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Accidents happen on our roads everyday and a lot of factors are attributed to it. Some of them include bad roads, faulty vehicles and parts, environmental factors and over-speeding.
In our country, the crashes seem to be highest between September and December, and so many attribute them to “ember months” factor.
Road traffic expert, Shane O’Connor, however says that majority of the accidents involving teens are caused by drivers. According to him, six out of 10 road accidents involving teens are as a result of distraction.
An infographic published on his Twitter handle, shows the interacting with one of more passengers in the vehicle and using a cellphone are the two top factors.
He added that some of the road crashes are caused by
- Looking at something in the vehicle
- Looking at something outside the vehicle
- Singing and dancing to music
- Grooming
- Reaching for an object
An article by the Law offices of Michael Pines, also puts driver distractions as number cause of road crashes.
He wrote: “The number one cause of car accidents is not a criminal that drove drunk, sped or ran a red light. Distracted drivers are the top cause of car accidents in the U.S. today. A distracted driver is a motorist that diverts his or her attention from the road, usually to talk on a cell phone, send a text message or eat food”
To accentuate the fact that a lot depends on the driver, the writer listed other factors:
Speeding – Many drivers ignore the speed limit and drive 10, 20 and sometimes 30 mph over the limit. Speed kills, and traveling above the speed limit is an easy way to cause a car accident. The faster you drive, the slower your reaction time will be if you need to prevent an auto accident.
Drink Driving – When you drink, you lose the ability to focus and function properly and its very dangerous when operating a vehicle. Driving under the influence of alcohol causes car accidents every day, even when they are one the top causes that can be avoided.
Reckless driving – If you don’t drive carefully, and you may end up in a needless car accident. That’s what often happens to reckless drivers who speed, change lanes too quickly or tailgate before causing a car accident. Reckless drivers are often impatient in traffic so be sure to take extra care around aggressive drivers.