Avoiding common causes of collisions and crashes

Every driver of a vehicle on New Jersey roads wants to avoid being in an accident of any kind. In addition to the delays that accidents result in, people involved in them can also incur vehicular damage, suffer personal injuries and face potential legal problems. So how can accidents be avoided? The best way is by understanding common causes of collisions and crashes in order to actively avoid those situations.

One cause, of course, is being under the influence of drugs and alcohol. A great way to address this is by avoiding drugs that aren’t prescribed by a doctor and not drinking when you know you’ll be driving later. Also, it is a good idea to have trusted friends nearby when you’re potentially having alcohol so they can intercede if you try to drive.

Another cause is overtiredness. This can be one of the toughest ones to address, since you might not realize that you’re overtired or you might believe that you can fight it off. A good rule of thumb is that if there is any possibility you’re too tired to drive, don’t. Better safe than sorry. Driving while tired leads to mistakes, and that is a safety hazard on New Jersey roads.

Speeding and distracted driving are two other causes of collisions and crashes. With speeding, drivers often believe that they can go just a little over the speed limit or go over the speed limit if there don’t seem to be a lot of cars nearby. These presumptions typically leads to everything from tickets to fatalities. With distracted driving, a driver might be texting or talking on the phone when they need to be focused on driving safely instead. If drivers make safety their first consideration in all of these respects, everyone will be better off.

Source: Sixwise, “The 6 Most Common Causes of Automobile Crashes” accessed Feb. 18, 2015