Distracted Driving: Still a Cause of Thousands of Injurious and Fatal Car Accidents

Oct 24

According to a website, called DISTRACTION.GOV: Official US Government Website for Distracted Driving, the average time that a person takes his/her eyes off the road while texting is five seconds; at 55 miles per hour, a person can also drive through a football field at this same length of time.

Texting and conversing with someone while driving, is considered the worst and most dangerous form of distracted driving, which is any form of activity that would turn a person’s attention away from driving. According to the National Safety Council, as many as 1.6 million car crashes, due to cell phone use while driving, occur on US roads and highways annually. Records from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on the other hand, show of 1,153 injuries and 9 deaths every day due to the same cause. But while those guilty of the act of using a cell phone while driving include drivers of all ages, majority of them are found to be young drivers, aged between 18 and 20, who confessed to have been texting someone at the time of the crash.

Distracted driving, though, is not limited to cell phone use. There are a hundred other forms of distractions that take drivers’ eyes and attention off the road, most of these being typical behavior while behind the wheel, thus, they are often overlooked. These include eating and/or drinking, talking to a passenger, adjusting the car radio or an electronic gadget, reading a map, lighting a cigarette, grooming, reaching for something from the back seat, turning the radio to full volume, and so forth.

Yvonne M. Fraser explains in her website the right of those injured in an accident, giving emphasis on crashes that occur due to the negligent act of another driver, who is liable for the accident and the injuries sustained by the victim. Besides a lawsuit that will bring the at-fault driver to justice, Yvonne also mentions the right of victims to seek compensation for all the present and future damages the injuries will cause them.

Any form of distraction while driving puts others’ lives at risk; but what is really scary about this cause of road accident is that unlike drunk-driving, reckless driving and overspeeding – mistakes that not all drivers would commit, everyone, even the most careful drivers, can be guilty of distracted driving.

You would ever want to have your life be put at risk of an accident simply because a driver would allow himself/herself to be occupied with something else while behind the wheel. In like manner, no one would ever want to have his or her life be put at risk of an accident by you simply because you allow yourself to be occupied with something else while driving.

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