North Carolina Car Accident Lawyer Blog

One of the great things about creating content for a North Carolina auto accident blog is that you get to explore different speculative and theoretical ideas that could help accident victims and also spark critical conversations in the policy establishment.

The “mainstream” media and policy people focus on standard “stuff”, like fighting DUIs, getting people to put down their cell phones while driving, etc.

But looking at seemingly minor elements that define/contribute to auto accidents has value, too!

One common theme we keep coming back to is… how your driving behaviors and attitudes can radically influence your accident risk.

To illustrate, here’s a cool thought experiment.

Imagine you’re stuck on the freeway. You glance at your fuel gauge and notice that you are almost out of gas. Maybe you have a mile left on your tank, maybe five miles. But you’re close to running out of fuel. Imaging the panic that would grip you. How would your imminent fuel shortage problem change your driving behavior? Would you speed more? Cut through traffic? Make riskier decisions?

Almost certainly, you would.

This illustrates a hugely important point – namely, that the focus we maintain while driving radically, subconsciously influences how we drive.

Small factors — like the amount of stress we’re under, our fatigue levels, our general distractibility — might not seem that important over the short term. Indeed, all that psychological “stuff” probably won’t make a measurable difference on any given trip.

But over time — over tens of thousands of miles driven, and years of driving — those little subtle factors can add up to big risk. Perhaps, we are too focused on the acute stuff — i.e. stopping people who are DUI or on drugs. Perhaps we’re missing a huge opportunity to encourage auto safety by focusing on getting people to generally improve their “driving mindset” – i.e., to drive without any distractions; drive while totally alert; avoid letting negative emotions like anger or annoyance interfere, etc.

Imagine, for a minute, if everyone on the road became highly aware of their physical and emotional states.

Imagine how that kind of universal awareness would change not only our accident rates but also our whole attitude towards citizenship on the road.

All that said, if you or someone you care about was recently hurt – or your vehicle damaged – you can put yourself on a strategic path by getting in touch with the team at DeMayo Law today.