North Carolina Car Accident Lawyer Blog

Statistical analyses of North Carolina car accidents probably don’t paint the best picture.

Sure, institutions like the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) aggregate accident reports and statistics to give us clear directions about things to do (buckle our seatbelts, e.g.) and things to avoid (drive under the influence, text while merging onto a busy road, e.g.). But our intuition tells us that the picture should be far more complex. In other words, some factors that cause or contribute to North Carolina car accidents are probably not caught by the “dragnet” of statistical analyses – these elusive factors are important but cannot be pinpointed by research.

Here is an analogy. In physics, only about four percent of all the matter in the observable universe is baryonic matter – the stuff that makes up the stars and us. The rest of the matter/energy is contained in stuff that we can’t perceive, even with our most adept scientific tools: dark energy and dark matter.

And, in much the same way, probably the deepest, most important causes of North Carolina car accidents are “below the surface.”

Perhaps one of the most important of these factors is jerky drivers. Not jerky as in “herky jerky” but rather jerky as in “boy, that driver was a total jerk!” jerky.

Jerky drivers are different from careless, negligent, reckless drivers. A reckless driver may zoom through a red light, cut you off in traffic, or tailgate you to the point that you feel a self-destructive urge to slam on your brakes to just send a message. (Obviously, don’t do that.)

Here are some examples of what “jerky” drivers do.

• Change lanes without using turn signals;

• Play thumpity thumpity thump music loud enough and with enough bass to shake their car as well as your car and several cars around you;

• Allow their cars to degrade until they are dilapidated, so you get the feeling the windows and doors may fall off the car at literally any moment;

• Generally act aggressively without breaking any laws or venturing over into negligence/careless territory;

• Do annoying things, such as flash their lights at you or flash hand signals at you as a way of conveying frustration or anger;

• Beep at you and other people without due cause.

Comedian Louis C.K. has a wonderful bit about the perils of jerky drivers. In the bit, Louis talks about a traffic jam he was in, where cars were backed up for like a mile. The driver behind him honked specifically at Louis (as if the jam was his fault) and yelled, “Move!” The driver got so mad at Louis that he got out of his car, walked up to Louis’s car, banged on the window, and demanded that Louis move. To move would have required Louis to perform a miracle of Moses-like proportions, splitting the traffic so he could drive forward.

Although Louis’ nemesis technically didn’t do anything illegal, he acted in a jerky way, transforming an already stressful situation (traffic jam!) into something much worse and possibly more dangerous.

For help with a specific auto accident problem, connect with an experienced North Carolina car accident law firm.

More web resources:

Funny Louis C.K. YouTube clip

Catalog of other “jerky” drivers