{"id":1989,"date":"2020-12-04T20:36:38","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T20:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php\/2020\/12\/04\/overlooked-sources-distracted-driving\/"},"modified":"2020-12-04T20:36:38","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T20:36:38","slug":"overlooked-sources-distracted-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law888.com\/?p=1989","title":{"rendered":"Overlooked Sources of Distracted Driving"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Most drivers are at least aware of the main causes of distracted driving.\u00a0 Most drivers are also at least aware that distracted driving is bad and dangerous, though the knowledge may not prevent some drivers from making a phone call or <a href=\"https:\/\/law888.com\/distracted-driving-continues-to-be-a-problem\/\">texting while driving<\/a>.\u00a0 But even the most responsible drivers may not consider some potential distractions as potentially harmful.\u00a0 These lesser known but still common driving distractions can cause accidents, so it is best to at least be aware of these distractions as a risk.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Eating, Drinking, or Smoking<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Those fries may taste best when eaten fresh, but reaching into the drive thru bag to grab some while driving can cause a loss of focus on the task at hand.\u00a0 The same goes for any action that requires you taking a hand off the wheel and eyes off the road.\u00a0 Eating, drinking, and smoking all require taking actions that can reduce the ability to drive safely, and that is assuming that the actions are taken successfully.\u00a0 Any &#8216;accident&#8217; involving food or drink, say spilling a very hot coffee, can cause a major distraction that could lead to a crash.\u00a0 To avoid distracted driving, it is best to keep both eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Listening to Your Favorite Music<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Are you singing along to a song?\u00a0 Drumming on the steering wheel?\u00a0 Headbanging?\u00a0 Then you are likely distracted!\u00a0 Several studies have highlighted different aspects of danger while listening to music while driving.\u00a0 The findings from those different studies show that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you are listening to music you like, you may be especially focused on the music and not quite as focused on driving<\/li>\n<li>If you are listening to music that is being played at high volume, your reaction time to avoid a crash is slower<\/li>\n<li>If you are choosing what music to listen to, you are taking your eyes off the road and increasing your risk of a crash<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Driving with Passengers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Passengers pose a significant distraction risk to drivers. How significant?\u00a0 According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, talking with passengers is the leading cause of crashes resulting from distracted driving.\u00a0 And yet, the risk is often overlooked due to necessity.\u00a0 If you are driving and find yourself distracted by passengers, try to redirect your focus back to the roads for the safety of both you and your passengers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Moods<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Strong emotions are distracting, because when you are experiencing, anger, sadness, or any other strong emotion, you are not focusing on the causes of those emotions, not the roads.\u00a0 One <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/113\/10\/2636\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">study<\/a> even put the risk of driving angry at 9.8 times the normal risk.\u00a0 The increased risk would likely carry over to positive moods too for similar reasons.\u00a0 If you are extremely happy after receiving some good news just before hitting the road, you&#8217;re likely thinking a lot about that good news and less on the road as you&#8217;re driving.\u00a0 It is much easier to focus on driving after calming down.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Daydreaming<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The very definition of &#8216;daydream&#8217; includes the word distract, yet daydreaming is not often associated with distracted driving.\u00a0 It is not uncommon for minds to wander during a long drive, but if drivers are daydreaming, they are not as focused on the roads as they need to be.\u00a0 Drivers should save those pleasant thoughts for when they can enjoy them safely.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Collision with a distracted driver?\u00a0 We can help.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Law Offices of Scott Warmuth helps the injured victims of auto accidents.\u00a0 If your vehicle was hit by a distracted driver, our dedicated <a href=\"https:\/\/law888.com\/car-accident-lawyer\/\">car accident lawyers<\/a> can help you recover from your injuries, fix your car, seek lost wages, and pursue compensation for your pain and suffering.\u00a0 For a free consultation, call our offices today at 888-517-9888![\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Even the most responsible drivers may not consider some potential distractions as potentially harmful.\u00a0 These lesser known but still common driving distractions can cause accidents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-auto-accident"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1989\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law888.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}