“Distracted driving is a dangerous epidemic on America’s roadways. In 2014 alone, 3,129 were killed in distracted driving crashes.” – Distraction.gov
When I was first informed that April is distracted driving awareness month, my first thought was cell phone use. It has to be the number one reason why people out there are so, well, distracted right? But the more I thought about it over the weekend, the more I realized that distracted driving has been around for far longer than cellphones have. While I was sure that cellphone use had to take up one of the top 3 spots when it came to reasons why people are distracted behind the wheel, it couldn’t be number one source of distraction; I mean people have been driving for longer than cellphones have been around and distraction on the road has always been a problem.
So I did some research, and it turns out that according to the data gathered from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) which is maintained by the National Highway Safety Administration. Cell phone use comes in second place when it comes to the top 10 driving distractions involved in fatal car crashes.
The number one reason is simple, people are generally distracted or “lost in thought.”
This makes sense; think about it, before there where cell phones, hand free devices, GPS systems there was just you and the road. There was minimal distraction, but with minimal distraction comes boredom. You are sitting in your car waiting for a light to turn red, mindlessly following the taillights of the car in front of you, and staying within the painted lines. Your mind is bound to wonder. Whether you wonder about why the sparrows get so darn close to your car every time as if playing a game of chicken with the other community of sparrows. Or you daze off to think about how you will check off your to do list for the day.
So for not only this month, but year round, let’s all try to be more aware of our state of mind and keep distractions to a minimum when it comes driving.
This month, I will write a series of blogs relating to distracted driving and how to do your part to keep distractions behind the wheel to a minimum. There should be nobody is injured due to somebody being distracted behind the wheel, there is simply no excuse.
If you are a victim of a car accident resulting from a distracted driver, don’t hesitate to contact an experienced car accident lawyer at Mazow | McCullough.
