Keep your mind behind the wheel to prevent Tampa car accidents

You're driving on 275 in Tampa or you’re on your way to Pasco County. You see a car weaving back and forth in the road and you immediately think that the driver must be drunk. Nowadays, it’s just as likely that the driver isn’t drunk, but sending a text message, programming their GPS, putting on makeup, shaving, talking on the cell phone, disciplining their children in the back seat, searching for just the right song on their IPOD, eating breakfast or perhaps some combination of these. In today's modern world as time has become less available and we all do our best to multitask, the car has become peoples’ second home or office. But unlike your home or office, your car moves and sometimes it moves at a significant rate of speed. If you are not careful behind the wheel, you can easily be driven to distraction resulting in a car accident Tampa that causes significant injury to yourself and/or others.

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration [NHTSA], in 2008, there were 5,870 people who lost their lives and an estimated 515,000 people who were injured in the United States because of at least one form of driver distraction. This information regarding injuries from auto accidents was taken directly from police crash reports. Of course, this doesn't include those police reports where the police were not made aware of there being a distraction involved. And of course since 2008, the number of things that may cause distraction when someone is driving has only increased. Since 2008, applications such as Facebook and Twitter have been introduced and have gained widespread acceptance as well as hardware such as Apple’s I Phone with its many various distracting applications, some designed directly for use while you’re driving.

In response to the growing problem of distractions causing car accidents, states are increasingly banning cell phone use or test messaging while driving despite the widespread popularity of this activity. As you would expect, the largest user of text messages and to some extent cell phones, are teenagers, who in particular lack the experience to be able to drive and text safely.
This issue has become such a concern that the US transportation Secretary led a distracted driving summit in Washington DC in September 2009 in which he highlighted the under recognized dangers of distracted behavior behind the wheel.

Of course, the decision to put down your cell phone, stop text messaging, putting away all the gadgets that could cause you distraction while driving so as to avoid a Tampa auto accident with significant injuries, is much easier said than done. While eliminating the distractions such as speaking on your cell phone or texting on your cell phone would be the ideal way to avoid a car accident in Tampa, sometimes it's just not realistic. Instead, you might try ways to reduce the distractions rather than eliminate them altogether.

For example, you might make sure that the phone numbers that you're going to call are already included in your favorites or are keyed into the phone and ready to go. That way you spend very little time searching your contacts looking for a phone number or typing the number into your phone. Tampa injury attorneys will tell you that many of the most serious accidents are caused when drivers are completely distracted by drivers who are attempting to send text messages. This may be because texting requires a high degree of concentration, certainly more so than simply talking on the phone. If you simply must text while driving, you might consider having a friend type out the message for you so that you can stay focused on the road and avoid a Tampa car accident. You might also consider putting on your phone an application called Dragon Naturally Speaking which allows you to dictate into your cell phone a message that can be then emailed or texted to the intended recipient. You might also consider only texting when you are at a stop light. This isn’t a great solution, since the cars behind you may be expecting you to move forward when the light turns green and if you hesitate your more likely to be involved in a rear end accident. But in order to avoid a Tampa auto accident that can cause serious injury it makes sense to do whatever you can to reduce your distractions.

Car accident attorneys in Tampa will tell you that the best thing you can do is wait until your car is parked before creating, reviewing or sending a text message. Keeping your eyes on the road at all times can help to significantly reduce your possible involvement in a Tampa auto accident. In putting a stop to these distracting activities, you might consider that the amount of time you save multi-tasking using your communication devices in your car may be worth nothing compared to the amount of time and money that you will spend should you be involved in a car accident and have to spend months or even years tending to your injuries and wounds. Don't be in another statistic by continuing to be driven to distraction. If you have any questions, then contact our Tampa personal injury attorneys for more information. Our Tampa injury attorneys have a lot of experience in auto accident cases and may be able to help you overcome some of the habits that lead to distracted driving.