Does every car you see have a driver in the middle of a conversation? What did we do with all of that time we now use talking to someone? How about eating, texting, doing your nails, and maybe in my case polishing my scalp. Seems like very few people are paying attention to the tons of metal they have streaming down the streets.
The recent numbers from the Department of Public Safety are startling. Inattention or distraction caused nearly 19,000 of the 79,000 crashes in Minnesota in 2008. Those are the ones where people actually admit it or at least the evidence is so obvious. How many times does the driver not admit the cause of their lack of attention? But, it has always made me wonder why people drive through stop signs and lights. Why would you just rear end another car?
Looking deeper into the inattentive/distraction numbers there is even greater reason for concern:
– 11 percent of all fatal crashes (65 fatal crashes resulting in 74 deaths);
– 20 percent of all injury crashes (6,300 resulting in 8,999 injuries);
– 20 percent of all property damage crashes (12,428).
All of this is evidence that we really need to keep a better lookout. These are collisions that really shouldn’t be taking place. Also if you are in an accident , make sure to look around or ask "what were you doing?"
A founding partner with Bradshaw & Bryant, Mike Bryant has always fought to find justice for his clients—knowing that legal troubles, both personal injury and criminal, can be devastating for a family. Voted a Top 40 Personal Injury "Super Lawyer" multiple years, Mr. Bryant has also been voted one of the Top 100 Minnesota "Super Lawyers" four times.
2 Comments
Daniel 8791
YES, PLEASE pay attention while driving. I used to occasionally have "moments", mainly on highways during driving thinking to myself, I wasn't even paying attention for a minute or so. That is no longer the case as I believe this is something we learn to avoid as we get older and take driving a vehicle much more seriously than when we were younger. Check the mirrors, check the speed, check the following distance, and check for potential hazards on the upcoming roadway.
Mike Bryant
Very good advice, thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
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