We live in an era of constant connectivity where people are on their phones all the time. While our vehicles have become more sophisticated and safer, the risk of accidents remains as high as ever due to the threat of distracted driving.

Data shows that every year, approximately 3,000 people are killed in distracted driving accidents in the U.S. These accidents also result in a large number of serious injuries each year.

4 Major Types of Driver Distractions That Cause Accidents

Distracted drivers indulging in one or more of the following types of driving distractions may cause serious accidents and injuries to others.

Visual Distractions

These are distractions that divert your attention and cause you to take your eyes off the road. These distractions can be inside your vehicle (your cell phone, radio, GPS, passengers in your vehicle, or an object) or outside your motor vehicle (electronic billboards, street signs, and other things that might capture your visual attention). Visual distraction is one of the most common causes of distracted driving accidents in Florida.

How Visual Distractions Can Impact Your Driving

  • When your attention is diverted visually, you might fail to notice traffic signs, other vehicles, pedestrians, and hazards on the road. This reduced awareness of the driving environment can increase the risk of accidents significantly.
  • Visual distractions can affect your ability to react to unexpected events, emergencies, and hazards on the road.
  • Visual distractions can interfere with your ability to maintain control of your vehicle. Taking your eyes off the road – even for a moment – can cause you to swerve and drift into other lanes, which can increase the risk of accidents.

Cognitive Distractions

These are distractions that occupy your mind and divert your attention away from the task of driving. Common examples of a cognitive distraction include making phone calls while driving, reading a text message, talking to a passenger, using voice-activated entertainment or navigation systems, listening to an audio book or a podcast, daydreaming, thinking about or planning upcoming events, and worrying about personal issues.

How Cognitive Distractions Can Impact Your Driving

  • When your mind is preoccupied with non-driving-related thoughts, your ability to make quick and sound decisions is compromised. It can result in delayed responses to emergencies or hazards on the road.
  • Engaging in cognitive tasks unrelated to driving can lead to a decrease in your overall focus and attention, which can result in erratic driving behavior like drifting out of lanes and failing to maintain a consistent speed.
  • Cognitive distractions can lead to tunnel vision, where you become hyper-focused on a specific thought or conversation and your field of vision is reduced, as a result of which you might not be able to pay attention to your surroundings.

Manual Distractions

These are distractions that cause you to take your hands off the steering wheel. Common examples of a manual distraction include sending a text message, surfing a website or social media via cell phones, adjusting the radio, eating, snacking, applying makeup, reaching for objects in the backseat or on the floorboard, and tending to a child.

How Manual Distractions Can Impact Your Driving

  • When your hands are not on the steering wheel, you have less control over the vehicle. It can make it difficult to respond to sudden changes in road conditions or hazards.
  • Engaging in manual tasks while driving can impair your coordination and make it difficult for you to control the vehicle.
  • Focusing on manual tasks while driving can lead to inattention blindness, where you might fail to notice important visual cues or hazards on the road because your attention is diverted elsewhere.

Auditory Distractions

These distractions involve sounds that can divert your attention away from driving. Common examples of sound-related driver distraction include loud music in the motor vehicles, phone notifications, screaming children, and hands-free phone conversations.

How Auditory Distractions Can Impact Your Driving

  • When you are distracted by auditory stimuli, you might not be able to hear important auditory cues like sirens, horns, or screeching tires, which could indicate potential hazards or emergencies on the road.
  • Loud noises can increase stress levels and affect your ability to drive defensively.
  • Auditory distractions can affect your cognitive processing abilities, which can result in reduced driving performance.

Tips to Avoid Distractions When Operating a Vehicle 

Here is a list of road safety tips that can help you avoid the common distractions that auto drivers encounter. 

  • Set up your GPS and climate controls, fasten your seatbelt, and adjust mirrors before you drive, so that you do not have to take your hands off the steering wheel while driving for any reason.
  • Secure your cell phone, sunglasses, and other loose objects that might roll around and distract you when you are driving.
  • Enable ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode on your phone while driving.
  • If you need to make or answer a call or respond to a message urgently, pull over to a safe location before doing so.
  • Avoid chatting with passengers while driving.
  • Avoid eating and snacking while driving.
  • Make sure that children and pets are properly restrained to minimize distractions while driving.
  • If you find yourself becoming fatigued or distracted while driving, take a break to rest and refocus.

Get Our Experienced Florida Personal Injury Lawyers on Your Side

If you have been injured due to negligence of a distracted driver, the proven and capable personal injury attorneys at Larry Moskowitz, PA are ready to fight for you and help you get the compensation you deserve. We have extensive experience in handling different types of distracted driving claims and we know how to prove the driver’s negligence and establish their liability conclusively.

Our founding attorney Larry Moskowitz is a former prosecutor who has decades of experience in handling civil claims. Larry’s past prosecutorial knowledge enables him to anticipate the strategies defendants in distracted driving cases might employ and devise the necessary counter-tactics to establish their liability.Being an experienced litigator, attorney Moskowitz has the ability to take your case to trial if needed and recover the maximum amount of damages possible. Call us today at 866-312-0708 or contact us online to schedule your free consultation.