While you may be familiar with the common causes of car accidents, like speeding or texting while driving, there are some more obscure reasons that you may haven’t thought about. Regardless of the reason why an accident happened, the results of the accident can be devastating. Let’s look into some unexpected reasons why car accidents happen and what you can do to avoid these situations.
Driving While Upset
You’ve likely heard of the dangers of aggressive drivers. They tend to tailgate, speed, and weave through traffic. While you may not be conscious of driving in this manner, sometimes you may find you’re upset behind the wheel. If you’re angry, crying, or otherwise not in control, then you’re not able to safely drive.
Tears can obscure your vision and you’re likely more focused on what is upsetting you than driving safely. This could make it easy to miss details on the road, like slowing traffic ahead of you or a speed limit change.
If you are upset while behind the wheel, find the next safe exit to pull over and put the car in park. Then, you can take some time to calm down before resuming your drive again.
Drinking a Hot Beverage
Whether you’re drinking morning coffee or decided to get another hot beverage as a treat, it can be extremely dangerous to try and drink it while driving. You may not realize how hot the drink is. If your cup is paper and doesn’t have a sleeve, you could burn your hand, drop your drink, and scald your legs.
If the cup doesn’t indicate how hot the drink is, you may think it’s safe to drink. However, you can also burn your mouth from a hot drink. These unpleasant surprises can make you lose control of your vehicle and possibly cause an accident. If an accident does occur, the scalding liquid can also cause burn injuries.
The best way to avoid this situation is to not drink the beverage as you drive. If you are going to drive with a hot beverage, make sure it’s in a secure cup that’s not going to spill.
Moving Objects
When you’re driving, you may have loose items in your car. A purse, bag, or even a water bottle could be in the passenger seat beside you. As you’re driving, the bag could tip over and the contents could spill onto the floor, or your water bottle could fall to the floor and begin to roll around. This can be bothersome to any driver, so it’s common to try and reach for the moving object so you can set it back in its place. However, when you’re reaching for an object, you’re taking a hand off the wheel and your eyes off the road.
If you have to lean over far enough, your head could go below the dashboard, completely obstructing your vision of the road. When this happens, you can easily lose control of your wheel if you drift out of your lane or you can easily hit another car, person, or object that you didn’t see in front of you.
Before you begin driving, make sure your items in the car are secure. While items falling to the floor can be annoying, wait until you get to your destination and safely stop the car before picking them up.
Insect Distractions
While these are uncommon, insects can still cause dangerous distractions when you’re behind the wheel. If you’re on the highway and a spider drops down near your face, the common reaction will probably be to swat at it. But then you may be panicked about where the spider went and if it’s going to crawl on you.
The same kind of panic may also happen if a flying insect is in your car, especially a type of bee that can sting you. As a driver, you need to be focused on the road, but you’re probably more focused on the bug not touching you.
Before you put your car in drive and get on to the road, give your car a quick inspection to make sure there aren’t any insects in it. This way, you can be confident that you won’t have any bug-related distractions to worry about while you’re driving.
Do You Need Representation?
If a driver caused a crash that injured you, McMath Woods P.A. may be able to help you file a car accident claim. You deserve to recover for the injuries and damages from the crash. Having us at your side is the best way to protect your rights. Get in touch with our firm today.
