Every year in the United States there are over six million auto accidents. The financial cost of these crashes are more than $230 billion and almost three million people are injured every year in the United States because of car accidents. The fact of the matter is, car accidents are not rare.
Statistics show that there are three major causes for automobile accidents. Being made aware of these three major factors can help the knowledgeable driver avoid being one of the statistics referenced above. The most common known reason for automobile accidents is due to what is known as driver distraction. Although there has been no "official" definition for driver distractions, it has been defined as "anything that diverts the driver's attention from the primary tasks of navigating and responding to critical events." Basically, anything that causes a driver to take his or her eyes off of the road or paying attention to the situation at hand.
These distractions can be caused by the driver eating or drinking, grooming activities, tending to children or pets in the car or even something as simple as smoking a cigarette or adjusting a CD or MP3 player in a motor vehicle. Many of these activities cause a driver to remove their attention from their first responsibility, which is road safety.
Another major cause of car accidents in the United States are from persons driving under the influence of alcohol. In the past 10 years, approximately 250,000 people died in alcohol-related accidents. Drinking alcohol and driving a motor vehicle are simply known as a combination for disaster.
Another major cause of automobile accidents is failure of drivers to abide by speed limit laws. Many drivers don't realize that speed limits are carefully chosen to allow for certain contingencies, such as weather conditions, sudden turns and the visibility of certain roads. Obviously, if one exceeds the speed limit it reduces the time in which that driver has to react to any contingency that may occur on the road.
It should be noted that if you have been injured by a driver that was engaged in one of the above activities, his or her liability may allow for you to receive compensation for your lost wages, pain and suffering and other related costs. An attorney can greatly assist you with regard to helping you determine the liability of that driver and the correct amount of compensation that you should be awarded. Certainly the insurance company for that driver does not want to pay you full value for whatever injury the driver may have caused to you. Knowledgeable, experienced attorneys, such as those at Pellettieri, Rabstein & Altman, can assist you and your loved ones in the unfortunate event that you are involved in an automobile accident.
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