How Much Does Chronic Stress Contribute to North Carolina Car Accidents?
Modern life is tough. Stresses abound, even for the relatively affluent here in North Carolina, due to the tumultuous economy. Do these stresses contribute to North Carolina car accidents? If so, how much do they contribute, and what can we do about the problem?
First, let’s dissect the issue before we embark on the more complicated task of “fixing” things.
When most safety analysts examine the “etiology” of North Carolina car accidents, they focus on relatively proximate factors. For instance, you might focus on whether the driver had been drinking alcohol, whether the car was well maintained, whether the roads were correctly engineered and the signage up-to-date, etc.
But rarely do analysts examine the more global, chronic factors that might be at play, at least in part, in many accidents. Chronic stress might be one of these. Here is the thinking. When drivers experience chronic stress, they fail to respond quickly to new situations. Reaction time is slow. One’s ability to “see other drivers as human,” the theme that traffic expert Tom Vanderbilt often comes back to in his work, diminishes.
Chronic stress may also lead people to embark on destructive behaviors or activities that further impair their ability to drive. For instance, drivers may smoke, consume alcohol, take antidepressant medications, drive while angry, drive while distracted on a cell phone, etc. Obviously, this thinking is somewhat speculative. To really establish a causal link between chronic stress and North Carolina car accidents, you would have to do some serious investigation. However, it is grist for the mill.
If we can assume that chronic stress does cause or at least contribute to crashes, then accident prevention experts should immediately ask themselves: How could we collectively better manage stress?
Stress management is an enormously broad topic. However, researchers like Jon Kabat Zinn (who is famous for his “mindfulness-based stress reduction program”) suggest that the attenuation of our attention can be fixed through the use of meditation, introspection, rest, and better nutrition. Reducing our chronic stress can, in turn, lower accident rates.
Call a North Carolina car accident law firm if you have questions or concerns about a matter.
More Web Resources:
John Kabat Zinn and mindfulness-based stress reduction.
Chronic stress dangers.
