Traffic accidents are bad for you. They can damage your body, your vehicle, and your driving and insurance record. There are many different causes of traffic accidents, but this post will focus only on ten of the most common. The key here is safe driving, which seems like common sense, which evidently is difficult to conjure up when behind the wheel of an automobile.
1. Cell Phone Use: A study by Harvard indicated that individuals using cell phones are 4 times more likely to cause an accident. Even hands-free and Bluetooth do not guarantee that you will be safe from causing or being involved in an accident. In fact, cell phone use has outranked impaired driving as the number one cause of traffic fatalities.
2. Eating in the Car: Surprising enough, there are innumerable accidents that have been caused because the driver tried to avoid getting crumbs or mustard on their pants, or had a drink-lid spontaneously pop open and spilling drink on the driver's lap.
3. Rubbernecking: This is the act of turning your neck to get a good look at an accident or police pull-over while you're driving by. If you live in an urban area, you're more susceptible to this kind of accident cause. Many secondary accidents occur around accident scenes when people take their eyes off the car in front of them to catch a peek at the activity on the shoulder.
4. Changing CD/Radio: It seems like an innocuous activity, for haven't drivers been using radios for ages? Changing the CD/radio setting has been a serious contributor to car accidents.
5. Drinking and Driving: While drinking and driving was the leading cause of accidents used to have the highest risk of death or debilitating injury, it is now second to distracted driving caused by texting. At number two, it continues to claim many lives, in spite of all the campaigning to deter people from doing it. It's pretty simple, no?: If you are drinking alcohol, don't drive.
6. Drugs: Drugged driving refers to driving while under the influence of drugs. The obvious ones are narcotics like marijuana that impair one's ability to concentrate on the road; but there is continuous research showing that prescription and over the counter drugs are becoming more of a hazard to drivers. As prescription drugs are becoming a more prevalent in our society, more drivers are experiencing accidents under their soporific spell.
7. Driver Distraction: Distracted driving is often thought of as involving texting or some other mobile phone activity; but kids and animals can be as distracting as cell phones (think of the mom who was spotted reaching backward while driving to feed her baby in the back seat of the car). Often it happens when children are screaming and fighting in the back seat and the driver looks way from the road to deal with it. It's better to focus on the road or pull over to deal with the children or dog than to risk an accident.
8. Speeding: The higher the car speeds along the highway, the higher the risk of fatal accident. Just as bad is speeding in residential areas. The faster you travel, the harder it is to stop.
9. Recklessness: Reckless driving is defined as a willful disregard for traffic laws, such as driving too close, cutting into traffic, and changing lanes without signalling. It only takes one wrong move before you're in the heat of an accident.
10. Poor Road Maintenance: With more cars hitting the pavement, roads are deteriorating quicker thus requiring greater vigilance and maintenance. In Ontario, where winters are extreme, roads can be riddled with potholes, uneven pavement, and other defects, which lead to serious accidents. Another reason to keep your eyes on the road--at least until we get solar panelled roads made of nano-particles that heat in the winter and cool in the summer...
No comments:
Post a Comment