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Cars make travel extremely convenient, but they can also cause problems on the road. Each year, car insurance companies and car accident lawyer firms report 10 million car accident claims each year. They range from minor fender benders to severely damaged vehicles.
If you think that you’re impervious to car accidents, think again. Statistically, the average person will end up in a collision once every 18 years of their life, whether through their own fault or the fault of another party. Those statistics go up if you’re under the age of 25 or you engage in certain reckless driving behaviors. Some of the most common causes of car accidents include the following:
Reckless driving
Reckless driving causes about 33 percent of all deaths in major car accidents. Examples of reckless driving include changing lanes too quickly, acting aggressively on the road, and tailgating. Beware these bad habits to prevent significant risks.
One often overlooked aspect of reckless driving is getting on the road without properly securing cargo in the back of a truck or an open trunk. If something large falls out and hit the car behind you while on the highway, it could cause severe damage to the vehicle and potentially cause them to veer off the road. It’s important to always use tarps, bungee cables, winches, and ropes to tie down cargo in the back of your vehicle. You can buy tarps for utes, trailers, trucks, trunks, and any other vehicle to ensure that you’re driving safely with your cargo intact.
Speeding
Speeding is the second most serious offense that could lead to death or serious injury on the road. When you speed, you tend to drive more aggressively. You also run the risk of driving too fast for bad weather conditions or overshooting a curve when driving in the dark.
Speed limits are set with your safety in mind. While you can probably go a couple of miles over the speed limit without a problem, going 10 mph or more over could be potentially fatal for you and others on the road. You never know when someone is going to slow down without using their brake lights or turn signal, and you’ll be going too fast to stop.
In addition, speeding is damaging on the budget. It will decrease your gas mileage by 33 percent and the average cost of a speeding ticket is $155. It might be inconvenient to drive the posted speed limit, but it could one day save your life and your budget.
Distracted driving
The number one cause of car accidents is distracted driving. According to the CDC, distracted driving is the cause of 9 fatalities per day and 1,000 injuries per day. Distracted driving is defined as any activity that takes away from your attention to driving. It could be fiddling with the radio, talking to a passenger, reaching under the seat for your lip balm, or looking in the backseat. Driving should have your complete attention, and there’s no room for error here.
One of the biggest culprits behind distracted driving is cell phone use. Texting while driving, looking up directions, surfing on the web, reading emails, or turning on music all require looking away from the road for about five seconds or more. Did you know that if you’re traveling at 55 mph, you can cover the length of a football field in five seconds? That’s a lot of space for someone to walk in front of you or a car to suddenly slam on its brakes.
You have the power to stop car accidents by changing some of your actions today. You can’t single handedly eliminate auto collisions, but you can decrease your risk of ending up in one.
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