Cromartie Law Your Local Rome Attorneys. Serious Personal Injury? We Can Help. Free Consultation.

Drivers are their own worst enemy

On Behalf of | Aug 25, 2017 | Car accidents

Getting behind the wheel is not something most Georgia drivers fear, but the risk of being injured or killed in a collision is always a concern. A recent study has ranked drivers by state, and Georgia drivers are at the lower end of the safety spectrum.

According to EverQuote, Inc.’s report, generated from information gathered by their safe-driving app, Georgia rates 34th out of all 50 states for safe driving. When it comes to distracted driving, the Peach State fared even worse–41 percent of trips included at least one instance of the driver looking at his or her phone, earning the 42nd place in the country. Speeding was recorded on 38 percent of drives, leaving much room for improvement.

This is especially important to note because WTOP reports that a new study from AAA found that while drivers fear the mistakes of others causing a crash, they are actually most often a danger to themselves behind the wheel. In fact, 55 percent of fatal car accidents are solo vehicle crashes. Some of these instances include drug or alcohol use, and others were due to distraction or a driver falling asleep at the wheel. Single vehicle crashes also include drivers who may be swerving to avoid a collision with another vehicle, and include crashes between a car and a cyclist or pedestrian.

In these accidents, the car ran off the road or crossed the median line 70 percent of the time. Crashing into animals, trees, poles and other objects was not uncommon in these fatalities. While car accidents typically do not end with the vehicle rolling, this only occurred in 3 percent of crashes, these can be incredibly deadly: 20 percent of the deaths came from rollovers.

How Can We Help?