When you ride in a car as a passenger and there’s nothing to do but look at the boring sights of the outside world, you normally would have the freedom to dissociate and look at your cell phone. However, you will not be afforded this luxury once you’re the one behind the wheel. In learning how to drive, one of the basic tenets of being a good driver is to not practice inattentive driving. An inattentive driver puts the lives of others at risk. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) stated that 3,142 lives were lost in 2020 due to distracted driving. Accidents of this nature are avoidable, and yet we at Omega Law Group run into such cases a lot more often than we should. We care about our clients and do not want them to be put in harm’s way. To avoid meeting the same fate as them, here are some of the things you could do to remain alert on the road:
PUT YOUR PHONE ON DND
Eradicating cell phone use while driving is made easier when your phone is on “Do Not Disturb” (DND). Activating your cell phone’s DND mode blocks any alerts that could interfere with your driving performance, saving you and other people around you from any potential accidents that could be born out of inattentive driving. It allows you to embody the qualities of good drivers as it leaves you no choice but to stay focused on your surroundings.
DO NOT TOUCH YOUR PHONE
Touching your phone is a slippery slope. You may do so with the intention of briefly looking at the time, but you might get tempted to look at that Instagram notification from your crush. Before you know it, you’re exchanging flirty text messages with them, not realizing that the lights have turned green and you’re stalling traffic.
But the consequences of inattentive driving go way beyond just holding up traffic. A family shared their story with My Southern Health about how distracted driving uprooted their lives and ultimately their son Brian’s when an inattentive driver lost control of her vehicle. The driver in question inappropriately used her cell phone, taking the life of Brian who had just graduated college with an Economics degree.
As you can see, it’s easy to get distracted by your phone. Even self-proclaimed good drivers have trouble with this. So in the spirit of safety, you should avoid touching it. Otherwise, you risk getting into the bad habit of driving inattentively. Or worse.
PLAY ONE PLAYLIST THROUGHOUT THE DRIVE
In the past, people got into crashes by mindlessly fiddling with the car radio. In the modern age, we do that with our attempts of switching the driving music. The streaming era enables us to switch songs easily, but it’s still not driver-friendly. We would still need to physically type out the name of the song in the search engine or sift through our favorite artist’s discography before finding that one “perfect” song.
This is a driving hazard: the time we have allotted looking for a specific song is less time spent making sure we are getting to our destinations safely. This is another example of inattentive driving.
We understand that the long drive could be boring, so one way we at Omega Law mitigate that issue is by sticking to one playlist during our drive to work. That way, we don’t have to worry about finding that perfect song; we are already listening to the perfect playlist!
CONTACT OMEGA LAW
You could do everything right like Brian, but there’s still a likelihood that you’ll get involved in a serious accident. No matter your attempts of being a good driver, an inattentive driver could still run amok in these busy streets. Getting stuck in a situation like that is inevitably going to put further strain on your personal life, but we are determined to advocate for you. Here at Omega Law Group we will prioritize your needs and will stop at nothing to get you the justice you deserve!
Contact us at 866-942-3881, or visit our Beverly Hills office at:
8350 Wilshire Blvd., Third Floor Beverly Hills, CA 90211