These Car Accident Causes May Surprise You

There are some obvious causes of car accidents, and there are some not-so-obvious, yet equally disastrous causes of car accidents. The most obvious cause of car accidents is drunk driving, but in this essay, I want to address some of the lesser-known causes.

Roughly two years ago, I was working as a bank teller. I was given a 30-minute lunch break and, not realizing the break would be so brief, I miscalculated how long it would take me to go and pick up some fast food down the road, bring it back, and then eat it. Even though the fast-food place was only 3 minutes or so away, because of traffic, 20 minutes of my lunch break was already used up before I got there. I was doubtful I would make it back to the bank in time, much less have time to eat. In my haste to get back to work, I pulled slightly into the turning lane. The truck in that lane didn’t notice I’d pulled in, and it promptly dented the side of my car, leaving a few white streaks.

It wasn’t a severe accident, thankfully. However, it was also the type of decision I wouldn’t have made had I not felt pressed for time. Moreover, it could have easily ended a lot worse. 

That incident taught me that I needed to be more cognizant of incorporating traffic into how long I think some tasks will take me to accomplish. Had I simply come to work with a homemade lunch, I wouldn’t have gotten into that minor accident. It is important that you give yourself ample time to get to where you are going so that you do not make a costly mistake on the road.

Another way that I have addressed this issue is by choosing an employment path that isn’t reliant on a set schedule so that I am not inadvertently putting other drivers at risk of an accident. I am currently going back to school to become a technical writer for a software company, which is a form of employment that doesn’t rely on being at a certain place at a certain time. For you, this employment path may include doing gig work like Uber, freelancing online, or other non-traditional forms of employment.

Another serious, often overlooked issue connected to driver safety is drowsy driving. Reports from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that sleep deprivation was the cause of at least 91,000 car accidents and 50,000 injuries in 2017 alone. While drunk driving is the leading cause of fatal car accidents in the United States at 30%, sleep-deprived driving, or drowsy driving, lags not too far behind, taking up a whopping 21% of all fatal car accidents. The reason the percentages are so close together is that drowsy driving is synonymous with drunk driving as far as its impact on driving. After 20 hours awake, drowsy drivers are impaired at a level equal to having a blood alcohol content level of .08%, the current legal limit for most states. (Driving while drowsy can be as dangerous as driving while drunk 2023)

The best way to counteract drowsy driving is to pull off the road when you are tired and take a quick nap. After all, it is far better to take a nap than to get into a potentially deadly car accident. Other methods of keeping yourself awake, such as turning up the radio or ingesting caffeine, are only short-term fixes, therefore are not as reliable. Additionally, getting a minimum of 8 hours of sleep each night is a great way to protect yourself against accidentally driving while drowsy. 

Lastly, distracted driving causes a significant amount of car accidents. So significant, in fact, that a study published by the Chicago Tribune showed that 1 in 4 drivers were distracted one minute before a car accident. (Wisniewski, 2017)

In today’s world, distractions are practically endless, from cell phones to people in the car talking. For this reason, it is so important to practice discipline with your focus, regardless of how long you have been driving. Some easy ways to prevent distracted driving include having a “silence policy” when operating a vehicle with other passengers present and placing your cell phone on the opposite side of the car so that you are not tempted to accept calls/texts while you are driving. 

When it comes to driver safety, there are a lot of factors to consider. What’s most important, however, is that you take your own personal life situation into account. After all, only you know what your own personal vices are. Do you often need two or three cups of coffee before you feel awake? Perhaps you need to focus more on preventing yourself from driving while drowsy. Or maybe you must juggle several work-related phone calls in your day-to-day life and should focus more on having your cell phone less accessible to you while you drive. Whatever your personal situation, there is almost always some improvement that can be made so that you can better protect yourself and other drivers on the road.