Sending The Wrong Message! The Reasons You Should Never Drive Distracted

Posted by at 31 January 2020, at 11 : 36 AM

Sending The Wrong Message! The Reasons You Should Never Drive Distracted

Behind the wheel, safety is your priority. When you are driving you need to ensure that you are focused on the road. Yes, it sounds like we are teaching your grandmother to suck eggs but the fact of the matter is that people start to take liberties behind the wheel. They get so confident that what they’re doing is correct that they inevitably form bad habits. One of the biggest problems right now for every driver is driving distracted. It’s something that we all do but there are many reasons that we shouldn’t. But what are the lessons we can learn about one of the biggest killers on the road?

The Agonizing Return To The Road

When we start to think about the fact that it’s a millisecond that can cause a massive accident, the return to the road after an accident can be long and painful. When we hear so much about accidents on the road, it’s not just the fact that the person is suffering from extreme pain or has to go through torture in order to recuperate but it’s also those nightmare scenarios that we hear about in hospitals and think they would never happen to us. Whether it’s a surgical sponge left in patient or a fight in the courts to waive certain medical bills it’s a nightmare, literally and metaphorically, to go back onto the road in the worst case scenarios.

The Legal Repercussions Of Distracted Driving

While across the USA there are various bans on cellphone use and driving, it’s not widespread yet. But those that are caught by a police officer are likely to face a fine of a couple of hundred dollars. The fact of the matter is that when a police officer pulls you over they are going to be annoyed at your sheer ignorance and lack of sensible decision-making. There are many states that ban handheld phone use for every driver but there are some states that don’t have a texting ban just yet. But they won’t be far behind.

It Impacts Your Reaction Time

While most of us would think that driving under the influence of alcohol is going to impact our reaction time, there are studies that have been conducted by various institutions stated that using a cellphone to read or to send text messages can delay your reaction time as much as the legal limit of alcohol consumption. In some cases, even more so! When you start to think about your reaction time while texting and driving, this is one thing, but what about when you are driving tired? We can underestimate the impact of driving while tired. And while most people talk about distractions behind the wheel relating to using cellphone use, reaction time can be inhibitor just as much when we haven’t slept. If you sleep for 2 hours less each night over the course of two weeks the sleep deficit you have is the equivalent of going 48 hours without sleep.

It Can Increase Your Insurance

If you think you’ve got an expensive insurance premium if you receive a citation for texting and driving and it’s included in an accident report citing you as the culprit you will have a massive price hike in your insurance rates. In fact, in some circumstances, the policy may be dropped completely. It’s far better for us to exercise some common sense behind the wheel purely for this reason!

There’s Plenty Of Handheld Technology

While you might think that there’s no point in investing in handheld technology but there’s plenty out there, meaning that if you have to take a phone call while you are on the freeway you can do it hands-free. There are many cell phones that have sophisticated voice recognition technology. So you can send and receive text messages without doing anything.

You’re Sending The Wrong Message

When you drive with other passengers in tow or you have children, how you drive is going to communicate a lot to them. While most people are sensible enough to know that you are being an idiot, using your phone or turning off the music too loud, when there are people that depend on you to drive them around you’ve got to make sure you are setting the right example. As drivers, we’ve got to have our wits about us but when we start to drive distracted and this becomes a habit we can struggle to undo it. Driving with other people in the car means you’ve got to set an example. And when there are people around you that look into how you drive, especially children, you’ve got to make sure that you are focused on the road. If you aren’t paying attention to the road and your children are watching you do this, what kind of a message is it sending them?

You Are Going To Cause An Accident Of Some Type

Yes, it’s obvious! But driving distracted or using your cellphone means you will cause an accident of some description. You might not hit someone but taking your eyes off the road for a millisecond can cause you to veer off course. We’ve all seen those people that are are too busy looking at their phone rather than the road. And we pass judgement on those people as being incredibly stupid but we don’t think the same of ourselves. You are much more likely to cause an accident and it’s even possible that you could have a significant wreck!

It Becomes A Slippery Slope

If we drive distracted and get away with it once we could think we are invincible. It takes a lot for us to veer off course in terms of our driving habits. But for those people that have a near miss or accidentally hit the curb because they look at their phone at the wrong point will likely get the message. But when we are continuing to do this, driving with our phone to hand or we turn the music up too loud, it becomes a part of our everyday driving habits. If you get away with doing something once behind the wheel it’s going to make you feel confident that you can get away with it. Because we all drive, to an extent, distracted, we feel that if we have done it once we can do it again. But this shows just how little common sense we have. When you are driving distracted or you feel that you can easily text while you are driving down a road you know very well one day something is going to come out from nowhere that you have no time to react to. When you’re cited for causing an accident or using your phone while driving the police officer will make you feel like an idiot. Because you know that it is idiotic.

Driving distracted is the number one epidemic behind the wheel right now. We’ve all got cellphones and stress on our person but we need to remember that when we are behind the wheel so much it’s a very simple solution. We’ve got to drive with focus and attention. If you’re distracted, the likelihood of causing an accident increases insurmountably And we can begin to think that because there are other people out there doing the same then it doesn’t matter! And while someone can easily go into us because they’re driving distracted, do we want to do the same? There are enough idiots on the roads but do we want to join those ranks? Distracted driving is culprit number one right now, so it’s time to stop this.

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