Why Distracted Driving Is So Prevalent (and What to Do About It)

By Your Health Magazine

One of the most common causes of traffic accidents in the modern era is distracted driving. If you take your eyes off the road, even for a moment, or stop paying attention to your surroundings, it could cause a chain of events that eventually ends in a collision.

Why is distracted driving so prevalent if we know how dangerous it is?

After an Accident

If you were in a car accident with a distracted driver, it’s important to get to safety as soon as possible. Once you’re in a safe location, you need to call for help and seek immediate medical attention, even if you don’t feel like you need it.

Sometimes, the adrenaline of the car accident can mask pain and other indicators that you’ve been harmed. It’s also a good idea to gather as much evidence as possible while you can, immediately after the accident. Take photos and videos of the scene, write down everything you can remember, file an official police report, and consider talking to witnesses as well.

After that, you should contact an attorney. Your attorney can help you gather even more evidence, negotiate with insurance companies, and eventually reach a settlement that’s appropriate for the damages you sustained. As the victim of an accident where another driver was negligently distracted, you’re entitled to compensation for any harm you suffered to your person or property.

The Dangers of Distracted Driving

It’s not hard to see why distracted driving is so dangerous – and the statistics back up our intuitions. Vehicles are big, fast machines and roads can be congested and complicated to traverse. In order to drive safely, we all must pay attention to our surroundings at all times, as even small changes in our environments can lead to catastrophic consequences if we are unable to respond to them in time. For example, if someone in front of you brakes unexpectedly, you’ll need to acknowledge this and slam on the brakes yourself if you want to avoid an accident.

Distractions bring our attention away from the road. Even if we’re only distracted for a few seconds, we will be unable to react to something that happens in our surroundings – and even a few seconds of delayed reaction can be devastating.

Why Distracted Driving Is So Prevalent

If distracted driving is so dangerous, and so widely recognized as such, why is it so prevalent?

There are many competing explanations, including:

· Technology. Part of the problem is that we have access to more sophisticated technological gadgets than ever before. When you can access entire worlds of information via a smartphone, the temptation to look at the screen can overcome your survival instincts.

· Norms. Unfortunately, being distracted while driving has become somewhat normalized. It’s not uncommon for people to manage tasks while driving, such as texting, calling, changing songs, and more.

· Disregard of statistics. Many people acknowledge the statistics associated with distracted driving, but they see it as removed from them because they haven’t faced any immediate consequences for their actions.

· Inflated sense of abilities. Through the illusory superiority effect, many people believe themselves to be better than average at everything they do. In line with this, many people assume they’re better drivers than average, and that they’re capable of managing distractions while still driving safely. This bias can be devastating in practice.

· Many available distractions. The number of possible distractions that can affect you while driving are practically infinite. Even if you’re staunchly against texting while driving, you might be guilty of applying makeup while driving or something equally egregious.

What We Can Do About It

So what can we do about it?

· Laws. Nearly every state now has laws against texting and driving. In the future, these laws may be even stricter and associated with more consistent enforcement. Laws alone may not be enough to change human behavior, but they’re a good step in the right direction in many cases.

· Personal policing. We also need more people to be vigilant about minding their own distractions, and calling out others for their distractions while driving. Even the simple act of putting your phone in the glove compartment while you drive or calling out a friend or family member for texting while driving can make an impact.

· Extra caution. Ultimately, you can only control yourself. You may be capable of driving without distractions, but the drivers around you will likely be distracted at times. All you can do is exercise extra caution and avoid drivers who are driving erratically or inconsistently.

· Education. Finally, we can make a more concentrated effort to inform people of the dangers of distractions while driving.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, distracted driving is likely to remain a problem for the foreseeable future. Still, if you’re ever involved in an accident where someone else was distracted, there is a path to seeking justice.