Does “Eating Behind the Wheel” Lead to Auto Accidents in North Carolina or Elsewhere? What Other “Stuff” Might Distract Us?
In your quest to be a safer driver and to avoid another auto accident in North Carolina, you have been researching safety tips and struggling to come to grips with some of the data that you found.
Nearly universal recommendations – based on compelling evidence and also common sense – suggest that drivers avoid engaging in activities that would slow reaction times and cause weaker behind the wheel performance. Some of the main culprits of distracted driving include:
• Using alcohol, drugs, or many prescription medications;
• Driving while extremely fatigued or ill;
• Driving while chatting on a cell phone or texting on a personal digital device;
• Fiddling with the radio a lot;
• Rubbernecking;
• et cetera
Assuming that you avoid all of these “big no-nos,” what else might you do that that could cause you trouble – and what can you do that might give you some kind of an edge – make you a hyper-concentrated driver?
Here are some ideas to help you avoid distraction even more:
• Don’t eat or drink while driving;
• Refrain from listening to distracting radio stations or getting involved in deep or emotional conversations with passengers in the car;
• Take extremely frequent breaks;
• Avoid spiking your blood sugar before or during drives with the drinks like colas or sugary energy drinks;
• Take regular breaks, especially if you’re on a long trip;
• Spend some time actively concentrating on just driving — just paying attention to your car and other cars on the road, instead of to your internal monologue;
• Meditate 15 to 30 minutes before every big drive;
• Enroll in a driver’s education class, so that you can refresh yourself regarding the rules of the road;
• Make sure that your car is regularly serviced;
• Ask a friend or family member – someone who drives with you regularly – to rate your driving skills and even rate your concentration on a minute-by-minute basis. Yes, this might sound like overkill. But imagine if you had data. How might it influence your driving in a positive way?
These suggestions might seem overly obvious and/or overly complex. But the point is that the kind of “pre-thinking” that you do before getting behind the wheel can have a dramatic effect, especially when aggregated over the long-term, in terms of your ability to avoid injury accidents in North Carolina and beyond.
For help dealing with aftermath of a scary, traumatic car crash, connect to the team of The Law Offices of Michael DeMayo.
