One of the biggest reasons that automotive companies stay in business, and often do so well, is that citizens in the US take these purchases seriously; after all, the car may almost feel like your second home. In some cases, it may feel like your main residence—and especially if you travel for work.
Most of us do spend surprising amounts of time in the car every day, week, month, year, and over our lifetimes. We may become so used to driving from one place to another that we are almost on auto pilot, evidenced by that feeling of driving to many different places during the day, including home, and remembering little of it. Because we are in capsulated within our vehicles so much, it can also become very tempting to multitask. This is an extremely dangerous endeavor, however, and although it may save motorists time in the long run, it can also endanger the lives of many others on the road—with distracted driving today acting as the leading cause of traffic injuries and fatalities.
While distractions for those driving cars have always been present, the advent of the smart phone has stolen significant amounts of attention from those who should be watching the road instead. The phone can be all consuming, and intrusive too. You may not realize how intrusive it is until something goes wrong and you are in an accident because of the ringing, the dinging, the emailing, or the fiddling with various applications that are meant to help.
It used to be that drivers were distracted by more common issues—but just as deadly ones— such as eating, engaging with passengers (handing snacks out to kids or trying to tend to them from the front seat with one hand on the wheel), grooming, manipulating other electronics in the car, and the old standby: talking on the phone.
As a motorist, you are responsible for the safety of others every time you get behind the wheel, and your attention should be given to the road 100 percent. This is also very important information to pass on to your children who will be driving one day, may already be in the throes of driver’s education, or who may already have their licenses but are still watching you, and emulating your habits and actions in traffic.
If you are near an obviously distracted driver on the road, stay as far away from them as possible. If the problem is careening out of control and it looks as if they may cause an accident, contact law enforcement.
If you have been injured in a car accident due to the negligence of others, please call the law offices of Andrew ‘Pike’ Piekalkiewicz, PLLC as soon as possible at (713) 748-7453 or visit AttorneySgtPike for a no obligation case review. As a variation of the system employed in trucking cases, Sgt. Attorney Pike activates and deploys the Car Accident Response Team or C.A.R.T. ™ immediately after being hired and in appropriate cases. A team of specialized personnel trained in every aspect of car wrecks and injuries is deployed. Let us help you!
