Distracted driving has a frightful impact on U.S. drivers. Every year, it causes roughly 3,000 fatalities and over 400,000 injuries. Whenever you get on the road, you need to be wary of the dangers of distracted behaviors and understand how to avoid the accidents they can cause.
Specifically, there are three types of distracted driving. If you can identify the signs of each of these, you are more likely to avoid getting into a crash:
1. Manual Distractions
One of the things that any driving instructor will emphasize is the importance of keeping both hands on the wheel at all times. When you take just one of your hands off the wheel, it becomes more difficult to control your vehicle. Take both hands off the wheel, and you have no control.
Manual distractions are often caused by things like reaching for a drink, food, or adjusting the radio. Some manual distractions, though, are unavoidable; if you have a manual transmission vehicle, for instance, you will have to take your hand off the wheel to shift.
Similarly, it isn’t unreasonable to hydrate while driving a car. However, you should try to minimize the time your hand is off the wheel by using a straw and taking brief sips. It is better if you can limit any drinking and eating to when your vehicle is stopped.
If you see others on the road eating, drinking, or messing around with their radio, you should give them plenty of leeway. There is a good chance that they might change lanes unintentionally while they have their hand off the wheel.
2. Cognitive Distractions
A cognitive distraction is anything that takes your attention away from the road. It could range from something as simple as daydreaming to having a conversation, either with people in the car with you or over the phone.
One of the reasons that many states discourage talking on the phone while driving is that, even if you use a voice-activated hands-free device, the conversation pulls your mind away from what you are doing, potentially causing a distracted driving accident because your brain fails to identify a danger, even though you see it.
Identifying cognitive distractions in other drivers can be difficult, but the most telltale sign is whether they are talking. If so, they are probably engaging in a conversation with another party that has at least some part of their attention.
Alternatively, if someone seems to be driving without making the common little adjustments that focused drivers make, they are probably cognitively distracted.
3. Visual Distractions
Generally seen as the most dangerous type of distraction, a visual distraction occurs when a driver takes their eyes off the road. At highway speeds, looking away for as little as three seconds will take you roughly the distance of an entire football field.
Visual distractions are also quite dangerous at intersections. Traffic lights turn yellow at a rate of one second for every ten miles per hour of the posted speed limit. As such, an average suburban intersection will only see its light stay yellow for about three and a half seconds. A visual distraction can easily result in an intersection crash as a light unexpectedly turns red.
Electronic devices are one of the most common causes of visual distractions. If you see another driver with a smartphone or tablet in their car, they are likely to be distracted.
Distracted Driving Causes Accidents
When someone is distracted in any way while driving, their reaction times decrease significantly. Protecting yourself and your loved ones means avoiding distractions and giving plenty of space to other drivers who you can tell are distracted themselves.
If you’ve been in an accident caused by distracted driving in Chicago, Illinois, Zayed Law Offices Personal Injury Attorneys can help. Reach out today to schedule a free consultation with a car accident lawyer.
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