How To Avoid Becoming A Fatality

The number of auto-accidents have been on a decline since 2007 according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 41,059 people died in 2007 nationwide due to being in an automobile accident. This translates to 13-14 people per 100,000 who reside in the United States. Numbers like that are staggering and reconfirm that auto accidents pose a serious threat to the general population. Fact is if you are under 40 years of age, your possibility of dying in an auto accident is greater then any other cause of death!

Here are some interesting reports to consider:

93% of accidents reported are due to human error, driver fatigue, alcohol intoxication or distraction.

breaking this down further,

Appr. 81% of all accidents involve driver's talking with passengers or arguments breaking out, distracting them from what they are doing.

Appr. 66% involved changing the radio station, fondle for the CDs or other media devices.

Appr. 50% involve eating or drinking.

Appr. 25% involved cell phone usage or texting.

It gets even better the crashes and fatalities are lethal when mixing any of these combinations.

Rear Enders make up 30% of all collisions and 6% of the fatalities.

Side impacts contribute 29% of accidents and cause approximately 20% of all fatalities.

Head on collisions are accountable for 2% of accidents and 11% fatalities.

Pedestrian and Bicycle collisions account for less then 2% statistics show however 13.5% of the fatalities.

Collisions such as fire hydrants and light poles make up 16% of accidents and make up 32% of all fatalities.

Roll-overs make up 2%-3% of all accidents causing 11% of all fatalities. Collisions with animals account for 5% of accidents and causing less then 1% of all deaths in the U.S.

All of us know that everyone of these contribute to a split second decision when driving and operating our vehicles. We need to challenge ourselves by doing just a few simple things.

Tips Avoid Collisions and Fatalities

1. When operating a cell phone use your hands-free device. In some States you are fined if you are caught talking on the phone without a hands-free headset.

2. If your CD is finished, let the radio station come on and when you come to a complete stop, and change CD's. If you do not like what is on the radio station, have your stations programmed in your vehicle, wait until you come to a complete stop,then change the channel. A song does not take that long to complete, so hum to yourself if necessary but keep your eyes on the road.

3. Do not argue with a spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, significant other, if its that bad pull the vehicle over, count to five and take a timeout. Do not continue to scream and shout when the vehicle is in motion. There are other people around you moving in the same direction trying to get to another destination.

4. If you have pets, place them in a kennel or purchase a doggy safety belt do not let them wander around the vehicle, we may think it is cute but in the end we could harm others, ourselves and our pets for not using common sense. You wouldn't leave your children unbuckled would you?

5. When we are tired we try to reach the final destination as quickly as possible. Not a grand idea! When we are fatigued we can not clearly concentrate and we than become reckless and endanger not only ourselves but others on the road. Pull that vehicle over and rest.

6. Alcohol intoxication. How many times do we have to go over this? We cannot consciously function when we have been drinking. We do not think clearly, we are not focused. We should never ever get behind the wheel of a vehicle and drive. Call a cab, friend use a bus, train whatever gets you home safely, use it!

7. When we see a pedestrian or a person on a bike we need to slow down or stop when they are crossing, it only takes a split second.

8. There are many motorcyclists in the country don't tailgate them or cut them off , they do not have any protection around them. Stay back and look in the mirrors before changing lanes that person happens to be someones father, brother, sister, mother how would we feel if that happened to be one of our own family members?

9. When backing out of our driveways look for little people, in a split second they may become your victim. Why being in a hurry even if it is something needed at the store?

10. When taking prescribed medications and it says "do not operate heavy machinery or a vehicle", heed the warning have someone drive you to your final destination.

11. Illegal drugs and driving is just as bad as alcohol intoxication , do not get behind the wheel, you could harm others besides yourself.

12. Talk to teenagers, set ground rules and stick by them a vehicle is not a toy it is a weapon and behind the wheel sits responsibility being careful not to engage in combat.

13. Never exceed the speed. 5 miles is fine, nine is the max after that we are endangering others lives. Slow down we will all get there.

If all of us took a few minutes to do just a handful of things the fatality rate would lower even more and the statistics would change.

Don't create or become a statistic. Law enforcement have other things to do; besides remove irresponsible parties from collisions that could have been avoided.

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