Distracted driving: How it impacts lives in British Columbia
If you’ve been in a crash recently, one of the causes that the police investigation may have looked into is distracted driving. If a distracted driver hit you, he or she may not have been looking at the road or may have had to swerve to avoid another vehicle. As a victim, you’re now in a position to make a claim for compensation.
Distracted driving can cause accidents that leave people disabled or fatally wounded. There are many ways a driver can be distracted, from talking on a cellphone to texting to eating in the car. Anything that takes a person’s eyes off the road or distracts his or her attention from driving can be considered a distraction. Even a second looking away from the road can lead to accidents, since cars travel at relatively high speeds, and drivers must make split-second decisions often.
Drivers who are distracted while behind the wheel are around three times more likely to be involved in an accident than those who are attentive during the drive. What’s the most common distraction? Cellphones. Just texting for a few seconds raises a person’s chance of being in an accident or near accident by 23 times.
In 2010, there were 104 collision fatalities in British Columbia where distracted driving was a contributing factor. Driver inattention itself is a factor in around 80 percent of collisions. Distractions can be caused by so many things it’s hard to identify them all individually, but things like screaming or distracting children in the vehicle, eating while driving or texting can all contribute to accidents.
Source: CAA, “Distracted Driving,” accessed June 03, 2016
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