In a recent North Dakota case, a young woman is accused of killing an elderly woman in an rear-end crash that occurred while she was looking at photographs on Facebook while driving 85 miles per hour. http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/05/driver-crash-facebook/15132205/

Over the last several years, I have seen a large increase in car accidents caused by distracted driving in my Phoenix personal injury law practice. In most of these cases, the allegation is that the crash was caused because the driver was on the phone or texting. I haven't had a Facebook distraction case, but I know that it is an unfortunate eventuality.

Now smartphones are powerful computers, capable of unlimited distraction. Over the last few years, there has been a concerted effort by NHTSA and other traffic safety organizations to publicize the fact that it is unsafe to text and drive. Perhaps the message needs to be expanded to publicize the fact that It is unsafe to manually use a smartphone while driving - including using Facebook or any other application.

Jay Ciulla is a Phoenix personal injury lawyer who handles injury and wrongful death cases arising from car accidents.