Please put away your phone while driving. Ok, good job...you've only eliminated 25 percent of distracted driving automobile crashes. Seriously…put down the fries and let's talk.
Stop Combining Burgers and Boulevards
Before the glut of smartphones hit the market, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that four in five accidents were caused by people eating while driving. It makes sense, in fact all five of them. You are using touch, smell and taste for the burger or sandwich in your hand, as well as to wipe off the grease on fingers that should be gripping the wheel instead.
If you are "cautious" then you are also avoiding accidents using your other two senses, eyes and ears focused on the road. Coffee was the worst culprit in causing car accidents in Colorado and other states, then tacos and other foods that fall apart, are greasy or are both. So with the advent of smartphones, does some of that go away? No one wants to touch their screen and leave it a mess. Of course, there are other factors at play, too.
Other Types of Distracted Driving
There is a reason that Colorado graduated driving licenses place restrictions on teenage drivers. According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, until the age of 18, drivers cannot use their cell phones, drive past their curfew or have more than one passenger. For the first six months, that passenger has to be 21 years or older.
That points to two key problems that people of ALL AGES face when attempting to prevent distracted driving accidents. One is talking with passengers. It can narrow your field of vision which is already lower than you might think. At highway speeds, you can actually only see a fraction of the roughly 140 degrees of vision you would have at a standing stop. Focusing on the rear-view mirror only lessens that.
Further, when you consider that fixing the station on your stereo or fiddling with the volume may take all of your eyesight off the road, things can get very dangerous very quickly. Even when one see that eating and cell phone use are the overwhelmingly dominant causes of Colorado car accidents, it's unfair to target only teen drivers when it comes to minimizing the risks involved. Anything that distracts you will make it harder to focus on the road. When that means a 3,500 lb. car is rocketing down I-25 at 65 MPH, it makes a huge difference.
Get Help with Your Distracted Driving Accident Injuries Today
Regardless of state statutes, personal injury attorneys at Anderson Hemmat have helped victims of auto accidents caused by texting while driving and of course auto accidents caused by all other types of distracted driving. Call us at (303) 782-9999 or fill out the quick case evaluation form today for a no-cost, hassle-free consultation about your potential Colorado auto accident injury case.
