There are many reasons why car accidents occur. The accidents that are the most troubling are the ones that are preventable. Distracted driving crashes are one of these types. If the distracted driver had just paid attention to what was going on instead of focusing on a distraction, the accident might not have occurred.
If you were injured in a distracted driving accident, you might have suffered from serious injuries. This could leave you with bills rolling in and lack of income if you have to take time off work. You might plan on seeking compensation. Here are some points you should know about distracted driving:
Causes of distracted driving
There are many different causes of distracted driving. While it is usually associated with smartphone usage, there are also other forms that can occur. A driver might become distracted while chatting with other passengers, eating, drinking, changing the music selection, fixing the climate control settings, or reaching for something that has fallen. Even something as simple as thinking about problems or something similar can lead to distractions when a person is driving.
Distractions can occur at all ages and skill levels
Distracted driving is more deadly when it comes to drivers who are under 20 years old. These drivers have a ratio of fatal distracted driving crashes different than other ages. Even in older drivers, there is a problem with distractions causing drivers to take their focus off the road. On average, a distraction will take the driver’s focus off driving for around 27 seconds. As you can imagine, this means that the driver can move considerable distances in this period of time. This means that the faster a driver is traveling, the most distance is going to pass during the distraction. Ample opportunities will likely exist during this time for an accident to occur.
Areas of distractions
There are three areas that are impacted by distractions — cognitive, manual and visual. Each of these has to do with the way that a distraction impairs the driver. Cognitive distractions impact the driver’s ability to think and process information. Manual distractions impact the ability of the driver to use his or her hands and feet to drive. Visual distractions affect the driver’s ability to fully see the roadway. In some cases, the distraction might lead to more than one of these areas being impacted. For example, changing the navigation system would require a hand off the steering wheel, thinking about the change, and looking at the system, which means this change impacts all three areas.
