Distracted Driving Awareness Month: Five Tips to Avoid Car Accidents
April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month and organizations like the National Safety Council (NSC) are using the event to promote awareness of this issue. As many of you know, distracted driving has been one of the fastest-growing causes of car accidents in America for the last 15 years. Patterson Legal Group would like to do its part to help reduce distracted driving car accidents. With that in mind, here are five ways that you and the drivers in your household can reduce distracted driving.
Five Ways to Avoid Distracted Driving
The NSC stresses that, “When you’re behind the wheel, your only job is to drive,” for Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Our personal injury lawyers could not agree more. Whether a distraction causes you to take your eyes, hands, or mind off of the task of driving, all it takes is two seconds to double your chances of a traffic accident. Anything beyond that exponentially increases your risk of a car crash. To help avoid getting into an accident caused by distractions, are team highly recommends:
- Always keeping two hands on the steering wheel: keeping both hands on the steering wheel makes it easier to control your vehicle. This is especially important when you have to make split-second decisions because of sudden changes to road conditions. For example, it’s easier to make a safe and accurate swerve with two hands in order to avoid a fallen object on the road than it is with one hand.
- Keeping Your Eyes Focused on Road Conditions: scanning road conditions is essential to avoiding car wrecks. This doesn’t mean simply looking at the road ahead. You need to scan left and right, as well as periodically looking at your mirrors to see conditions behind your vehicle. Looking at your phone, your car’s infotainment system, or looking for a fallen object takes your eyes off of the road and increases your chances of a car crash.
- Focusing on the Task of Driving: it’s easy to get lost in daydreams or start making grand plans in your head while driving. However, doing so decreases your safety and the safety of your passengers. As the NSC mentioned, when you’re behind the wheel, your only job is to drive, so your one and only focus as a driver should be to drive safely. If you find yourself unable to focus then pull over and take the time you need to compose yourself. Taking a few minutes to regain your composure is a small price to pay for keeping you and your passengers safe.
- Planning Ahead: make as many preparations as you can before you start driving. Things like entering your destination in your car’s or phone’s GPS, starting a music playlist that lasts for more than the duration of your trip, and keeping food and drinks with a passenger for easy access go a long way towards avoiding distractions.
- Keep Your Conversation to Minimum: while it’s fine to let your passengers chat away (as long as they’re not shouting), you should keep your involvement in those conversations to a minimum. Getting into deep or argumentative conversations can take your attention away from driving or cause you to look at a passenger instead of the road. Remember, all it takes is a few seconds of distraction to greatly increase your chances of an accident, and an engrossing conversation can easily lead to more than that.
Related: What Are the Three Major Types of Distracted Driving?
Contact Patterson Legal Group
The team at Patterson Legal Group hopes you have a better understanding of ways to avoid distracted driving. Please share this blog with your family and friends as part of Distracted Driving Awareness month. The more drivers that are informed about distracted driving and ways to avoid it, the safer everyone will be. Unfortunately, there are times when you’ll get into an accident no matter how safe you’re being. If you’ve been injured in an accident caused by the negligence or recklessness of another party then contact us for immediate assistance.
The trial lawyers at Patterson Legal Group have more than 75 years of combined experience representing injury victims in Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. In addition to a well established track record of winning excellent settlements, our staff is committed to treating every client with the respect that they deserve.
You can our team 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by phone at (888) 687-2400 and online through LiveChat or encrypted contact form to begin your free consultation. Contact us today and you’ll quickly learn why Patterson Legal Group is one of the Midwest’s most trusted personal injury law firms.
