Learning and following traffic laws won’t be enough to keep you safe on the road. Since traffic involves many vehicles on the same streets, you are only as safe as the least-safe driver sharing the streets with you. That is a serious concern because many drivers make bad decisions at the wheel.
Although bad driving habits can range from constantly speeding everywhere or drag racing on public roads to intentionally going the wrong way on a one-way street, there are certain habits that have disproportionate representation and statistics about car crashes.
The three dangerous habits below cause a significant number of the annual traffic deaths that occur.
Drunk driving
The oldest and arguably most notorious dangerous driving habit is drunk driving. These days, drivers also need to be on the lookout for drunk drivers. Anyone under the influence of mind-altering substances should not operate a motor vehicle. When they do, they not only break the law, but they put everyone else at unnecessary risk of a potentially deadly crash. Intoxication at the wheel has remained a leading cause of traffic deaths for decades.
Distracted driving
The new scourge of the streets is how popular it is to use mobile devices at the wheel. A shocking amount of people think it’s okay to occasionally read or respond to a text message or email while driving.
Some people just assume they can multitask well enough to look at their screen and drive safely, which is generally not true. Others don’t think about the risks while posting the social media from the driver’s seat of their vehicle. Distracted driving causes thousands of deaths and many more injuries every year in the United States.
Drowsy driving
Did you know that going for a long time without sleep affects your brain a lot like getting drunk? But someone has gone 24 hours without sleep, their driving skill will be comparable to the skills of someone over the legal limit for alcohol in their bloodstream. Drowsy drivers take longer to react to traffic changes oh, may have trouble focusing and could even fall asleep at the wheel.
Encountering a drunk, distracted or drowsy driver could cost you thousands of dollars and cause lasting damages. Identifying certain driving habits as illegal and negligent might motivate you to seek justice after getting hurt in a crash.
