Serious car accidents happen every day in New York, with a wide variety of causes. Some drivers are impaired or intoxicated, while others are distracted by their cellphones. Still others are reckless or drive aggressively on purpose, not caring about the ramifications if they cause a crash.
One thing to watch out for is that drivers may be daydreaming. Some studies have listed being “lost in thought” as one of the top reasons for distracted driving accidents in the United States. The driver is not actively doing something else, like texting, but they still are not paying attention to the traffic around them or focusing on the road.
This is a difficult problem to address
Distracted driving can take many different forms, and some of them can be addressed. For instance, laws have been enacted to outlaw handheld device use behind the wheel. Additionally, drivers can actively decide not to use their cellphones in the car, not to eat or drink while driving, and not to take their eyes off the road to talk to passengers—just to name a few common examples.
But daydreaming is a bit more difficult to address. There is certainly no legal way to outlaw it, for one thing. Additionally, many drivers do not even realize it is happening until they cause an accident. The driver does not choose to daydream—it just happens as they drive, and their mind wanders without their intent. They may suddenly snap back to attention as they realize they are coming up too quickly on stopped traffic, for instance, but by then, it may be too late to avoid the accident.
If you have been injured in an accident caused by a distracted driver, take the time to carefully look into all of your legal options.