Six million car crashes a year in the United States, leading to 30-40,000 dead Americans every year. Here are six main causes. Read the full article on how to avoid them:
The Rolling Right Turn on Red
You approach a red light, and you’re about to turn right. You slow down but don’t come to a full stop. As you continue to roll, you look to your left to see if there are any cars coming at you from that direction. You turn your head back to the right and suddenly, out of nowhere, there’s a pedestrian or a bicyclist…
The rolling right on red now accounts for 6 percent of all pedestrian fatalities, and the number is on the rise. Worse still, 21 percent of the deaths happen to kids.
Falling Asleep
…about 7 percent of all car crashes, and 21 percent of fatal crashes, happen to drowsy drivers.
Loss of Control
…accounts for 11 percent of all crashes. It’s comforting to think that these unfortunate drivers occupy the bottom 11 percent of the driving skill scale, but science has some humbling news for us. It turns out that most of us think about driving skill far too simply… Aggressive maneuvering and taking a sharp curve too fast account for about 5 percent of all crashes. Another 2 percent happen when we don’t slow down for water on the road.
The remainder of these crashes happen when another driver or even a sudden turn in the road puts us in a surprise situation that demands an instant response. We imagine ourselves coolly responding when something unexpected pops up, but most people overreact and overcompensate and sometimes kick their car afterward.
Into the Blind
Ever make a left turn at an intersection when there’s a huge bus blocking your view of what’s coming from the other direction? Or cruise through a red light thinking that there won’t be another car coming across your path? Or even race down a road not realizing that it just might end at some point? The data tell us that 12 percent of all crashes happen when drivers do these things…
The Rear-Ender
Your first job when driving: Don’t hit the car in front of you. As simple as it sounds, hitting the car in front of us accounts for between 23 percent and 30 percent of all crashes.
We drive close to the car in front of us because we think it’ll get us there faster. It’s true, technically, but just barely: Science says we save 26 seconds per day as a result of our hurrying.
Distracted Lane or Road Departure
Your second job when driving is to stay in your lane. Thirty-three percent of all crashes happen when we don’t stay in our lane, or even on the road… the distraction of phones, our attention gets pulled by roadside crashes, billboards, activities inside the car, and mind wandering. Humans are not natural performers when it comes to keeping an eye on much of anything and even less so when asked to attend to several things at once.
About 1,700 words: https://slate.com/technology/2017/11/the-six-main-causes-of-car-crashes.html.
Laugh / learn links log 