driving to the district offices, he changed his voicemail message.
“Hi, it’s Wayne. I don’t use my phone when I’m driving because it’s dangerous and I may be driving now. In fact. this morning I’m driving to speak with the Duval County School Board about the dangers of distracted driving,” it said.
Once there, he flipped between videos of people personally affected by distracted drivers and shocking research that shows talking on a cellphone has similar risks to driving while intoxicated.
Hogan began teaching in schools after his friend’s daughter was killed by a distracted driver.He added distracted drivers are to blame for many of his clients’ injuries.
“When you look into it, you find that often times it’s a result of distraction and very often it’s because of the use of these phones and now we’re able to simply investigate that very quickly and link up the making of the call with the time of the accident,” he said.
Hogan said he’s partnering with several Duval drivers education classes and hopes to talk in more schools.
Reporter Lindsey Kilbride can be reached at lkilbride@wjct.org, 904-358-6359 or on Twitter at @lindskilbride.
