After experiencing a car accident in Maryville, you may naturally form a mental checklist trying to determine what might have caused the other driver to hit you. Good road conditions rule out the possibility of hazardous driving circumstances, the driver not appearing to be drunk reduces the possibility of DUI, and unless the other vehicle was going noticeably fast, excessive speed may have not been a factor, either.
This can leave you considering the possibility that the driver was distracted. Yet he insists that he was not using their phone when the collision occurred. Texting or talking on the phone while driving, however, are not the only forms of driving distractions that can lead to accidents on the road.
Types of driving distractions
When you hear the term “distracted driving,” it may be easy to immediately assume that applies only to cell phone use behind the wheel. There is good reason for this assumption; much effort has gone into raising awareness on this issue. Yet distractions are less about the exact activity than the effects of that activity.
A joint research effort between the Auto Alliance and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons identified three major types of driving distractions:
- Visual: Actions that pull a driver’s eyes off the road
- Manual: Actions that require a driver to take at least one hand off the steering wheel
- Cognitive: Actions that draw a driver’s attention away from the road
Common forms of distractions
Viewed in this context, you can see that any number of activities can be distracting. Staring too long at road signs, talking to passengers, picking something up off the vehicle floor or a seat or even adjusting the car stereo can cause a distraction.
Another common form of driving distraction that few appreciate is eating while driving. Information compiled in a Lytx study shows that those who eat while behind the wheel may be 3.6 times more likely to be in an accident.
