A few weeks ago, we wrote a blog post about the bizarre distracting behaviors that some teen drivers engage in. It’s aggravating to think about for numerous reasons, not least of which is that fact that some of the distractions were just brazenly negligent. Distracted driving is a very serious safety threat on the road, and you can’t help but feel like younger generations either don’t respect that or don’t care.
Really, we shouldn’t even qualify that statement with just the “younger generations.” There are plenty of older drivers that fail to observe focused and proper driving. It is reckless to have your attention on something other than the road, and if you cause an accident while you are distracted, you could be held accountable in civil court should the victims file a civil lawsuit.
A new study furthers this notion of negligence and recklessness when it comes to cellphone use while driving and distracted driving. The Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety found that even a two-second glance at your cellphone while driving increases the chance that you will be involved in an accident. The reason for this is simple: you travel a long way in those two seconds, and your ability to react to something that happens in front of you is diminished when you have a visual disruption.
The study pointed out this simple fact: if you travel at 70 miles per hour, you will travel 200 feet in two seconds. That’s more than the length of half a football field. Whatever happens in those 200 feet would be impossible to react to if you were looking at a text message.
Source: Claims Journal, “In-Vehicle Two Second Glance Increases Driving Risk: Liberty Mutual,” April 16, 2015