Anxiety can severely lower your concentration, cognitive abilities and lead to slowed reaction time.
Did you know that stress and excessive worrying due to anxiety can lead to a car accident? Let’s discuss how anxiety affects driving and how you can recover your damages after an anxiety-related car accident.
How Does Anxiety Affect Driving?
Generally, defensive driving requires you to be alert at all times. However, anxiety can severely lower your concentration, cognitive abilities and lead to slowed reaction time. Here are more ways anxiety can affect driving:
- When a driver is anxious, their mind often wanders, and they may miss road signs or even pull out of an intersection, causing a T-bone accident.
- Anxiety disorder can cause moments of extreme fear, diminished coordination, and confusion. When this happens, a driver may slam on the brakes, swerve, or unknowingly press the accelerator, causing tragic rear-end or head-on collisions.
- When a driver is anxious, their emotions run high. As a result, they can easily become angry and impatient and cause road rage accidents.
- Anxiety can cause paranoia, especially when a driver approaches bridges, water bodies, or tunnels. This could lead to an unexpected lane change, which could lead to a catastrophic U-turn accident.
- Anxiety attacks can make a victim dizzy. It can get even worse when it happens on a highway with fast-moving vehicles. The driver may become restless and experience difficulty breathing. This can take their concentration off the road and cause a fatal accident.
How Should You Address Anxiety Attacks When Driving?
If anxiety strikes when driving down the road, find a safe place to pull off of the road. This will help prevent potential collisions with unsuspecting drivers. You can also turn on your AC and slowly take deep breaths. If the symptoms don’t go away, park your car in a safe place and seek medical attention.
What if an Anxious Driver Hit Me?
If an anxious driver injured you, you need to file a car accident claim to help you recover compensation for your injuries and other damages you may have incurred due to the accident.
It would be best to work with an experienced St. Louis car accident attorney. Your attorney can help you avoid mistakes that could jeopardize your case. They’ll also help you get fair compensation.
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If you have been injured in a St. Louis auto accident, call The Hoffmann Law Firm 24/7 for a free case evaluation. We have over 20 years of experience and can help you determine what you are entitled to after a car accident.
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