Traditional forms of driving distractions
Use of a cell phone constitutes one of the most dangerous driving practices. The National Safety Council (NSC) reports that cell phone use causes 26 percent of all auto accidents in the U.S. Although using a cell phone behind the wheel raises a significant risk that a driver will be involved in a collision, distracted drivers caused many accidents long before the popularity of portable electronic devices. Despite great strides to publicize the danger of using a cell phone and laws in almost every state that limit or prohibit cell phone use while driving, the media and lawmakers have been virtually silent regarding other forms of multi-tasking by motorists.
Although a focus on cell phone use makes sense given the frequent use of portable electronic devices and the number of accidents they cause, many other forms of driver inattention also led to a significant number of collision-related injuries and deaths. AAA and the Network for Traffic Safety estimated that distractions play a role in as many as 25-50 percent of all auto accidents. While “distracted driving” has become almost synonymous with cell phone use, three separate levels of “driver distraction” exist according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- Manual Distraction: This type of distraction involves drivers removing their hands from the steering wheel to engage in some other activity with their hands, such as adjusting a GPS device.
- Cognitive Distraction: This term refers to anything that causes drivers to divert their mental focus and attention from their driving. Daydreaming constitutes a common form of mental distraction because a driver must divide his mental processes between two different tasks.
- Visual Distraction: This category of distraction results in drivers diverting their eyes from the roadway. Visual distractions include activities like rubbernecking at a car accident.
While any of these categories of distraction can significantly increase the risk of a motor vehicle collision, distractions that involve all three forms of distraction pose an especially dangerous safety threat. This increased risk from multi-level distractions explains the focus on text messaging while driving, but many other kinds of distractions also affect drivers in all three ways. Some examples of these more traditional forms of multi-level distractions include:
- Eating or drinking while driving
- Cleaning up a spilled beverage or dripping condiments
- Dealing with a child or pet in the backseat
- Applying makeup or engaging in other forms of personal grooming
- Manually adjusting a car entertainment system or GPS device
Whether a motorist engages in distracted driving by using a portable electronic device or any other type of distraction, a motorist’s inattention can lead to many types of negligent driving maneuvers, such as:
- Drifting into an adjacent lane
- Breaking too late to avoid a collision
- Failing to engage in evasive maneuvers when faced with a roadway hazard
- Following too closely or failing to brake for stopped traffic
These forms of unsafe driving constitute only a few of the ways inattentive drivers cause car accidents in New York. Multitasking drivers compromise their driving ability in several ways that include but are not limited to the following:
- Increasing reaction time when confronted with hazards
- Causing random variations in speed not justified by road or traffic conditions
- Triggering inadvertent lane departures and deviations
- Lengthening the time that a driver’s eyes are averted from the roadway
- Interfering with a driver making steering or braking adjustments
If you or a loved one has been injured by a distracted driver, our experienced New York distracted driving attorney can assess your case and advise you regarding your legal rights to monetary compensation.
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