Cruising into the summer months, many folks choose to head out for road trips and vacations.
Our Houston car accident lawyers want to do all we can to raise awareness about roadway dangers so that we can all enjoy a safer summer.
In 2011, the Texas Department of Transportation reported there were 58,000 serious injury crashes across the state, with nearly 80,000 people sustaining severe injuries.
There were a total of 3,015 deaths – a slight decrease from what we saw a year earlier, when the toll was 3,050.
Not a single day went by when someone was not killed in a motor vehicle crash in Texas.
Let’s try and break that cycle this year.
One of the best things we can do is limit distractions behind the wheel, starting with cell phones. A recent study by the National Safety Council revealed that crashes involving cell phones appear to be vastly under-reported.
Researchers indicated that they reviewed a sample of 180 deadly crashes that occurred between 2009 and 2011 in which there had been some evidence of driver cell phone use just prior to the crash. Of those, only about half were coded in the national database as having involved the use of a cell phone.
Even in cases where drivers had admitted cell phone use just prior to a fatal crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatal Analysis Reporting System only recorded it about 52 percent of the time.
Of course, this doesn’t take into account the number of cases in which cell phone use prior to a crash is all but impossible to determine.
What that means is that for all the information we receive about cell phones and texting upping the crash rate by two to four times, the actual risk is probably a lot higher.
In 2011, the state of Texas reported 40 cell phone distraction fatal crashes. Yet Tennessee, a much smaller state, reported 93. New York, meanwhile, reported just one.
Clearly, the accuracy of these statistics is questionable.
Last year, for the first time in more than a half a dozen years, the number of highway fatalities saw a spike. Cell phone use is seen as a huge part of problem.
So the first thing to do is to put your cell phone away. Have someone else check it for you or punch in the navigation criteria so that you won’t be distracted.
Another distraction that many people don’t consider is their pets. A lot of people drive with their animals roaming freely in the vehicle, particularly on longer trips. However, a recent study by the University of Alabama-Birmingham discovered that drivers who always drove with their pets had a crash risk that was double to those who never drove with a pet.
Your pet doesn’t understand that your lives depend on your ability to pay attention to the road. Do yourselves both a favor by securing them during the trip. If at all possible, leave them with a trusted caregiver.
And finally, before you head out, make sure you are well-rested. Any motorist who is getting less than six hours of sleep prior to hitting the road is at an increased risk for a wreck. Many studies indicate that sleepiness can impair your driving performance just as much – and sometimes more so – than alcohol consumption (which you should obviously also avoid before setting out).
The American Automobile Association estimates that one out of every six fatal crashes involves a driver who was drowsy. It’s simply not worth the risk of pushing your natural limits to make it to your destination sooner if you never make it there at all.
If you are injured in a Houston car accident, contact Hagood & Neumann at (800) 632-9404. Offices in Houston and Galveston.