California Highway Traffic Accidents
Traffic accidents are a fact of life these days, and while many accidents are minor, all too often, they lead to severe injury or death. Many of the most serious accidents occur on California’s highways, where speeds are high, and drivers have just moments to respond to their surroundings. The number of traffic fatalities in the state is generally between 3,500 and 4,000 annually, leading to countless broken hearts. What are the factors impacting these collisions, and what can you do to stay safe?
Highway Accidents
Accidents on the highway are generally due to a few key issues:
- Speeding;
- Drunk driving;
- Distracted driving;
- Mechanical failure;
- Road rage.
Avoiding Serious Accidents
While there are many factors outside your control on the highway, you do have a significant ability to minimize your exposure to serious collisions. What can you do? Consider these tips:
- Maintain a safe distance from other vehicles. In the event brake lights surprise you, you want to be able to have plenty of room to avoid a rear-end collision.
- Avoid distractions. It only takes a moment for an accident to occur. Allowing distractions to divert your focus from the road could cause you to swerve out of your lane, miss the brake lights ahead of you, or an unexpected obstacle.
- Avoid driving while drowsy. It is simply a mistake to think you should keep driving when you are at risk of nodding off. Whether you have just a few miles more to your destination or you are hours away, the safest thing to do is to find a safe place to pull over and rest.
- Never drive after using alcohol, prescriptions, or drugs that may incapacitate: In addition to impairing your response time and judgment, these substances have the potential to alter perceptions, making you a danger behind the wheel.
- Make adjustments for driving conditions. Weather, construction, and traffic volume are all factors that should impact your decisions relating to your speed, lane changes, and so forth.
- Keep your cool. The rise in cases of road rage is alarming. Avoid getting worked up yourself, and if another driver demonstrates signs of rage, do your best to get out of the way.
Wear Safety Restraints
Over half of those killed in crashes were not wearing seat belts at the time of the collision. Because drivers, and certainly passengers, cannot control everything on the highway, it is just common sense to take the most basic safety precaution possible every time you are in a motor vehicle.
In the Aftermath of an Accident Our Temecula Accident Lawyers can Help
Even though you do everything right on the road, someone else may not, resulting in a collision because of another motorist’s negligence or recklessness. If you have been the victim of such an accident and suffered serious injuries, the experienced Temecula personal injury lawyers at Gibbs & Fuerst can help. Schedule a confidential consultation today.