Slippery Maine Roads and Distracted Drivers Make for a Dangerous Winter Mix of Car Accidents and Injury
Posted by
Don BriggsJanuary 18, 2008 5:03 PMDid you know that driver distraction causes about 80% of all car accidents? According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driver inattention is the number one cause of accidents. An article summarizing the findings reports that drowsiness increases the risk of crashes by at least a factor of four, looking at something outside the car more than triples the chance of accident, and the same with dialing a cell-phone, reading, and applying makeup.
Unfortunately, a lot of people out there simply aren't paying attention, and things only get worse when you add freezing rain, sleet, and snow to the mix. In Rangely, this week, a woman plowed through a snow bank after reckless driving on slippery roads, and ended up falling over the guardrail and down a ten-foot embankment. This woman, who turned out to be heavily intoxicated, luckily crashed before doing harm to anyone other than herself.
Many times, though, careless, reckless, and distracted drivers do end up causing all kinds of suffering, injury, inconvenience, and even death to the people they hit. Unfortunately, what seems like a clear-cut case of negligence, can be complicated by legal jargon and insurance adjusters who inevitably try and find ways to avoid paying damages. Things can get especially complicated by the winter driving conditions here in Maine because many people will try and blame the weather for their own carelessness and poor judgment. That's why it's essential to seek the help of an attorney who has experience dealing with winter driving, car accidents, and insurance companies.
For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.