According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are three main types of distracted driving. These include cognitive distractions, manual distractions and physical distractions.
It’s important to note that these are just broad categories. There are certainly many specific events that qualify as driver distraction, such as texting and driving, changing the radio station, talking to passengers or rubbernecking at another accident. But these three large categories include most of these specific types of distraction – and some types of distraction can fit into multiple categories at once.
How these distractions take place
To see how this works, imagine a driver who is texting and driving. The first thing they do is pick their phone up and look at the screen.
That driver hasn’t even written anything yet, but they are already distracted in two key ways. They are manually distracted because they have one hand on their phone and only one on the steering wheel. They are visually distracted because they are looking down at the phone and trying to drive with their peripheral vision – or not looking at the road at all.
Once the driver begins to read or write a text message, then they also become mentally or cognitively distracted. Even if they glance up at the road, they’re not paying nearly as much attention to traffic around them as they should be. This can lead to critical driving mistakes and oversights, eventually causing an accident.
Have you suffered injuries?
Have you been injured in an accident caused by a distracted driver? Take the time to look into all the legal options you have to seek compensation.