Road traffic lawyers are the people you will want to turn to should you be in a vehicle accident. If you are injured, need to take time off work, or if your vehicle is not roadworthy and therefore you will miss appointments or more work, you should be compensated. The term ‘accident’ implies that it is possible to avoid a collision on the roads, but as any claim lawyer will tell you, this is not always the case.
However, there are ways to reduce the possibility of road traffic accidents, and it is important to bear this information in mind. Below, we are going to take a look at everything you need to know when it comes to road traffic accidents and the steps you can take to reduce the chances of this happening.
Road Traffic Accidents Can Be Reduced – But How?
One of the easiest – and best – ways to reduce accidents on the roads is to not drink and drive. Although the occurrences are becoming fewer, there are still a high number of people who think they can drive safely after drinking more than the legal limit. The limits were set after extensive research, so they should be adhered to.
It is the law, after all. A car accident lawyer will have to deal with many cases when the reason behind the accident was that one of the drivers had had too much alcohol. Police figures show that over the festive period in particular one in every 35 drivers was over the drink-drive limit.
The best way to ensure that you are under the limit is not to have any alcohol at all when you are planning to drive. This could save lives, or at least a nasty accident. Alcohol impairs judgment and slows down reaction times, which is why accidents are much more likely when a driver has had a drink. The same is true for drugs. Drink driving and drug driving are both reasons why road traffic lawyers see many clients.
Before going to an event where there is likely to be alcohol, you should organize which of your party will be the designated driver. At the next event, change over so that it is fair. If everyone wants to have a drink then you should organize a taxi, or run the risk of needing to deal with road traffic lawyers.
What About Other Reasons For Accidents?
Of course, drink and drug driving are not the only reasons for accidents on the local roads. There are other factors that will also be important in any road traffic lawyer’s investigations. Distracted driving is another major factor. A distracted driver is one who is not paying close attention to the roads and other traffic around them.
The driver might be distracted for any number of reasons including using their mobile phone whilst driving or trying to use the car’s stereo. The best advice is to hide your phone away in a glove compartment, in the boot, or somewhere else where you cannot get to it. Another good idea is to make sure that your car is set up as you want it before you set off on your journey. That way you won’t have to change anything as you drive along.
Speed is another big reason for people needing road traffic solicitors in your local area and further afield. Going over the speed limit is a bad idea as it offers shorter stopping and braking distances, and less chance for the driver to react to a bad situation. As well as that, an accident at high speed is always more damaging to both people and vehicles than one at low speed. Keeping to the speed limit is the best advice, as the limits have been set for specific roads for a reason.
As you can see, there are a number of different reasons why people end up in a car accident today. While there are some cases whereby a car accident cannot be avoided, such as a malfunction, there are a lot of incidents whereby car accidents could have been avoided altogether.
This is incredibly sad when you consider some of the awful consequences people have experienced because of car accidents. Therefore, we all need to make sure that we are doing everything in our power to make sure that we are safe and everyone else on the roads is safe as well.