Many car wrecks are caused by texting and driving. Someone who’s holding their phone and typing a text message while looking down at the screen is distracted on many levels. They don’t have as much control over the vehicle, they’re not paying attention to traffic around them, and they could make a critical mistake.
To get around these issues with texting and driving, some drivers choose to do it only at red lights. If they’re actively driving, they stay off their phone and focus on the road. But when traffic stops, even for a second or two, that’s when they pick up their phone to look at notifications or check their text messages. They put the phone back down again when the light turns green and resume driving.
27 seconds of distraction
This all sounds like it is safe in theory, but studies have found that distraction doesn’t work quite the way people assume. Putting your phone down doesn’t end the distraction. You’re actually facing some level of cognitive distraction for the next 27 seconds.
On top of that, a driver who was just looking at their phone may not be aware of what’s actually happening around them. Maybe they’re waiting to turn, and a pedestrian has started using the crosswalk. When the light turns green, the driver still has to wait for the pedestrian to cross before turning. But if they were looking at their phone and never saw that person enter the crosswalk, they could start blindly turning as they put the phone down, and cause a serious crash.
Have you been injured in an accident that a distracted driver caused? You may be able to seek financial compensation for medical bills, lost wages and more.