Car accidents happen often, and many different things can cause them. You might have a drunk individual who decides they should risk driving home after a night out at a bar. Perhaps you have a thoughtless person who speeds or tailgates a car ahead of them.
However, if you look at car accident reports the police make out, you will often see distracted driving mentioned. 2022 saw 3,308 distracted driving American traffic fatalities, and you can expect similar numbers yearly.
If you drive frequently, then you need to make sure nothing distracts you when you’re behind the wheel. While anything might do that, you should know about some of the most common factors that the police point to when making out car accident reports.
Distracted Driving: 5 Common Hazards to Keep Off the Road
Distracted driving is one of the most preventable causes of serious crashes, yet it remains stubbornly common. A glance at a phone, a fumble with a touchscreen or a reach into a takeaway bag is all it takes to miss a sudden stop or a child stepping into the road. The danger is that these feel like small, harmless actions rather than the split-second lapses they really are. Recognising the everyday culprits that pull your attention away from the wheel is the first step toward avoiding them entirely.
How can you cut out distractions behind the wheel?
The fixes are largely about habits. Keep your phone silenced and out of reach, set your navigation before you pull away, and handle touchscreen adjustments only when stopped. If you need to eat, park first rather than steering one-handed. When passengers or children start to pull your focus, say so plainly and pause the conversation until you are safely stopped. Even something as minor as changing the radio can wait for a red light. Small disciplines like these keep your eyes where they belong: on the road.
Smartphones
Smartphones infiltrated modern life a couple of decades ago. They existed long before that, but when the new century arrived, they became so inexpensive that nearly everyone could afford one.
They’re useful, as you may need one to look up the address of a restaurant, hardware store, or some other business. You might send or receive text messages and emails with one. You can play a game to pass the time while waiting at the doctor’s office.
Despite their many uses, you need to keep your smartphone in your pocket or turn it to silent mode if you’re driving. If you see a driver swerving all over the road, it’s highly likely they’re trying to send a text or read one they just received.
Cell phones can distract even the best drivers, so don’t make this mistake. Even if you glance down at your phone for a second, sometimes, you can cause an accident before you look up again if the traffic pattern changes around you or an animal or child darts in front of the car.
Vehicle Touchscreens
Many modern vehicles now have touchscreens. They’re usually quite large and prominently placed on the dashboard.
When you start driving, the touchscreen often has a message on that you have to acknowledge. It usually tells you not to let the screen distract you.
However, it’s in your field of vision, so it’s hard to ignore it entirely. Also, maybe you’re using it because you put an address into the navigation system. Maybe you want to adjust one of the car’s settings with the touchscreen while you’re driving.
You can use the touchscreen while you’re driving, but if you do, try not to do it till you’ve stopped at a red light or you can pull the car over for a moment. Otherwise, if you’re using it, attempt to glance at it with your peripheral vision rather than giving it all of your attention.
If you are using it for navigation, try to listen to the directions instead of looking at the screen while taking your eyes off the road. Alternatively, you might have someone in the passenger’s seat beside you navigate with the touchscreen’s help.
Food and Drinks
Many people like to grab a meal by heading to a drive through. Maybe you like McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, or something else.
No matter what fast-food meal you prefer, you can’t afford to let the food or drinks you bought distract you. That’s tough sometimes. Maybe you have tasty smells wafting through the car, and you can’t resist grabbing a sip of your drink or fishing in the bag for some fries.
If you do that, though, it can cause a wreck. Try to avoid this by exercising some self-control. If you feel that you must eat before you get home or to your destination, then pull over into a parking lot or somewhere else convenient and enjoy your meal there.
Other Individuals in the Car with You
If you have other people in the car with you, then you might want to talk with them. That’s natural, and normally, it’s not an issue. However, on some occasions, you may find that a conversation distracts you to the point where you might cause an accident.
If you have someone in the passenger’s seat next to you, and you’re having an animated discussion with them, or even an argument, you need to stress that they’re distracting you, and you need to focus on the road ahead. Tell them you have to table the discussion till you can park the car and give them your full attention.
If you have friends or family members in the back seat, you must tell them the same thing. If you have younger children back there, then try to give them a toy or a book before you start the car. You can’t let them distract you by crying or kicking the back of the seat, or it could prove disastrous.
Changing the Radio Station
You may also find that if you don’t like the music on the radio, you might want to change it. If you can do that while you’re stopped at a red light, then that’s probably okay, but keep your focus partly on the cars or the traffic light ahead of you. If a car pulls ahead, then you must stop your quest for the right song or station and follow them, or else you will hold up traffic behind you.
If you have someone in the passenger’s seat beside you, and you don’t like the song or station, you might have them change it instead. Maybe you like to change the radio frequently, and you feel like you can do it while still focusing on the traffic around you enough. The one time you let down your guard, though, you might not stop in time if someone runs out in front of your car or someone ahead of you slams on the brakes suddenly.
You can probably think of plenty of other things that might distract you while driving. No matter what clamors for your attention, though, remember that you’re operating a multiple-ton vehicle, and you should act accordingly.
