Distracted driving is one of the top reasons for serious car accidents in the United States, along with things like aggressive driving, drowsy driving and impaired driving. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 13% of all crashes in 2021 were the result of distracted driving, for example.
As large as this number may seem – potentially contributing to thousands of fatal accidents annually – the reality is that it may actually be underreported. The true number of distracted driving accidents is hard to find and could be significantly higher than the official statistics.
Why is there a potential discrepancy?
One of the reasons why it is hard to find an exact number of distracted driving accidents is that drivers often refuse to admit that they were distracted at the time of the crash. It can also be difficult for police officers to find definitive evidence to prove distraction. So some of these crashes are simply written off as being due to other causes or factors – when distraction was the real issue.
For example, a driver may have sent a text message just seconds before running a red light and causing an accident. It’s easy for investigators to determine that distraction was the cause if they have those phone records.
But another driver may simply have been reading their email messages on their phone when they ran a red light. They didn’t interact with the device by sending a reply, so they simply deny that they were distracted. Police can’t prove it, so it doesn’t count for the distracted driving statistics, even though that driver was clearly at fault.
If you’ve been injured in an accident caused by a distracted driver, be sure you know how to seek financial compensation for medical bills and related costs.
Subscribe To This Blog’s Feed