3 DRIVING DISTRACTIONS YOU MAY NOT HAVE CONSIDERED

You, like most South Carolina drivers, understand the dangers of using a cellphone while driving. While convenient, these devices can cause immense distraction, and commonly, cellphone use results in a substantial number of serious car accidents. For this reason, you take the safety measure of putting your phone away while behind the wheel.

While this action is a beneficial one to take, you may need to understand that plenty of other distractions also exist and could easily result in car crashes. Therefore, it may also benefit you, your loved ones and others on the road to learn more about factors that could lead to distraction while driving.

Music

Most people listen to music in the car. It may be the first act of many drivers to find the right station on the radio or start their favorite track before heading out on the road. However, music could act as a considerable distraction. Drivers may become more distracted if they listen to their tunes at high volumes. Additionally, this type of issue may particularly affect teen drivers.

Emotions

It is likely that you will have a bad day or feel sad or angry sometimes. Did you know these feelings could affect the way you drive? Anger and sadness can cause immense distraction for drivers, and the likelihood of involvement in an accident increases substantially for drivers experiencing some sort of distress. Therefore, if you are feeling particularly upset for any given reason, you may want to take some time to calm down and keep your emotions in check before getting behind the wheel.

Needing a restroom

You may think that needing to take a bathroom break acts only as an inconvenience while trying to get to your destination. As a result, you may try to ignore the need to go and continue driving. However, if you have a full bladder, you could end up so distracted by the urge that your focus equates to someone with a blood alcohol concentration level of .05 percent. Fortunately, you can easily remove this distraction by going to the bathroom before driving and making stops when needed.

These are only a few factors that could cause serious distraction for you or any driver. Unfortunately, even if you do your best to avoid issues that may distract you, other drivers may not be so conscientious. If you end up in a car accident caused by a distracted driver, you may need to seek compensation for the serious injuries suffered and other damages permitted under state law.