North Carolina Car Accident Lawyer Blog

One of the scary statistics thrown out by reporters who cover the often-tragic news about North Carolina car accidents is the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration’s estimate that 40,000 Americas die every year in motor vehicle crashes. Millions more get injured, and the threats posed by distracted drivers (yammering on cell phones, et cetera) seem to mount daily.

So, what can you do to protect yourself and your family and reduce your risk not only of getting into accidents, but also of getting hurt?

Here are 3 tips that you may not have thought about before:

1. Give yourself more time to get places.

Think about the converse – giving yourself “not enough” time to make an appointment. When rushed, you will tend to get stressed and engage in slightly riskier behavior – doing things like speeding across an intersection to make a yellow light, going a little faster than you normally would, and maybe acting a little bit more aggressively. When you have plenty of time to get where you need to go, however, you don’t do these things – and you may even pay more attention to your driving. Will this radically decrease your likelihood of getting into a North Carolina car accident? Chances are, not. Maybe, for instance, it reduces your accident risk rate for any one trip by something minuscule like 0.05%. But when you extrapolate that over a lifetime, it can add up to serious “savings” in terms of security.

2. Don’t engage in any distractions – not the radio, not conversations with passengers – focus only on the road.

We think of listening to the radio, talking to passengers, and letting our minds “wander” while we drive as relatively innocuous behaviors. And they very might well be. But we also know that certain kinds of driver distraction – including fatigue, talking on the cell phone, driving while under the influence of drugs/alcohol – are clearly extremely dangerous.

Along the continuum of driver attention/inattention, it’s probably relatively safe to sing along to the radio and chat with the passengers in your car. But it also might be true that there could be some benefit in tuning out ALL distractions. Turn off that radio, stop talking, simply pay as much attention as possible to driving. Now this may seem silly and “overly cautious” – and again, it might be. But maybe you will get some additional safety benefits from being “ultra mindful” about your driving that you wouldn’t ordinarily get. Again, it’s probably like our first example – your safety “benefits” may be extremely minuscule for a single trip – but if you practice this habit over a lifetime, you might shave down your odds of getting into trouble.

3. Minimize the driving you have to do.

This may sound nearly “Anti American” in its sentiment. After all, Americans love the open road, and we love the freedom that motor vehicles provide us. But it’s an odds game. The more driving you do, the more potential you have for getting into trouble. By cutting down on your driving hours – even just a little bit – you will decrease your odds. Think about this basic probability. For instance, your odds of winning a million dollar lottery draw by buying one ticket are very low. But if you purchase hundreds of thousands of tickets, they go significantly up. Clock-in fewer miles, and you will decrease your likelihood of getting into accidents.

If you or someone you care about has unfortunately been in an accident recently, a North Carolina auto accident law firm can help quite a bit. A good legal team can help you get compensation for your injuries, time off, and property damage.

More Web Resources:

How to Drive Less

What ARE Driver Distractions?