People have spent a lot of time investigating car accidents, trying to find out how they happen and what can be done to prevent them. At the end of the day, though, the root cause is simple: People.
Human error, according to the National Safety Council (NSC), leads to a stunning nine out of every 10 accidents. The underlying issue with car, truck and motorcycle crashes is just that people are not competent drivers. They make a multitude of mistakes, and those mistakes lead to accidents.
It happens in countless different ways. Some drivers have too much to drink before taking to the streets. Others get distracted by their cellphones or other passengers. Still others drive when they’re far too exhausted to do it safely.
Young people in particular tend to make more mistakes, in part because they have very little experience. Did you know that 50 percent of teens crash their vehicles while they are still in high school? The majority of them — 58 percent — are distracted at the time of the crash.
Three different types of human errors, which researchers say are most common, are:
- Making mistakes while attempting to drive defensively, such as swerving into oncoming traffic.
- Not seeing hazards in the road at all or at least not seeing them soon enough to take evasive action.
- Driving with negative outside influences, such as distraction, alcohol, drugs, fatigue and the like.
As you can see, finding the reason for car accidents is not hard. It’s stopping those accidents that hav proven impossible. Those who are injured need to know their legal rights.
Source: National Safety Council, “Motorcycle Safety is a Two-way Street,” accessed May 11, 2018