Distracted Driving

Why is it so dangerous to eat or drink while driving?

• When you’re eating or drinking, you’re not paying attention to the road. Unfortunately, this can lead to you missing something important, like a stop sign or a child crossing the street, resulting in serious accidents.

• When you’re eating, your hands are occupied, and you can’t use them to control the wheel. This makes it difficult to keep the car in its lane and increases your chances of getting into an accident.

• The act of eating or drinking is a distraction itself. It gets worse if you spill your food or drink. You might reach for a napkin to clean it up, which takes your hands off the wheel and your eyes off the road. Sadly, when trying to clean up a spill while driving, you could lose control of the car and cause an accident.

Tips to Avoid Accidents Caused by Eating or Drinking While Driving

Now that we know why eating or drinking while driving is so dangerous, let’s discuss some d avoid these distractions and keep safe while on the road.

Plan Ahead: If you know you’re going to be driving for a long time, pack a healthy snack or meal that you can eat without having to look at it.

Keep Your Food and Drinks Within Arm’s Reach: This will keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road.

Use a Travel Mug: If you’re drinking coffee or tea, use a travel mug, so you don’t have to hold the cup in your hand.

Keep Your Food and Drinks in a Place Where They Won’t Spill: This will prevent you from having to reach for them while driving.

Pull Over if You Need to Eat: If you need to eat, pull over to a rest stop or gas station. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Speak with an Experienced St. Louis Car Accident Attorney

Despite being cautious, accidents can still happen. If you or someone you know has been injured in a car accident due to a distracted driver, the experienced St. Louis car accident attorneys at The Hoffman Law Firm can evaluate your case free of charge and help you determine what compensation you may be entitled to.

Daydreaming is a form of distracted driving that may be much more dangerous than people realize.

When we talk about distracted driving, most of us immediately think of mobile devices and how they’ve become almost attached to us. Of course, drivers are aware of the many other forms of distractions when behind the wheel, such as an intense conversation, noisy passengers, loud music, and even insects that accidentally get into the car. However, there’s another form of distractions we might not be fully aware of: daydreaming. 

A series of experiments conducted by researchers from the Simon Fraser University in British Columbia found that daydreaming had a significant incidence amongst drivers, who were concentrating on something else than driving for about 39% of the time, and impacted their ability to react to external stimuli and to adapt their speed to the traffic conditions. 

Daydreaming is not easy to demonstrate as the cause of traffic accidents, since it’s so broadly defined and usually lacks physical evidence to verify it, but data suggests that it’s grossly underreported and much more impactful than we may think. 

Why Does Our Mind Wander off When Driving?

Concentrating on driving alone when behind the wheel is obviously a requirement for cautious driving, but it’s very easy to get lost in thoughts, especially on long drives, when tired, or stressed by a difficult situation in your life. 

Our modern lifestyles and activities got us much more engaged in multiple projects, always connected to our social groups, being constantly entertained by our devices, regardless of our age or driving experience. Our brain is trying to be creative and entertain itself by wandering towards subjects of interest when we perform dull activities. In other words, driving might get boring and your mind starts to wander. 

How to Prevent Zoning Out When Driving?

When you’re driving, you can minimize the chances of daydreaming by keeping mental distractions away: your favorite songs played loudly, engaging conversations with others, an active mobile device that sends notifications, food that you can smell and see, etc. It might seem like an exaggeration, but these little things can make you think of something else than driving, and stimulate parts of your brain that are not task-oriented. 

It’s not easy to prevent your mind from wandering during a monotonous task, such as driving on a highway, since it’s what your brain naturally does. However, the most effective way of preventing a catastrophe caused by daydreaming while driving is to catch yourself doing it and going back in the zone. 

Practicing mindfulness and meditation are proven to be highly effective in being able to recognize when your thoughts are drifting away and getting back to your primary task. Besides taking measures to prevent zoning out when driving, we also recommend getting the proper auto insurance coverage for any unfortunate event.

Involved in a Distracted Driving Accident in St. Louis, MO?

Have you been hit by another driver? Whether he was daydreaming or just plain negligent, the burden of proving fault falls on your shoulders. It can be quite a challenge, especially if you also have injuries and medical bills to worry about. 

Get in touch with an experienced St. Louis car accident lawyer to learn more about your legal rights and to ensure that your legal right to compensation is protected.

Distracted driving awareness month has been a great way of observing this road safety issue and explore the best solutions for it. The 10th anniversary of Distracted Driving Awareness month was planned for April 2020, but the events were postponed to an undetermined date later this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Why Is Distracted Driving Awareness Important?

Several organizations and institutions join forces to raise awareness of the dangers of distracted driving. They engage the public in various actions, collaborate with companies to make driving safer for everyone, and aim for the same goal: reducing the number of car accidents caused by distracted driving. 

In 2018, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 8.5% of the fatal car crashes were caused by distracted driving. In truck accidents, distracted driving was responsible for 7.1% of the cases. 

When we analyze the data concerning teen drivers, the numbers are even more worrying. In this age segment, distractions account for about 21% of car accident causes. 

A lot of people tend to only think of mobile devices when it comes to distracted driving, but it refers to other types of distractions, too. Turning the volume up when your favorite song is up, browsing for a radio station, having an interesting conversation with your passengers or the kids being loud in the back seat are all distractions for a driver.

What Is the Purpose of Awareness Month?

As mentioned, a lot of road safety organizations are releasing informative materials in April to raise awareness about what should be avoided when behind the wheel. The “U drive. U text. U pay” campaign by the NHTSA is such an example, putting together statistics, videos of real cases, and testimonies to inspire people to take action against distracted driving.

What Can You Do About Distracted Driving?

Taking action as an individual is an important contribution to the collective effort to decrease the number of accidents caused by distracted driving. Taking responsibility and sharing information on the subject is something that will change the way we see such acts of safety rule violations. 

Reading and watching informative materials, distributing them to your friends and family, especially teen drivers, can help others drive more cautiously. Use the hashtag #DistractedDrivingAwarenessMonth when sharing relevant messages across social media and make sure you give an example by eliminating distractions from your driving. 

So far, statistics have shown that people are aware of the danger of distracted driving, but decide to do it anyway. By identifying the reasons why you might be distracted behind the wheel, you can come up with the right solutions for you. By using phone apps, instructing your passengers to behave, or taking breaks when you need to use the phone and you will be observing Distracting Driving Awareness month properly!

Have You Been Involved in a Distracted Driving Accident?

If you or a loved one have been hurt by a distracted driver, you have a right to compensation. Get in touch with a St. Louis car accident lawyer to protect your legal right to compensation.

While using your GPS is perfectly fine, you don’t want to end up in an accident.

As a modern driver, there is a good chance that you use GPS weekly, if not daily. This phenomenal piece of technology allows you to get instant, easy to follow commands in just seconds, rather than looking at physical maps or printing out step by step directions. Unfortunately, using your GPS has the potential to backfire.

Why People Love GPS

Some of the younger drivers in St. Louis don’t know what it was like to drive without GPS. Instead, all they are familiar with is the efficient process that it provides. All you need to do is have an internet connection and know where you’re going. Plug that destination in, and you’re on your way there with flawless directions. You can even have your system give you oral commands.

Better Than Maps and Print Outs

The procedure we described above is vastly different than it once was. About a decade ago, you would have to print your directions off of a website and follow them without real-time updates. Before the internet, you were working with either maps or memory. Both of those options can easily go wrong, while GPS typically does not. Using the latter technology gives you a remarkable amount of reliability where the methods of old do not.

How it Can Go Wrong

Unfortunately, GPS usage isn’t all positive. The reason is that is can be a source of distraction. While many people use voice commands to keep their eyes on the road, others do not, and instead frequently look away from what’s ahead of them. The biggest issue of all, though, is when GPS malfunctions. Whether the driver has to plug in a new address, restart the application, or carry out any other solution, that usually involves an extended period of distraction.

What You Can Do to Make Your Usage Safe

The good news is that there are two simple ways to make GPS as safe as possible. The first is using voice commands, which will keep your eyes off your phone, and instead, on the road. The second is not trying to problem solve in the middle of your trip. If things go wrong with your GPS, either pull over or let your passenger remedy the situation. Either way, you will keep your attention forward and prevent an accident.