Almost everyday, people are getting involved in car crashes. While many of these accidents are caused by bad weather or poor road conditions, too many of them are caused by distracted drivers. There are a huge number of injuries and even loss of lives in accidents caused by distracted drivers. But there are ways to prevent or at least avoid these problems on the road, and they may even save your life.
Each year, an estimated 284,000 drivers are involved in serious crashes, according to the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center. And according to this research, 15.8% of the drivers in the study were not paying attention, and 8.3% were distracted by something inside or outside the vehicle.
In addition, this study found that drivers most often were distracted by something outside their vehicles. The next most common distractions were adjusting a radio or a CD player or talking with passengers, adjusting vehicle or climate controls, eating, putting on makeup, using a cell phone, and smoking.
This study also showed that different age groups appeared to be distracted by different things. Drivers that are under 20 were especially likely to be distracted by tuning the radio or changing CD’s, while young adults in the 20 to 29 age group seemed to be more distracted by passengers. On the other hand, drivers over 65 were more distracted by events that are happening outside the vehicle.
Also in this study, 63% of the distracted drivers were male, because as a group, males drive more than females and are most likely to be involved in serious crashes.
Can’t live without your cell phone? I understand that this is a big part of your life, but using one while driving increases your chance of getting into an accident by 400%. Because every time that you use your cell phone, your attention won’t be on the road as it should be.
A survey showed that almost half of the drivers who use their cell phones while driving swerved or drifted into another lane, 23% tailgated, 21% cut off someone and a certain number of people nearly hit another vehicle while using the phone.
Eating in your car also increases your possibility of getting into a car accident, because fumbling with napkins, condiments, wrappers, and drinks means that you are most likely not watching the road.
There are a few ways to avoid these accidents. One way is to pay attention to the road as much as you can. If you need to use your cell phone, pull off the road and/or stop in a safe place before using your phone. Also when your phone rings while you are driving, let it ring. It’s better to call the person back than to crash your car and possibly hurt yourself.
In addition, it’s safer to become familiar with your phone before using it on the road. And never take notes or jot down a number while driving.
In the United States, car crashes are the number one killer of teenagers. More than 5,000 die each year. Among the reasons are driving distractions, such as talking on the cell phone, loud music, changing CD’s and playing around or talking to the passengers.
These are the risks that we are taking in our everyday driving. We all use our cell phones, eat our lunch or breakfast, change CD’s in our car, look at the navigation system.
I would like to you realize that every action that we take when we’re driving could mean risking our own safety as well as others. So the next time that your cell phone rings, you hear the song that you don’t like, or have the urge to look at the map, THINK, because this could be the last time that you or someone else will be driving.