Distractions Are a Major Cause of Car Insurance Rate Hikes

A recent study has revealed that 80% of auto accidents and 65% of near-misses are due to individuals being distracted while driving. While engaging in any kind of distracting activity, a driver is more likely to be involved in a rear-end, single-car crash than any other type of accident, and these kinds of accidents occur within 3 seconds of a driver becoming distracted.

Everyone knows that talking on cell phones and applying makeup are dangerous activities to engage in while driving. What many people don’t understand, however, is that spilling drinks and eating messy food are equally as threatening, and that car crashes resulting from driver distracting can cause insurance rate hikes of up to 25%.

42,000 people die each year due to accidents caused by distracted drivers, and the most popular distractions include: cell phones, car radios, text message, eating, drinking, talking to passengers, smoking and applying makeup. In response, many states have already enacted laws that make it illegal to do any of these things while driving a car.

However, there is now a whole new realm of driver distractions emerging, in the form of high tech accessories. Because of all of the new technology that automakers are equipping their cars with, drivers have to deal with even more distractions. In upcoming safety studies, these items will likely be added to the list of dangerous distractions: computers, GPS accessories, televisions and DVD players.