Distracted driving. It is one of the biggest causes of accidents on California roadways.
Approximately 80% of all vehicle crashes involve distracted driving. That amounts to nearly four million car accident crashes every year in the United States. Out of those four million, 400,000 people are injured and another 6,000 are killed. All thanks to distracted driving.
What Defines Distracted Driving?
Distracted driving is anything that takes your eyes or mind off the road or your hand off the steering wheel. The most common form of distracted driving is talking on one’s mobile device while operating a motor vehicle.
Approximately 25% of all vehicle crashes are related to cell phone use, either talking or texting. You may not realize this, but even a driver using a Bluetooth headset is distracting to the driver. Though California vehicle codes allows the act of talking on a phone while driving, hands free, it is problematic. Drivers are not fully focused on the road, and are instead engaged in conversation. The term for this is inattention blindness. Your brain is not seeing what’s going on right in front of you because you’re focused on a phone call.
On the other hand, it is illegal to text and drive at the same time. Looking away from the road to view your phone, even for just a few seconds, is extremely dangerous. In fact, 11 teens in the nation die every day directly because of texting and driving. Save the text for when you get home, it’s just not worth it.
Outside of distracted driving, there are several other ways car accidents occur. Let’s review a few now:
- Speeding
- Driver Fatigue
- Drunk Driving
- Bad Weather
- Road or Car Defects
All of these can cause accidents, but at 80%, distracted driving is clearly the primary problem. Of course, many of these things, like speeding, combine with distracted driving makes matters even worse.
To stay safe on the road, make sure you are always paying attention to your surroundings. Put the phone down, the call or text can wait until you have turned off the vehicle. Make an effort to avoid distractions and most importantly stay focused on the task at hand, driving.
And of course, if you need help with a recent injury accident, contact us right away.