The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reports that 963,000 drivers aged 16-19 were involved in motor vehicle accidents in 2013. A staggering six out of every ten of those teen accidents involved driver distraction. New York car accident attorney Martin Weiser understands the anguish a distracted driver can inflict on you and your family.
The recent study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, the largest naturalistic study of teen crashes in history, found that the greatest causes of teen distraction are:
Cause #1 – Interacting with one or more passengers. Passengers were involved in 40% of crashes overall, with 85% of those passengers typically being other teens.
Cause #2 – Using a cell phone. Not only do drivers using cell phones take more than a full second to react to traffic changes, 50% of cell phone-using drivers showed no reaction at all before crashing into another vehicle.
Cause #3 – Looking at something in the vehicle. Radios, mirrors, dashboards and other visual diversions accounted for 10% of distracted-driving accidents.
Cause #4 – Looking at something outside the vehicle. Not only were teens distracted by the myriad of eye-catching objects within the car, objects outside the vehicle proved dangerous as well.
Cause #5 – singing/dancing to music. It may come as little surprise, but 8% of accidents caused by preoccupied teen drivers resulted from an all-consuming song and dance routine in the front seat.
Cause #6 – Grooming. Many adults are also guilt of spending too much time making personal aesthetic adjustments when behind the wheel.
Cause #7 – Reaching for an object. That fallen CD is best left on the passenger side floor. 6% of distracted-driver accidents were caused by stretching to grasp items out of reach.
If you’ve been injured while driving or riding your bicycle by a distracted driver, in New York, please contact our experienced car accident attorney at Weiser & Associates today by completing the form on this page or by calling (212) 213-3111 to schedule your consultation. We welcome clients from all five boroughs of New York City.
