Another Way to Limit Your Likelihood of Getting into a Charlotte Auto Accident (And Make More Friends, Too!)
There’s something that you can do right now – and for the rest of your life – that should not only substantially limit your lifetime risk of a serious Charlotte auto accident but also win you new friends and make your life more joyful.
Clean your car.
That’s it? Clean your car? That’s it.
That may sound like a condescending advice, but there’s a lot of logic behind it. Let’s unpack this concept: it should hopefully be useful for you, whether you’ve just been involved in a auto accident in North Carolina (and you want to reduce your risk of ever being in one again) or you are just curious about “out of the box” safety ideas.
The clutter that accumulates in our automobiles – old McDonald’s bags, flyers people left on your dashboard, coffee cups, newspapers from work and school, etc – can create safety hazards for a number of reasons.
1. The trash can physically interfere with your driving during crucial moments.
For instance, a tennis ball left in the backseat could potentially roll under the gas or the brake and impede your ability to work the pedals during an emergency moment. Alternatively, a big gust of wind could blow paper in front of your face while you’re making a tricky turn on the freeway.
2. Second of all, if you keep a “gross” environment in your car, it may actually impact the way you think about yourself.
The trash heap could lead to subconscious thoughts to the effect of “my life is a mess, I can’t control anything, etc.” When you have thoughts like that running through your head, you might be less assertive and successful when it comes to making critical decisions behind the wheel.
3. When you allow clutter to fill up your personal space – be it an office, car, or closet — you may find it far more difficult to concentrate on bigger, important “thinking projects.”
Productivity guru David Allen calls these unprocessed bits of information “open loops.” They can wrap up our attention and prevent us from being productive in important areas of our lives. As a result of this productivity deficit, you may feel more agitated, stressed, sleepless, unhealthy, etc – and this physical manifestation of your disorderliness can ultimately impact your driving skills by reducing your reaction times, etc.
Obviously, driving with a messy car is less dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol or driving while texting a friend or posting tweets. But over the long-term – years, decades – a dirty car can probably spike your risk of a crash in a non-negligible way. The trick is not just to clean your car once but to clean it and keep it clean. That’s a topic for another day, but if you’re looking for a “back door” way to improve automotive safety, that might just might be one.
For help dealing with the legal ramifications of your Charlotte auto accident, get in touch with the DeMayo Law team immediately for a free case consultation.
