The National Transportation Safety Board announced last week its recommendation to ban all cellphone and other portable electronics use while behind the wheel. Over the past few years, the number of fatalities due to drivers focused on their phones and not on the road has increased dramatically, which has concerned the board.

Last year, a 19 year-old caused a multi-car pileup that killed him a 15 year-old when he slammed into a stopped car at full speed. His cellphone records showed that he sent or received 11 text messages in 11 minutes right before the crash.

According to the NTSB's survery of 6,000 American drivers, half of all 21 to 24 year-olds questioned admitted to having sent text messages or emails while driving. A fifth of all the drivers questioned said they had sent messages while on the road.

If you or someone you love has been injured by a distracted driver, contact the Cedar Rapids car accident lawyers of the Pete Leehey Law Firm, P.C. today at 877-209-9452.

The death of a 19 year-old boy in a drunk driving accident earlier this summer shook the small town of Swisher, Iowa. But now investigators say the teenager was legally drunk, had traces of THC in his system, and was texting at the time of his accident just outside of Cedar Rapids.

The driver was on Walford Road when he went off the gravel road, rolled over, and eventually stopped in a ditch. The 16 year-old passenger was injured but managed to escape the accident without serious injury. Investigators say the passenger went to get help at a nearby house, but then went home and did not return to the scene of the accident.

The 19 year-old had a blood alcohol level of 0.181, which is nearly nine times the legal limit for minors (two times over the legal limit for adults 21 and older).

One person was killed and two were injured during a car accident that occurred in Marathon, Iowa on Sunday afternoon.

According to reports from the Iowa State Patrol, an 18-year-old man was traveling southbound on County Road with four other passengers in his vehicle. The man ran a stop sign at the intersection of Highway 10 and crashed into an SUV that was traveling eastbound. The SUV rolled over, and both vehicles ended up in a nearby ditch.

After arriving on the scene of the accident, officers and emergency workers found a 17-year-old girl dead. She had been a passenger in the vehicle driven by the 18-year-old man. Two other passengers from that vehicle were seriously injured and taken to Buena Vista Regional Medical Center. The people in the SUV were not seriously injured.

Our thoughts and sympathies are with the friends and families of the victims of this accident.

A bus accident taking an Iowa City High wrestling team to a meet crashed, injuring seven people.  The accident occurred at approximately 7 o'clock in the morning on December 4.

There were 14 wrestlers on the bus when it was involved in the accident on Highway 218 outside of Riverside.  The bus driver was also injured in the accident.  Victims were taken to Mercy Hospital and University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for treatment.  Officials believe that icy road conditions might be at least partially to blame for the accident.

If you or someone you love has been injured in a bus accident, contact the Cedar Rapids bus accident attorneys of the Pete Leehey Law Firm, P.C., by calling 877-209-9452.