Millions of people drive in New York every day. Thankfully, the majority of individuals don’t get into accidents, but crashes do happen. One of the most common causes of road traffic collisions in New York is distractions.
Why are drivers so distracted?
Stress as a form of distraction
One surprising yet common form of distraction is “being lost in thought”. Driving requires a lot of focus. In fact, it requires all of the focus of the person operating the vehicle.
Drivers may be lost in thought if they are stressed about work, have problems at home or are facing any other types of anxiety that takes their mind off of the road.
Cell Phones
If you look around New York City, then you’re guaranteed to see multiple individuals on their cell phones at any one time. Despite the dangers of cellphone use while driving being well-documented, some drivers still engage in this behavior. A staggering number of car accident reports include cell phone use as a factor in the collision.
Passengers in the vehicle
Some New Yorkers carpool to save money and the environment. While this can be beneficial, it’s important that passengers don’t distract the driver.
In the case of families using the vehicle for the school run, children also need to be made aware of some ground rules while in the car. Noise should be kept to a minimum, siblings should not get into fights and toys should not be thrown around the car.
You can only control your own behavior and it’s likely that you will come across many distracted drivers in New York. If one of them causes a crash that injures you, you may be entitled to financial compensation.