The COVID-19 pandemic is changing many areas of our lives. Many of us are working from home, checking in on elderly loved ones, and concerned about the future. We’re consuming more news and may be feeling some anxiety. In addition to affecting our everyday lives, the current situation and the stress it can produce can impact our ability to drive safely in a few ways:
Rear-end collisions in Hollywood and Homestead are sometimes called rear-end shunt accidents. These crashes occur anywhere in Florida and across the country and in many cases are completely preventable. If you have been injured, you will want to ensure you have the compensation you need to replace lost income, pay for medical bills, and take care of yourself financially.
In most cases, these crashes occur because a driver behind the impacted car was negligent. Common causes of rear-end shunt collisions include distracted, sleepy, or drunk driving. When a motorist is not alert, he or she can fail to notice when the car in front of them has stopped, and this can cause them to crash into the car in front of them. Tailgating or failing to leave enough room in bad weather can also lead to collisions, as can poor road design or poor road repair. In these cases, if you have been injured in a rear-end shunt collision, you may be able to seek compensation for your injuries and losses.
Traffic accidents are caused by a variety of reasons, including road conditions, weather conditions, driver error, drunk driving, and other issues. Distracted driving has been getting a great deal of attention lately as a key reason why many roadway accidents happen. However, when discussions of distracted driving in Hollywood and across South Florida occur, we tend to focus on distracted driving caused by mobile devices and texting.
In fact, distracted driving is about a lot more than just technology. Even if you never text or speak on your cell phone while driving, you may still be driving distracted. One of the most common causes of distracted driving is in fact very innocuous: daydreaming.
Multitasking, or trying to accomplish several tasks at once, has been linked with increased inefficiency as well as distracted driving. Distracted driving in Homestead and across the state is a serious problem. When drivers take their eyes off the road, their hands off the wheel, or their mind from the task of driving, accidents can and do result. Multitasking can also increase the risk of workplace injury and other types of injuries, since studies show we are not as adept at juggling multiple thoughts or tasks as we think.
Most experts agree monotasking is important, especially with higher-risk activities such as driving. Monotasking means focusing on one activity at a time rather than many things. Monotasking means staying mindful and in the moment rather than daydreaming or thinking about the next activity. Studies have suggested this approach can make you more productive and safer—both at work and while driving. There are many ways you can ensure you monotask to reduce the risk of a car accident:
Distracted driving in southern Florida is undeniably a problem. We’ve all seen drivers texting behind the wheel, applying makeup, eating lunch, or otherwise multitasking rather than focusing solely on the road. This is despite the fact that the dangers of distracted driving are well known.
Drivers who are distracted have slower response times and maybe taking their eyes off the road for extended periods of time, putting them – and other users of the road – at an increased risk for collisions. Many devastating accidents have been caused by drivers who were focused on another task while driving.
April is National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. This is a good time of the year to take the steps needed to make sure that you are not at risk of causing a car accident in Homestead or your community because.
What can you do this month to make driving safer for you and your family?
If you drive in South Florida, you may already know that distracted driving is a problem on the roads. No matter where you go, you are likely to see drivers talking on their phones, fixing their hair, or simply not paying attention to the roads. Distracted driving in Hollywood and other communities causes many accidents, and there are many suggestions about how we can put a stop to it. But does this problem really have a clear-cut solution?
According to the NHTSA and other government agencies, the problem of distracted driving is not significantly improving, despite education campaigns and greater awareness. In 2011, there were 3,360 fatalities linked to distracted driving and by 2012 there were 3,328 distraction-related deaths. In the same time period, the number of people injured by a distracted driver increased from 387,000 in 2011 to 421,000 a year later.
Recent studies have shown that one of the most dangerous obstacles to overcome when driving doesn’t have to do with other drivers, poor road design in Hollywood or your community, or the many other things that we tend to associate with road safety problems. Instead, our minds – and specifically, daydreaming – contribute to a large number of car accidents. In fact, studies suggest that daydreams contribute to more collisions than cell phones.
If you want to stay safe on the roads and avoid traffic collisions in Hollywood or your community, you will want to do a quick mental check before you hop in the car. The simple precaution could save your life. A mental check means:
If you are fatigued to the point where your mind feels almost buzzed, you are not safe to drive. Fatigue affects a lot more than just your response times. It can also affect your ability to process information correctly and to make it hard for you to focus. It can also leave you more likely to daydream. If you are tired, take another method of transportation home. Fatigued driving in Hollywood and other communities already causes far too many collisions each year.
Drivers are often told about the dangers of external distractions. We all known that cell phones and distracted drivers in Hollywood and Florida lead to collisions. And we are all told that drunk driving in Hollywood and other communities leads to pedestrian crashes and other types of accidents. The good thing is that there are things that can be done about external distractions – but what happens when those distractions come from within?
It turns out that our minds may be one of the biggest culprits behind motor vehicle accidents. A study by Erie Insurance Group found that Cognitive distraction was five times more common a factor in car accidents when compared with cell phone use. Daydreaming in particular was noted as a key reason behind many rear-end shunt accidents and other types of collisions.
Stopping daydreaming-related car collisions in Hollywood and other cities is difficult for a few reasons:
Distracted Driving
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