The Three Types of Distracted Driving
In the United States of America there are over 3,000 deaths due to distracted driving each year, while personal injuries due to distracted driving are around 400,000 per year. If you get in an accident, it is important that you get the legal support you need. We encourage you to reach out and get the compensation you deserve regarding your distracted driving injury. At The Law Office of Fredson Statmore Bitterman, our personal injury attorneys have decades of experience getting clients in New Jersey full and fair financial compensation for their injuries caused by distracted drivers. Our track record speaks for itself. Contact us now to schedule your free consultation.
There are three main types of distractions that are responsible for impairing a driver:
- Visual
- Manual
- Cognitive
Visual Distractions
Becoming visually distracted occurs when someone is driving and, for some reason, they take their eyes off the road. They could be distracted by a bird, an insect, a fire, or a beautiful landscape. There are many other visual distractions that impair driving. Reading text messages, other drivers on the road, and GPS notifications are all common distractions that can lead the modern driver to stop paying sufficient attention to the road.
Manual Distractions
Manual distractions are the kind of distractions that lead drivers to take their hands off the wheel. This can be things like:
- Adjusting the radio, music, A/C, or other controls on the dash
- Applying makeup
- Texting
- Smoking
- Eating or drinking
When your hands aren’t on the wheel, you are endangering yourself and your fellow drivers. Fredson Statmore Bitterman recommends avoiding these activities while driving as much as possible.
Cognitive Distractions
We have all been there: maybe you’re on a long road trip or you just finished a long day at work, but you find yourself starting to zone out while driving. Maybe you are fuming about something that happened earlier in the day, or maybe you have kids or pets in the car who are demanding a lot of attention. In all of these cases, your driving is impaired by cognitive distractions. On the occasions where you are lost in thought or in a conversation, when you realize what is happening, one of the best things you can do is refocus your attention back on the road.
There are inevitably going to be distractions while you drive. You should avoid creating any extra ones for yourself — especially when, in truly Pavlovian style, you feel obliged to check the latest banal text message that *bings* you, a text message that almost always could wait for another time — for example, when you are not driving a 5000 pound SUV 75 MPH down a crowded interstate. Why put yourself at greater risk than you need to? And from the perspective of personal injury lawyers, we can say that, if you do get into an accident, being distracted is not going to help your case.
The Most Common Causes of Distracted Driving
To recap, there are three main types of distractions that you should watch out for that endanger you, your passengers, and other drivers. Those are visual, manual, and cognitive distractions. In no specific order, some of the most common, concrete causes of distracted driving are:
- Cellphone use (i.e., texting or talking on the phone)
- Adjusting music or other controls
- Not watching the road
- Applying makeup
- Other occupants, like children and pets
- Zoning out
- GPS
- Getting lost in thought
- Moving objects like birds or pedestrians
- Smoking
- Eating or drinking
- Other drivers
You should aim to avoid these activities while driving as much as possible. Doing so will reduce your chances of needing a personal injury lawyer like us at The Law Office of Fredson Statmore Bitterman. However, if you do end up needing a personal injury attorney in New Jersey, contact us today — we will work to get you the compensation you deserve.
