Over the last few years, studies have underlined the dangers that drivers face on Connecticut’s roads.
In the 2011 Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report, both Hartford and Bridgeport were ranked among America’s 193 most dangerous cities for car accidents. Hartford was number 187 and Bridgeport was number 173.
And according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) 2010 Motor Vehicle Crashes Overview, Connecticut car accident fatalities rose 42 percent between 2009 and 2010 – more than any other state.
These statistics show that Connecticut continues to be a dangerous place to drive even though Connecticut has one of the strictest graduated drivers licensing laws in the country and now bans all handheld cellphone use while driving. More can be done to make the roads safer for all Connecticut drivers, and the change must start with the drivers themselves.
Distracted Driving, Drunk Driving, Bad Driving
While using a handheld cellphone when driving is illegal in Connecticut, distracted driving continues to be a serious problem. There are many forms of distraction that we can all avoid, including putting on makeup, eating while driving, reading the newspaper, interacting with other passengers, and even changing radio stations. According to the NHTSA, distracted driving killed 5,500 people in 2009 alone.
Drunk driving also continues to be a problem. Oftentimes, the drunk drivers are first-time offenders – people who believed they were sober or knew they were drunk and figured they could make it home without getting caught. We must continue to hold drunk drivers responsible for the injuries they cause and turn in our keys when we know we have had one too many.
Drunk driving and distracted driving are often in the news; these are things that we know are inherently dangerous. But what about the drivers who are simply bad drivers? Many people don’t get the driver’s education training they need to drive safely. Some driver’s education programs in Connecticut are fraudulent and put unsafe drivers on the road. Others are simply not enough; for example, while novice teen drivers have a strict graduated drivers licensing program to follow, novice adult drivers do not. It is everyone’s responsibility to teach each other how to drive and to monitor our own driving.
As Connecticut personal injury attorneys, we see the consequences of poor driving decisions every day. Someone decides to get behind the wheel when he or she is too tired to drive, another person drives home (“just a few miles”) drunk, another decides that it is necessary to program something into his or her GPS. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize the danger of these poor decisions until it is too late.
We can all help make Connecticut’s roads safer by making the right choices now.
Source: The Litchfield County Times, “Unsafe Connecticut Drivers,” Bob Green, Jan. 26, 2012.