Driving is part of life in California. There are 26 million drivers sharing the road with you out there. And we spend a lot of time driving. In San Diego, the average one way commute is 24 miles. In Los Angeles, the average commute time one way is 32 miles.
This month At Home Nursing Care decided to focus on traffic safety for our monthly training after four staff members were involved in accidents, three at no fault of their own. (Everyone is okay, thankfully.)
During the training, we learned that 94 % of collisions are caused by preventable human behaviors. The Average driver will experience a collision every 10.57 years. San Diego is 119th safest city in US Los Angeles is 195th safest city in US (Source – Allstate Insurance).
But accidents are on the rise, perhaps in part due to distracted driving when drivers are texting, eating, drinking, fiddling with the radio, etc. instead of paying attention to the act of driving.
Distracted driving is dangerous, claiming 3,166 lives in 2017 alone.
So before you look down at that text, keep this in mind. Texting is the most alarming distraction. Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. At 55 mph, that’s like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed.
Finally, in this very condensed version of the training, remember that young people are the least safe drivers. Three (3) Age Groups most likely to be involved in fatal speed related accident:
- Under 20 year olds
- 20 to 24 year olds
- 25 to 29 year old
These groups make up 50% of all speed related fatal accidents.
So both watch out for younger drivers sharing the road with you and remind them about traffic safety if you know and love a young driver.
In short, we reminded our staff to slow down, pay attention, review their insurance coverages and keep in mind that we care both about their safety and property and that of the clients who rely on us every day. There is no way to completely remove all risk, but by making smart choices and exercising good judgement, we can avoid unnecessary risks each trip we take.