If you drive every day, you know how dangerous it can be. In a split second an accident can happen, forcing you to have to pay close attention to the road at all times. But it’s easy to get lulled into complacence behind the wheel. Here are four car safety ads to remind you how important it is to stay safe when driving:
El toilette
This effective ad functions as not only a PSA, but also as a piece of art.
Hopefully you’re driving safe and never need one, but if you get into a wreck, you’ll need a Las Vegas auto accident attorney. Visit Hunt Law Offices for any legal trouble you may require. And leave us a comment: how do you practice safe driving?
In an effort to curb the rising number of accidents caused by distracted drivers, the State of Nevada recently enacted legislation mandating that any driver using a cell phone while driving must also employ a hands-free device. This new law recognizes what every auto accident lawyer Las Vegas residents work with has known for years: A distracted driver is an unsafe driver. Many people tend to use their vehicles as mobile offices, making their commutes to and from work unnecessarily dangerous.
The new law, enacted to coincide with the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year and featuring beefed-up enforcement as of January first, 2012, is intended to cut down on the steadily rising number of traffic fatalities, particularly those concerning pedestrians. We’ve all heard the same tragic story over and over again. A driver glances down to answer their cell phone or read a text, and didn’t see the red light or the people in the crosswalk (or, to be fair, the roadway).
Nevada officials recognize the dangers of talking or texting while driving, and this new law is intended to promote safety behind the wheel. When most people think of dangerous driving practices, they think of reckless driving such as tailgating, dodging between lanes of traffic, or drinking and driving. Very few people consider that behaviors such as talking on a cell phone or texting while driving can be just as dangerous as knocking back a few cocktails before going home.
Hands-free devices are relatively inexpensive and permit for greater freedom and attention behind the wheel. Of course, these devices have to be used with common sense. The content of a conversation can be just as distracting as looking down to read a text while behind the wheel. Drivers who engage in arguments or tangled business discussions while driving are statistically far more likely to be involved in accidents than those who don’t. When navigating Nevada’s roadways, a highly charged emotional state can be a fatal error.
If someone else’s poor driving decisions lead to you being involved in an accident, contact your Las Vegas auto accident attorney. Most accidents are caused by a combination of illegal or reckless behavior and inattention to what is happening on the road, and the new hands-free law is one we can all live with. There is no phone call or text message that is worth more than your life or that of someone else.
We’ve come to accept car accidents as an unfortunate side effect of our fast-paced lifestyle. The truth is that most accidents are easily avoidable by using a little common sense and some caution behind the wheel. Car accidents cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives every year, but they don’t have to! Here are some easy tips to help prevent you from needing the services of a Las Vegas auto accident attorney in the first place.
Hang up and drive: You’ve seen this slogan on bumper stickers, but have you ever thought about how it applies to your driving habits? Many people use their vehicles as mobile offices, sending faxes while knowing the Importance of Using a Secure Fax, texts, and communicating with clients on the road. This tendency to attempt to multitask is dangerous because it distracts from the primary task of a driver: getting to their destination safely. Also, multitasking while on the road has overtaken drunk driving as one of the most preventable causes of car accidents.
Don’t drink and drive: Especially around the holidays, people tend to overindulge in food and drink. If they’re not going anywhere, that’s one thing. Too much holiday cheer, especially of the liquid variety, can result in huge tickets, jail time, and even severe injury or death. When you’re celebrating, please do so sensibly. Make sure you have a designated driver, drink in moderation, or simply say “No thanks.” Safety begins before you ever get behind the wheel.
Know what’s around you: There’s an old saying: “When you drive, you don’t just have to drive your car, but those of everyone around you.” Being aware of what other drivers are doing is a great way to keep yourself out of an accident, so paying attention to the road and the other drivers is an important factor in safe driving habits. For this reason, you shouldn’t drive when you’re angry or upset, because these powerful emotions can interfere with safe driving.
Safe driving is a responsibility you take on every time you put your key in the ignition. A Las Vegas car accident attorney sees a lot of cases where the accident could have been avoided so simply just by using a little extra caution and common sense behind the wheel. Because of this, particularly during the holidays when so many people are traveling, it’s important to remember that the other driver may not be paying due attention, so it’s up to you to give even more.
While teens are the most common texting while driving offenders, adults are becoming more prone to this deadly habit. Whether it’s text messaging via SMS, Blackberry Messaging, Twitter and Facebook updates, or sending and receiving email, cell phone use behind the wheel is a dangerous distraction. If it’s horror stories you need, just look up your nearest Las Vegas auto accident attorney; motor vehicle collisions of this nature have been on a meteoric rise in the last ten years.
Those opposed to new and pending legislation claim it is a personal choice whether to use a cell phone while driving. Drivers should be allowed to decide for themselves how their ability to multitask stands up to the road conditions of the day. But recent studies on multitasking have clearly demonstrated that it is not just a skill most lack – it’s not really a skill at all. Humans do not complete multiple tasks simultaneously. Humans switch attention between tasks quickly. Allow this to reshape your thinking about using your cell phone while driving. You are not texting and driving at the same time. You are driving, then you are reading a text message, then you are composing a response, then you are driving again. If you see this behavior in a driver that causes a motor vehicle collision, you should report it to your Las Vegas car accident attorney.
The danger isn’t just in mixing written communication with driving. It is also dangerous to simply talk on the phone while driving – even on a hands-free device. Scientists have demonstrated that while talking on the phone, the brain limits peripheral vision. This “tunnel vision” makes it very difficult to see a driver pulling out from a side street or a pedestrian attempting to cross.
Another phenomenon generated by distracted driving is known as “inattention blindness.” The brain focuses on the task at hand – the cell phone conversation, the text message, the email – and as it tries to refocus on driving, misses out on vital details – stop signs, stalled vehicles, pedestrians. Some tests have rated distracted drivers worse than drunk drivers.
Expand the definition of “distraction” a little more to include eating and drinking, applying makeup, reaching for objects moving within the vehicle, passing items to passengers, or driving with a pet on your lap. Now it becomes easy to understand what a problem distracted driving is in this country. Imagine all the tasks you complete during your morning commute – imagine the tasks that other drivers on the road are undertaking!
This danger and the widespread and growing use of cell phones is in large part the reason that lawmakers have been so adamantly working toward a solution. Is banning cell phone use on the road so much different from setting a speed limit or criminalizing drunk driving? A free consultation with a Las Vegas auto accident attorney would answer these questions for you.
