Although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration urges people to keep glances away from the road to two seconds or less, it appears that even two seconds may be a long time while driving. This is because the driver’s eyes must readjust to the road when they look back and because of the distance someone may travel at a high speed. If someone is driving at 70 miles per hour, two seconds is all it takes to travel more than the distance of a football field.
A recent insurance company study used eye-tracking equipment and a driving simulator to test people’s ability to respond to road hazards, such as a car pulling out in front of them. It was determined that people who had looked away from the road for two seconds had a lower ability to respond, and many were unaware that they had missed important visual information.
Researchers indicate that since people aren’t aware they are missing visual cues that may prevent an accident, they are likely to continue with their bad driving behaviors. This is backed up by the fact that the distracted drivers rated themselves highly in a follow-up questionnaire.
Those who are injured in an motor vehicle accident are likely to have to deal with a number of financial issues. These can include the costs of having a car repaired and rental car expenses as well as medical bills. People may even have to take time off of work to recover from the injuries that they incurred and lose wages as a result. If it is determined that the accident was caused by the negligence of an inattentive driver, a successful personal injury lawsuit could bring the recovery of these and other damages.