Tips To Help You Avoid The Most Common Causes Of Car Crashes

Coastline Academy's mission is to eradicate car crashes. With our driving lessons, we are working with our students to create safer, more confident drivers for life. In the end, we hope, this will help lower the number of car crashes every year, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration stated in their Fatality Analysis Reporting System, there were 33,244 fatal crashes in the United States in 2019.

That means 11 deaths per 100,000 people and 15.78 deaths per 100,000 licensed drivers. For these crashes, most are caused by driver error. We are going to look at the most common causes of fatal car crashes and tips on how you can avoid them.

In-Car Distractions

Driving distracted is a dangerous game to play, which is why so many states have bans on texting while driving or even banning all cell phone use while in the car. When you are driving and using your phone, you are doing two tasks that require you to think. You may think you can multitask, but that is not the case and by being distracted, it will lower your reaction times.

When you are driving, you need to stay focused on the road. No cell phone use while driving. Children, passengers and even pets can all serve as distractions also, so you need to make sure pets are secured in the vehicle, as well as children and they have something to keep them occupied and not distracting you. Try and keep the chit chat between you and passengers to a minimum, as that talking can distract you from the road.

Speeding

According to the NHTSA, speeding has been involved in approximately one-third of all motor vehicle fatalities for more than two decades. In 2019, speeding was a contributing factor in 26% of all traffic fatalities. There were 9,478 speeding-related deaths in 2019.

The faster you drive, the shorter amount of reaction time you have to help prevent a crash. Speed limits are there to save lives and have been determined by a lot of analysis and research. Follow the speed limit and help save lives.

Check Your Mirrors

Failing to look properly is a big contributor to car crashes. The driver didn't look over their shoulder for a blindspot or they didn't check their rearview mirror before pulling out of a parking spot. As the driver, you should always be aware of your surroundings. You should be on the lookout for other cars or motorcycles, bicyclists and pedestrians.

Help reduce car crashes by staying focused when behind the wheel. Check your mirrors, check your blindspots and just make sure everything is clear before making that next maneuver.

Reckless Driving

Being reckless and aggressive when behind the wheel is just going to lead to a bad ending, with car crashes being one of those endings. Whether it is speeding or changing lanes too quickly and erratically on the highway or tailgating someone in front of you, any of these options are reckless and dangerous.

A lot of people drive erratically because they are running late, so they are trying to make up for lost time. Research has shown by driving erratically, it doesn't really save you that much time in the end. A good way to prevent this is to leave earlier for appointments, school or work. Give yourself time to get to where you need to be, so you don't feel rushed.

Driving Drowsy

Many drivers don't realize how dangerous it is to drive while feeling tired or drowsy. We often power through it or think by rolling a window down or blaring the music, all our problems are solved. Not at all! The NHTSA estimates that about 100,000 police-reported drowsy driving crashes happen every year. Of those crashes, about 800 fatalities and about 50,000 injuries occur.

That is just from police-reported crashes also, as the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety conducted a study and they estimate 328,000 drowsy-driving crashes occur every year. From that number, 109,000 of the crashes resulted in injury and about 6,400 were fatal.

Needless to say, it is very dangerous to drive while sleepy, so if you are feeling tired, pull over when it is safe and take a nap or call it a night if you are on a road trip. Take 15-minute breaks along that road trip, just to keep you fresh. If you are planning a big road trip, make sure to get 7-8 hours of sleep the night before.

As we work to eradicate car crashes in the United States, every small step we take will help get us to having safer, more responsible drivers on the roads!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to our friendly support staff. If you want to start your driver's training journey with Coastline Academy, make sure to sign up for Drivers Ed and book your driving lesson today.