When negligence causes a car accident, it makes an already stressful situation that much more upsetting. All too often simple carelessness causes accidents—and injuries—that could easily have been prevented. Nevertheless, ordinary negligence frequently causes dangerous car accidents.
If another driver’s negligence has left you injured, you know how financially, physically, and emotionally difficult it can be. Your recovery and your right to just compensation are too important not to consult with an experienced car accident attorney. At The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers in Philadelphia, our dedicated car accident attorneys have the experience, skill, and compassion to aggressively advocate for the compensation to which you’re entitled.
Distracted Drivers
The number of negligent car accidents caused by distracted drivers on our nation’s roadways has skyrocketed. Driving while distracted is particularly dangerous. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported two startling distracted driving statistics:
- Every day in the U.S., approximately 1,000 people are injured and 9 more are killed in accidents involving distracted drivers.
- When drivers text or email while traveling at 55 miles per hour, they take their eyes off the road for at least 5 seconds at a time—the time it takes to travel the length of a football field.
With the explosion of smartphones, distracted driving has become such a significant problem that the U.S. government has set up a website dedicated to the safety issue, distraction.gov. The website identifies distracted driving as any driving when the driver’s attention is focused on anything other than the primary task of driving safely. The website categorizes the most common types of distractions as visual, manual, and cognitive. When drivers use smartphones to text or email, they engage in all three of these types of distraction at once, creating an extremely dangerous diversion from driving.
Impaired Drivers
Almost everyone knows that driving under the influence of alcohol is extremely dangerous, but many drivers continue to engage in this deadly practice. Impaired drivers not only endanger themselves and their passengers, they risk the lives of everyone else on the road. The CDC reports several sobering impaired-driving statistics based on data from 2015:
- More than 10,000 people were killed in accidents involving alcohol, accounting for about a third of the total number of U.S. traffic fatalities that year.
- More than a million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics—but this number accounts for only about 1 percent of the 111 million self-reported cases of impaired driving every year. That means that for every person charged with DUI, there are 99 more drunk drivers out there still on the roads.
- Impaired drivers were involved in 16 percent of all traffic fatalities involving children.
These statistics show that despite law enforcement efforts, drunk drivers continue to plague the roads and cause a hefty number of needless accidents and fatalities every year.
Aggressive Drivers
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (DOT) reports that aggressive driving is one of the leading causes of traffic accidents and fatalities in the state. The DOT identifies aggressive driving as taking a variety of forms:
- Speeding excessively
- Passing illegally on the right
- Tailgating
- Racing to beat the light or running stop signs
- Weaving in and out of traffic
- Failing to yield the right of way
All these driving practices are exceedingly dangerous. Sometimes aggressive drivers also get personal and taunt other drivers by hurling expletives and using obscene hand gestures. Steps you can take to steer clear of these dangerous drivers include:
- If you spot an aggressive driver, allow that driver all the space on the road that you can. Simply steering clear of these drivers is your best defense. After you’ve allowed such a driver to pass, contact the authorities when it’s safe to do so. You may help avert a dangerous accident.
- Never engage with an aggressive driver – even if the driver’s anger is directed at you. Don’t make eye contact, which can be interpreted as a sign of returned aggression. Aggressive drivers are dangerous, and because they’re willing to engage in aggressive driving in the first place, it’s difficult to know how far that driver might go—including escalating to road rage. If an enraged driver ever approaches your car, do not get out of your vehicle. If you can, drive away, or call 911.
Speeding Drivers
While speeding is a form of aggressive driving, it’s such a serious issue that it bears separate consideration. The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that speed has played an elemental role in nearly a third of the total vehicular fatalities in the U.S. over the past 20-plus years. There were more than 9,500 speed-related fatalities in 2015 alone.
While we all remember from Driver’s Education that speed kills, specific factors make speeding especially dangerous:
- Speeding increases the odds that a driver will lose control of his or her vehicle.
- Speeding reduces the effectiveness of a car’s occupant protection devices such as seatbelts and airbags.
- Speeding increases the severity of any accident that ensues and all resulting injuries, including physical, financial, and emotional damages.
If You’ve Been Injured by a Negligent Driver, Contact an Experienced Philadelphia Car Accident Attorney Today
Car accidents are dangerous and frightening—but car accidents needlessly caused by another driver’s careless negligence are even more upsetting. If you have been injured by a negligent driver, you need skilled legal counsel to help you through this difficult time. The experienced legal team at The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers is committed to helping protect the rights of injured accident victims and ensuring just compensation for their injuries. We have over fifty years of combined experience helping accident victims in Philadelphia recover fair compensation for their injuries. Our dedicated car accident attorneys have the skill, knowledge, and commitment to fight for your rights while you focus on your recovery. We’re here to help. Please contact or call us at 215-825-5183 today.