Negligence takes many forms on Connecticut’s highways and roads. Different types of dangerous driving cause thousands of serious injuries every year in this state.
Statistics show that the five most common causes of car crashes in the U.S. are:
- Distracted driving. Just a few seconds of texting or talking on the phone can impair a driver’s ability to avoid causing a serious collision.
- Speeding. The faster a vehicle is going, the less time its driver has to react to changing situations like a traffic jam. Speed limits are there for a reason.
- Drunk driving. Drinking and driving is illegal in Connecticut and throughout the country. Alcohol dulls the senses, impairs judgment and slows reflexes. In other words, it takes away the drinker’s ability to drive safely.
- Reckless driving. Speeding is a form of reckless driving that disregards the driver’s legal duty to respect other people’s safety on the road. Other examples of reckless driving include changing lanes without signaling and cutting people off.
- Running red lights. Drivers caught driving through red lights often make the excuse that they were running late or in a hurry. But driving through an active intersection and possibly crashing into somebody is not worth saving a few seconds of time.
These are all examples of negligent driving. Motorists who drive drunk, speed, text and drive or do any combination of the actions listed above put others at unnecessary risk. When they do injure somebody, that person can be held financially responsible through personal injury litigation.