Think that it’s safe to check that text message while you drive? Wondering if you need to pull over to give your child some snacks in the back seat, or can you just hand them back while staying behind the wheel? Considering when is the best time to change the playlist on your phone?
Maybe you know that these things are risky. You understand that they distract you from the road and that, in doing so, they can cause accidents.
The problem is that many people do not avoid these dangerous actions. They talk to friends, go on the Internet, use social media, send text messages, deal with their kids, interact with their pets, eat their meals and much more. Every now and then, you can even find someone trying to finish getting ready for work while they drive to work.
Do not become convinced that this is safe behavior. It’s not. It takes thousands of lives every year. In 2017, more than 3,100 people died in these accidents. That’s almost nine people every day.
And that’s just if the statistics are perfectly accurate. It can be hard to prove distracted driving after the fact. It’s not as if you can test for it the same way you can with drugs or alcohol. Some distracted drivers may try to hide the fact even when they cause serious accidents.
Distracted driving has been called an epidemic. Even if you do not do it yourself, you must know the risks. You have to consider all of your legal options if another driver injures you in an accident.
