What Are the Top 10 Common Causes of Car Accidents in Urban Areas?
You never intend to be involved in an accident when you get in your car and start a journey. More often than not, a car accident is going to happen at a point when you least expect it, and it can have truly traumatic consequences, changing your life in an instant.
Although there are certain scenarios that you simply can’t account for in advance, there are definitely certain factors that appear regularly as the underlying cause of the accident.
If you have a crash and need to search car accident lawyer Utah, for instance, there’s a strong chance that the cause of your collision can be attributed to one of the top ten scenarios that lead to an accident.
Let’s take a look at some of the most common causes of accidents in urban areas.
Distracted driving is a prime candidate
When you look at the statistics for distracted driving it makes for sombre reading. It has to be considered one of the leading causes of most road accidents.
Whether you are looking at your phone while driving, or responding to a text message, these are just two potentially deadly scenarios that greatly increase the risk of having an accident.
The number of drivers using their cellphones while driving has reached epidemic levels and this puts each person doing this at a substantially higher risk of crashing.
Unfit to drive
Another major contributor to car crash statistics is when a driver is under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Make no mistake, drunk and drugged driving is against the law. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to have dissuaded a hardcore of drivers who drive while under the influence on a regular basis.
There are tens of thousands of crashes each year where the person causing the accident is found to be drunk or drugged.
Adverse weather conditions
Driving becomes infinitely more challenging when weather conditions take a turn for the worse. Poor road conditions are an obvious consequence of bad weather and that means drivers need to exercise greater caution when traveling through things like bad fog, snow, or even driving rain.
Sadly, there’s a minority of drivers that fail to adjust their driving style to accommodate poor weather conditions. This increases the chance of a crash. What these negligent drivers then discover is that they face liability for their poor driving behavior.
Road rage is another serious issue
We have all witnessed someone driving in a dangerous or aggressive manner. It doesn’t really matter what caused the red mist to fall, ultimately, once they have started to drive recklessly and aggressively they have become a dangerous liability to other road users.
When a driver lets their emotions get the better of them it can soon lead to a serious accident. Aggressive driving is considered to be one of the most common causes of collisions.
Going too fast raises the prospect of a crash
Another major culprit is speeding. Unfortunately, far too many drivers have become almost impervious to the dangers associated with driving too fast. Without question, speeding is a significant factor in a high percentage of crashes.
Data from the NHTSA supports the idea that speeding increases the odds of a crash. Perhaps more surprisingly, is that it is estimated that over 80% of fatal speeding-related accidents were in urban areas and not on interstate highways.
Running a light can have damaging consequences
It might seem like an acceptable risk to try and get through the lights just before they turn to red, but it immediately puts the driver and other road users in greater danger.
It seems that the sight of a yellow light incentivizes some drivers to speed up in the hope of getting through the lights before they turn red. That is a decision that can often result in a crash.
Running stop signs is another major issue
It is a similar scenario when talking about intersections that are controlled by stop signs. These are used instead of traffic lights in certain situations, but the consequences of trying to run a stop sign can be equally destructive.
Drivers who fail to obey a stop sign are running the risk of contributing to the estimated 700,000 crashes caused by these circumstances on an annual basis.
Left-turn accidents happen regularly
Improper turns also make the top ten of common accident causes. In general, it’s left turns that create the most carnage, although U-turns and right turns also generate their fair share of collisions.
In general, left-turn accidents tend to create deadly situations. A good example of this would be when there is a collision between a vehicle turning left and a motorcycle that hasn’t been seen.
The road itself can be a hazard
Even if you are driving sensibly and with the prescribed speed limit there’s always the chance that you might encounter a serious road hazard, such as a pothole, or some sort of debris that hasn’t been identified using a warning sign.
There are many examples of road hazards that you may well encounter during your journey. It is these unexpected conditions that help contribute to the road accidents statistics every year.
Lack of alertness is a major threat
Lastly, it is fair to say that many of us don’t manage to get the prescribed amount of daily sleep on a regular basis. That lack of rest will mean that you could be driving while drowsy.
Without question, drowsy driving is one of the main causes of car accidents. In fact, driving while in this sleepy state is considered to be a situation where you are almost just as incapacitated as you would be when under the influence of drink or drugs.
It is not surprising that drivers who are too fatigued to drive safely tend to have a higher chance of a collision as a result of slower reaction times, impaired judgment, and poorer coordination than usual.
While all of these causes are very different in their own way, they are all equally dangerous activities and scenarios that raise the prospect of a crash.
If you have been involved in an accident caused by one of these driving issues you should contact a lawyer to talk about your options for compensation.
