Wrecks Caused by Drivers Who Admit Unsafe Habits
Every 13 minutes, a car accident or crash kills someone in the United States. Fatalities range across anyone who uses roads, including drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. Statistically, young people are most likely to suffer from car accident injuries and deaths. What the Strom Law Firm, L.L.C. SC Car Accident Attorneys discovered is that, according to AAA, accidents are statistically caused by unsafe driving habits. SC distracted driving accidents are nothing new, but they are preventable, and distracted drivers should be held accountable.
The latest AAA survey shows that while drivers understand the severity of these statistics, and understand that distracted driving, DUI, and drowsiness can cause car accidents, drivers choose to engage in these activities anyway. They routinely condemn others for risky behavior, but they refuse to change their own bad and unsafe driving habits. Sadly, you can extrapolate from this that SC car accidents are frequently caused by unsafe drivers and therefore preventable.
The 2014 AAA safety survey, like the previous year’s survey, revealed a “Do As I Say, Not As I Do” attitude among drivers, which the car insurance company said was largely responsible for car accidents in the US. Using a sample of 2,705 licensed drivers aged 16 and older, the survey was online between August and October 2014.
The car accident and driver safety survey found that 1 in 10 participants had been seriously injured in a car accident or crash, and nearly 1 in 5 had been involved in a car accident. Almost 1 in 3 drivers knew someone who had been involved in a serious car accident. About 61% of participants claimed that “aggressive driving” is a bigger problem now than three years ago; 85% made the same claim regarding distracted driving. Almost half said drunk driving or intoxicated driving was a growing cause of car accidents. Five out of six of the survey’s respondents agreed that it is important to reduce the number of people killed in car accidents to zero.
However, when drivers were asked about their own risky behaviors, nearly 36% admitted to running red lights sometime in the past 30 days; almost 44% admitted to speeding on residential streets; 36% of respondents admitted to reading texts or emails while driving, and 27% admitted to having typed a text or email while driving; and 29% of respondents admitted to driving while tired, which can be just as deadly as driving while drunk. However, in each case, at least half the respondents, often two-thirds, stated that these unsafe behaviors were unacceptable.
The safety survey also showed that drivers believe that hands-free devices are safer to use while driving, which previous studies show is statistically untrue: hands-free devices still cause distracted driving.
“While the decline in traffic fatalities nationally and locally in recent years signifies a positive trend, far too many people are still engaged in unsafe and risky behavior patterns behind the steering wheel,” said John B. Townsend II, AAA Mid-Atlantic’s Manager of Public and Government Affairs. “This deep-seated cognitive dissonance – where our thoughts and attitude don’t mesh with our behavioral decisions while driving – is one of the greatest obstacles preventing us from improving safety on our roads. Traffic safety is a mindset. It isn’t just about manual proficiency.”
The SC Car Accident Attorney at the Strom Law Firm Can Help with Car Accident Injury and Wrongful Death Cases
Although many of the people we represent in these cases are from right here in South Carolina, our lawyers routinely take clients from throughout the Southeastern U.S. and, in certain types of product liability or pharmaceutical cases, from across the country as well. If you or a loved one has been injured or killed through no fault of your own, whether from a defective product or in a car accident, you may have a wrongful death or personal injury case. Contact the South Carolina wrongful death attorneys at the Strom Law Firm, LLC today for a free, no-cost consultation today. 803.252.4800
