The Costa tragedy continues to grow. There have been 11 people confirmed dead, several still missing and many more injured. The Italian Coast Guard has released a tape where the Coast Guard was ordering the ship’s Captain back to the vessel after he abandoned ship with passengers still aboard. The cowardly, clueless Captain had no idea regarding the gravity of the situation. After being apprised of same, he still refused to re-board the ship and help the evacuation efforts. He was subsequently arrested and now sits in an Italian jail. He faces prison time for abandoning the ship and may face manslaughter charges for the death of the passengers. As I predicted, the fallout will hurt Costa and its parent company, Carnival, "The World's Most Popular Cruise Line." Carnival’s stock price fell nearly $5 a share yesterday and may go further south as the investigation uncovers more information. Cruise line industry experts say that this event will affect the industry as a whole due to the mounting distrust of the operation of these cruise ships. It’s time for some public relations and damage control. Stay tuned.

Photo by Laura Lezza/Getty Images

A Costa Concordia cruise liner suffered the worst possible of all scenarios last week. One of their ships had run aground, listed, then tipped onto its side causing injury and death to many of its passengers. When it couldn't seem to get any worse, the life boats malfunctioned. Then it comes out that the Captain changed the direction of the ship as a favor to a passenger. This led to the vessel striking the rock that caused the damage.

One has to wonder how this could happen in this day and age of modern technology. The modern cruise ship is outfitted with equipment specifically designed to prevent collisions with submerged or partially submerged objects. Additionally, there is always a crew member assigned as a look out. This accident was a complete fail on the part of the captain and crew. It was unequivocally avoidable. The pure and simple negligence of Costa has caused the ultimate disaster.  The fallout from this incident will be felt industry wide. Carnival, Costa's parent company, will be called upon to explain how something like this could happen. They will pay in lost business, revenues and lawsuit damages. The reputation of the cruise line will be tarnished indefinitely. Most tragedies are avoidable; in this case it was senseless and unjustifiable as well.   

April 2012 will be National Distracted Driving Month. Lawyers across the country will be joining in a nation-wide campaign to help end distracted driving.  I am proud to say that I will be one of the many lawyers involved in this mission.  We will be speaking to more than 100,000 students across the nation on the dangers of distracted driving.

What is distracted driving? Simply put, it is any non-driving activity that a person engages in that takes their attention away from focusing on driving.  The most common thought of distraction is either talking on a cell phone or texting while driving. However, distractions can come in many other forms. 

There are both internal and external distractions that can divert a drivers attention. Internal distractions occur inside the vehicle. They can include eating, drinking, talking to other passengers, changing the radio station, reading a map or any other activity inside the vehicle that takes away your focus. 

External distractions occur outside the vehicle.  They can include looking at other motorists, pedestrians, the scenery, trying to read a street sign or even looking at another accident.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, did you know:

• In 2009, more than 5,400 people died in crashes that were reported to involve a distracted driver and about 448,000 people were injured. 
• Among those killed or injured in these crashes, nearly 1,000 deaths and 24,000 injuries included cell phone use as the major distraction. 
• The proportion of drivers reportedly distracted at the time of a fatal crash has increased from 7 percent in 2005 to 11 percent in 2009.

How can you help avoid distracted driving?  As the driver, you must commit to focusing on the road.  Do not allow yourself to be affected by any of the internal or external distractions.  As a passenger, if you see the driver engaging in any unsafe or dangerous behavior, you must speak up.  You have the obligation to tell the driver what he or she is doing is unsafe because if you don’t, then you are only condoning unsafe driving.