The biggest distractions that can cause major vehicle collisions
**A contributed post as written for The Safe Driver by Pamela Richardson.
When you’re driving your vehicle, you should ideally keep eyes peeled on the road with only furtive glances at the speedometer, gas indicator, and side and rear view mirrors. However, as you might be easily bored, you may have distracted yourself from time to time in an attempt to break from the mindless routine of driving. But those same distractions can get you one step closer to getting caught in a vehicle collision. To avoid that nasty situation from happening to you, here are some of the biggest distractions that can cause major vehicle collisions and you don’t need at all while you’re behind the wheel:
- Using your phone
The advent of the cellular phone has made it easier for everyone to make calls and send text messages no matter where they are without having to stop by a telephone booth or write a letter. But this same convenience has caused drivers to occupy themselves more with their phones instead of focusing on their driving, most especially nowadays with the prevalence of smartphones and their visually appealing controls that add further distraction.
- If you don’t have any urgent calls to make or text messages to send to anyone, you should either keep your phone in silent mode or turn it off completely and store it inside your vehicle’s glove compartment. You shouldn’t reach for it for the entire duration of your drive.
- However, if someone’s calling you on your phone and you feel the need to answer it, you should buy yourself a hands-free headset so that you don’t have to use your dominant hand to hold your phone close to your ear and answer the call.
- And if you have to send an important text message to someone, you should pull over to the side of the road and type your message there. Besides, it won’t take too long unless you’re in fact typing a text message that’s as long as an essay.
- Eating or drinking in your vehicle
You might be in a hurry to go to work that you had no choice but to skip your usual breakfast at home. So you started your vehicle’s engine and drove it until you’ve reached the drive-thru counter of some fast food joint. After ordering a sandwich and some hot coffee, you decided to eat and drink them while resuming driving on your way to work.
- But as much as you want to drive and finish your food and drink at the same time, juggling two or more tasks decreases your attention devoted to each task and causes you to perform them incorrectly. Even if you don’t get in a collision while driving, eating and drinking in your vehicle would get it dirty faster.
- One way to avoid having to eat and drink while on the road is to wake up earlier than your usual time and eat breakfast at home so that you don’t have to get yourself a sandwich and coffee at some fast food joint’s drive-thru counter.
- If you don’t have time to eat at home, you can order a meal at some fast food joint and dine in there instead of taking it out.
- Grooming yourself
Another thing that you might not have as much time to do at home anymore aside from eating breakfast is grooming yourself. Thus, you decided to turn your vehicle into a rolling dressing area where you can comb your hair, put some makeup on, and spray your favorite cologne. After all, you don’t want to show up for work looking like a complete mess.
- However, multitasking while on the road divides your attention between driving and self-grooming that your mind gets fixated on finishing the latter instead of focusing more on the former.
- To avoid being caught in a vehicle accident after doing both driving and self-grooming at the same time, you should wake up earlier than your usual time so that you can groom yourself at home.
- Alternatively, you should make your way to work an hour earlier than the usual start of your shift. You can then groom yourself in your office’s bathroom instead of in your vehicle.
- Adjusting your vehicle’s stereo
Boredom is your greatest enemy while out on the road. One way to beat it is to turn the stereo unit of your vehicle on and listen to either the news or some music.
- You should avoid changing radio stations too often though. So before you set out on your drive, you should already make up your mind as to which radio station that delivers news or plays music for your drive.
- You should also turn the volume of your stereo down to a level that’s not too loud nor too soft so that you can still hear even the faintest sounds of the streets even with a bit of news airing or music playing in the background.
According to Rates.ca, distracted driving has contributed to 80% of all vehicle accidents that occur on the roads of Canada. And as if that wasn’t enough, the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has gone on record to state that more than 400,000 people have been either injured or killed in vehicle accidents that happened in 2015 involving drivers who got distracted while behind the wheel. Thus, you should start checking if you’re guilty of any of the above-listed biggest distractions that can cause major vehicle accidents and stop yourself from doing them. You’ve only got one life to live after all, and you can’t afford to lose it after driving in a distracted manner.
Distracted driving can result in major vehicle collisions. If you’ve been guilty of this kind of reckless behavior, you can click here to better understand the legal actions of your wrongdoing.
Pamela Richardson hopes to impart knowledge on the law to the common reader through her pieces. Pamela tries to keep herself fit 
and active during her free time and is hoping to one day to start her own new business.