Avoiding Texting While Driving: Your Safest Bet

According to a recent study, “five seconds is the average time your eyes are of the road while texting. When traveling at 55 mph, that’s enough time to cover the length of a football field.” Five seconds is a lifetime when a life or death situation presents itself, yet many drivers do it all time, thinking they have enough time to anticipate an accident, or cause their reflexes to come into play quickly and effectively. Not so.

Distracted driving is an alarming cause of accidents each year, and presents itself more often than not. With Bluetooth capabilities, texting, GPS, devices, and many more, it’s a wonder any of us can keep our eyes on the road at all. What are some ways that you can help yourself stay away from texting and driving?

• Avoid temptation: deactivate alerts for texting, email and incoming calls when you are driving.
• Keep your phone off your dashboard or next to you in an area where you can see. You won’t be as tempted to check it every few seconds.
• If you do put your phone away, put it far away. Put it in a place in your car where it would be very difficult for you to reach, so that you know you won’t reach for it. If you put it in a zippered pocket on the seat next to you, you will still fumble around to try to answer it as it is ringing. Making sure it is not close is the best way to avoid reaching for it at all.
• Have someone manage your phone while you are driving. That is the course most of us seem to take, as we still want to be in touch, but not have to be distracted by taking our eyes off the road looking for our phone, or looking at the screen.

Stopping texting and driving will take a huge reform of the way we do business and the way we lead our lives. You may feel like you can assert your own responsibilities when it comes to texting and driving, as well as helping you avoid other distractions. But, what about the driver who isn’t paying attention?

If you have been injured in a car accident involving a driver who was texting or otherwise distracted, your case may be long and difficult. Your Manhattan attorney will help you settle quickly and effectively.