Bryce Newell

Texting and driving is responsible for thousands of accidents every year. If you don’t text while driving, great job! Unfortunately, you are probably doing many of the things on this list, without even realising it is a problem.

You’ve probably witnessed an accident or been involved in an accident. If you haven’t, you are very lucky. Most drivers have been in some sort of auto accident within the first ten years of driving. It may not be a huge accident, but there is usually some sort of mishap.

Passengers

Everyone knows that kids or other passengers can be distracting. They could be telling you a story that takes your mind off of the road. They could have accidently spilled a drink that has you scrambling to clean it up. If you have a child in the backseat that dropped their favorite toy; you may be trying to stretch to reach it. If you have passengers in the vehicle, be cautious for distractions.

Radio

If you are trying to find your favorite station or find a good song, you know this can be distracting. But, you can be distracted by the radio for other reasons too. If you hear a new song, you may be trying to read the screen to find the name of the song or artist. If turn the music up really loud, you may not be able to hear sounds outside of the car that would prompt you to stop or slow down.

Animal

Obviously, driving with a pet on your lap or roaming the car is very distracting. Think of animals outside of the car. If you are driving and see an adorable family of deer, you may spend a little too long watching them. If the car in front of you quickly stops, you may not have time to stop the car. If a dog is running near the car, you will probably be focused on avoiding hitting them, which will cause you to not be focused on the road or other vehicles near you.

Food

Eating and drinking in the car should be a big no no. If you spill your drink, knock over your fries, drop ketchup on your shirt, you are going to be worried about cleaning up your mess and not watching for kids or animals that could run into the road. Also, your response time to other vehicles will be diminished.

An accident

Yes, many wrecks each year are caused by drivers looking at another accident. While you were scoping out that situation, you missed the situation occurring around you. Medical personnel or other drivers doing the same thing as you, can cause a wreck. Don’t let someone’s misfortune be responsible for your accident.

Signs

Sometimes good advertising can be a problem. So, you see that your favorite band is coming to town, and you are trying to find the date. That doesn’t seem to harmful, unless you are driving 70 down the interstate. Reading signs and billboards can cause you to drift out of your lane or not be focused on the travelers around you. If you need to read a sign, pull off the road so that you are not endangering yourself and others.

There are many reasons to make you a distracted driver. Do your best to look out for things that can take your focus off the road. If you need to eat or get a better look at something, pull to the side of the road and put your car in park to avoid causing an accident.