DEDHAM, Maine — An Orono man who escaped a rollover accident with only minor injuries Monday morning was reaching for his cellphone when he went off the road, according to state police.
Police issued a summons to Jacob Moores, 21, on a charge of failure to maintain control of a motor vehicle. Moores was transported to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor with minor injuries.
Moores was driving south on Bald Mountain Road in Dedham around 11:30 a.m. when his vehicle left the road and rolled over, said Trooper Mike Southard. Moores’ blue Ford Ranger was totaled, Southard said.
“He said he was reaching for his phone,” Southard said. “This crash could have been avoided had he not been doing that, and that’s why he was summonsed.”
Southard said distracted driving is a top cause for single-vehicle accidents. Earlier this year, Maine passed a law to crack down on texting while driving. Moores crashed before he even had the cellphone in his hand, Southard said.
“We see it too much,” Southard said of distracted driving. “Folks are gonna start being summonsed for it if it causes a crash. We’re trying to send a message that this kind of behavior is unacceptable. It’s caused a lot of accidents.”
Southard said Moores faces a $119 fine for the traffic infraction, but said he could have been facing much more dire consequences.
“His seat belt saved his life today, no question about it,” the trooper said.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
Can you hear me now?
Good
Hope this man realizes he dodged a bullet this time. When insurance companies start refusing to pay claims in cases such as this, it might get peoples’ attention.
Insurance will pay u can collect on the underensuard an u insuard
I have no idea as to what you were trying to write there…
A screaming endorsement for Obama !
why, because he supports the insurance industry and didn’t write that sentence well? he just gave 2 indications that he votes Republican.
If you do not know what im talking about than you do no have that coverage
I think he’s trying to say that according to a Forbes magazine article, Norwegians are communists and deliriously happy about it.
If we hit you with a cue stick maybe we’ll get more english next time.
That was so terrible I laughed.
Blame it on the coffee.
Is this post for real?
than you do not have the coverage that im talking about
Liked, just because.
Drinking and writing? I’m sure theres some law against that.
I can’t even read what you are trying to say!! Is that a foreign language or autocomplete?
Do you know what underinsuard an uninsuard is ?
Those are not two separate endorsements on an auto policy.
I know what they’re not, and that’s real words.
Not shure. Pleese esplane! Thanky ooh.
They are both endorsements covering your loss if someone else hits you with no, or not enough coverage for your loss. Since this was a single vehicle, at fault crash, insurance may not choose to cover him at all. Got it fingered out now?
Allow the Interpreter for the txtually challenged to intervene.
“Than you do not have the coverage…” is really “Then, you do not have the coverage…” wolleyd is having a little trouble with conjunctions vs. adverbs.
“Do you know what underinsuard an uninsuard is ?” Well, this one is a whopper, to be sure, but in English, wollydevil, this would be, “Do you know what under-insured is?”
Carry on…
Yes i do know what it is because i have collected on it when i had my motorcycle accident
He will only get to collect if he has collision coverage, uninsured will not cover in this case. If he has liability only he will be S.O.L.
Do you mean underinsured and uninsured? Grammar counts.
$119….big deal. I’m very happy that he escaped serious injury, but man! I’m getting so sick of distracted driving!
Yep. It’s driving me to distraction! Sorry. Just couldn’t let the chance to use that line get away from me.
If I were Mr. Moores I’d affix this very picture to my dash as a reminder of what can happen.
That’s not going to buff out.
USC did a study a couple of years ago where they put 2,000 people through an obstacle course and timed and graded their performance. Then they gave them a cell phone and put them back through again. A whopping 2% went through the second time with no reduction in driving ability. I am guessing this kid was not in that 2%. Glad he was not hurt and I hope he is a fast learner. There is no call or text that can’t wait. Heck, we used to have to wait until we got near a phone with a cord on it before we could answer calls. Oops, I just dated myself.
so what you are saying is that 98% of people drive worse after being given a free cell phone?
no call or text is ever worth killing yourself or someone else. Imagine what did we ever do BEFORE cell phones were around. All it takes is one second of looking away, and that second can change/destroy lives forever. I would guess that about every 4th car I see on the road, I see them chatting or texting on their cell phones. Use wireless headset if need be. Even then I dont think its safe.
You go that right…nothing is worth killing yourself however it’s even less acceptable to do something stupid and reckless and endanger OTHERS that are not involved. PUT down the cell phones and leave them. Unless you are a surgeon on call to save lives, it can wait.
I don’t think even a surgeon is exempt from the new distracted driving laws, they can crash just as easily as anyone else if talking or texting while driving.
police are exempt.
well, of course, even if they AREN’T exempt, they’re exempt, right? the beautiful blue wall, and all that…
most of the 1 in 4 are women. not being sexist, but it’s true. as soon as they get in the car, boom, on the phone, talking or texting. chicks need to learn to put the phone away.
… yeah, actually, you’re being totally sexist there. Hate to be the one to break it to you, but there it is.
If you’ve got the right equipment and know how to use it, talking isn’t the problem. The problem is operating the telephone itself. Some phone tasks are harder than others – taking an incoming call, for instance, is easier than turning on the windshield wipers with any decent handsfree rig, while making an outgoing call without some kind of voice command or speed dial setup is the same, in terms of needing your hands and eyes for things other than driving, as sending a ten-letter text message. One of these things is safe to do while driving, the other is not.
This same decision tree exists for every other thing a modern mobile phone can do. The responsible thing for the phone-equipped motorist to do is figure out which of those things are too distracting to do while driving, and then not do them. Neither stage of that process is difficult, but it seems many people can’t be bothered to figure out part A or don’t have the personal discipline to follow through with part B.
Once again, as so often in modern society, it comes down to “This is why we can’t have nice things.”
I’ve encountered so many people lost in conversation on their hands free ear pieces that they were completely oblivious they had either ran a stop sign/light or almost caused an accident.
Well, once again, those people are – to use a technical term – spanners, and are going to find a way to get into trouble no matter what they’re doing. Some people just aren’t going to get it right no matter how many Potential Distractions you identify and take away. The rest of us shouldn’t end up on the ground with the government’s boot on our necks because of people like that.
I dunno, guys, I mean it’s all well and good to grump about cell phones and back in my day we had to wait until we got to the Western Union office to send a telegram and so forth, but let’s be realistic here – if this guy managed to roll his pickup just reaching for his phone, he’d have managed it trying to adjust his sun visor or change the settings on the heater. I mean, that is a weapons-grade failure to operate. Where was it, in the pocket on the passenger door? Ye gods. There comes a point where blaming the technology stops being plausible. :)
Takes 2 hands and 2 eyes to operate a motor vehicle. Of course, I always remember a neighbor I had who was legally blind. Needed a magnifying glass to read anything. But he had a driver’s license. To his credit, he died in bed instead of in his car.
He was sited for distracted driving – which would have included sun visors, heater settings, big mac, etc.
Jacob, From the looks of your truck you are one lucky son of a gun. You are an honest man though.You could have told a lie and beat the ticket but you didn’t. Good man. No phone call is worth what you went through!
I see it now The new no reach zone law.
Reaching for a cell phone… that’s what he told the cops anyway. Any real internet crash re-constructor can see that a fierce gust of wind caught one of his hood nostrils, and flipped the truck.
Lesson #1: Always blame the bee that got away. Lesson #2: Always blame the moose in the road. Lesson #3: Honesty is the best policy, even when you blame yourself for the one car smash up.
LOL TO PaulNotBunyan
as if totaling your truck isn’t lesson enough cop is just trying to score points with the boss and pad the states pocket next time tell em a deer jumped out
I am ditching my cell phone this week. Why are we putting up with cell phones anyway? Are we nuts? Don’t answer that.
“Putting up with”? That’s an interesting attitude. I’m picturing where humanity would be now if our ancestors had shaken their heads and said, “I’m ditching my hearth next week. Why are we putting up with fire anyway?” the first time somebody’s hut burned down.
Sorry. I should’ve been more clear. Cell phones and hand held devices are an unnecessary hazard to health and privacy of individuals. If you enjoy yours, you are free to carry it around, ignore the real life people who are still there with you, or get distracted by superfluous crap conversations or texts, and crash your vehicle. Just don’t be ticked off when strangers participate in your public conversations, stare at your rudeness in the drive thru, honk their horns at traffic lights you’ve made them miss, or sue the crap out of you when you run over their family members or dog.
Strangely, none of those things has happened to me, because I know what I’m bloody doing. If one or more of them has happened to you, by all means get rid of yours before you hurt somebody, but don’t drag me into your private hell.
‘Cause see, here’s the deal: Having a telephone you can take with you does not actually obligate you to use it at all times and in all places – it merely widens your horizons of opportunity. Some of us understand this basic fact and comport ourselves accordingly, and we’re a bit tired of being sneered at by the likes of you because of people who don’t or can’t grasp it.
lol, chill out Ben…you can be happy and keep your phone. I was expressing myself in a general way and not really at you. I don’t use my phone enough to warrant the expense and hassle of it. Possibly the echoes of a past insult were still in my mind and I was overly sensitive to the implication that I lack enthusiasm for progress which is an inaccurate judgment of me.
OK. Fair enough. Had a little of the overly-sensitive-to-implication thing going on there myself.
Hey I’m gonna give him credit for being honest and saying he was reaching for his phone not everyone would admit that they would say “Oh I avoided a deer” or some crap. Sucks he totaled his truck but he is lucky he didnt injure anyone else. Good lesson!
The real lesson here is use your seatbelt! It probably saved him from being ejected from the truck.
How’s the no texting law working?
Double standard big time !!!!
“Police issued a summons to Jacob Moores, 21, on a charge of failure to maintain control of a motor vehicle.”
What about the log truck flopping up in Jackman and it’s load of logs totaling a house and killing the 5 year old child inside sleeping on the couch and there were no “summons charge of failure to maintain control of a motor vehicle.” :-/ BS
That driver was not distracted, he was sleeping. I guess you don’t get a summons for that?
The issue is “failure to maintain control of a motor vehicle.” whether awake or other wise one must maintain control right ?
This story is an eye opener. Im beginning to think that cell phone use is a close second to DUI as a danger on the streets.
That’s racist, and awful. Uncalled for.
… what?
Seriously, what on Earth are you on about? There’s no perceptible racial component at all in the comment you replied to.
Well, congrats, then, you’re buying what our news outlets are selling as regards this topic. As is usually the case in matters like this, the real danger is not portable communications technology itself but the incompetent and/or careless use thereof, but, of course, those things are much harder to regulate through legislation.
I hope Jacob learned a lesson here. Your life is not worth it. Your cell phone will remember who called you and you can call back. However, your honesty is refreshing. You could have lied and you didn’t. Thank your folks for raising a great kid. Thank you for being honest. I am glad you were not seriously hurt, I think it could have been a lot worse.
Why do people get into their cars and immediately forget the laws of physics?
Consequences can be enormous.