What's the Number One Cause of Car Accidents?

     Have you ever been driving down the road when all of a sudden a song you can't stand comes on, so of course you have to change it. You have to keep turning the dial until you find a good station. Then you realize you're hungry, so you reach into your bag and grab a granola bar to munch on. Badink badink, you got a text message. You don't know who it is but it might be important so you have to check. It's your boyfriend so you decide to text him back. Everything that was just described falls under the category of distracted driving. Distracted driving is the number one cause of car accidents in America.

     In 2011, 23% of auto collisions involved cell phones; that's 1.3 million crashes. The safest thing you could do is turn your cell phone off when you get in the car. Whatever someone has to say can wait, it's not worth putting yourself in danger. It's becoming a common misconception that texting while driving is normal and can be done safely. A group called Responsible Young Drivers did an experiment that tricked young people into thinking that in order to pass their driving test they must perform a new task: texting and driving. It proved to be incredibly distracting and quite impossible. Click HERE to see their reactions. If you simply cannot turn your cell  phone off, the next best thing to do is use a Bluetooth system that will allow you to speak on the phone through the radio.

 

     While eating and changing the radio stations are both very distracting and extremely dangerous, driver fatigue is actually the next most dangerous way to drive. Last year 37% of adults in the United States admitted to falling asleep behind the wheel. And out of that 37, 13% admitted to doing it at least once a month! When you drive drowsy you're not only putting yourself at risk, but also everyone who is driving around you. Here are some tips to avoid driver fatigue. Get a good nights sleep, don't drive more than 8 to 10 hours in a day, stop for a break every 2 hours, share the driving whenever possible, don't consume any form of alcohol, and don't travel at times you'd normally be sleeping. And if you do feel yourself becoming extremely drowsy, pull over and take a quick 15-minute power nap.

Remember these tips and you can become a safer, more focused driver.