Drivers Beware!

Did you know that vehicle collisions cause more preventable deaths in the world than any other cause for folks under the age of 35? 

Each year, approximately 5 million people are killed in such collisions.  Statistically, drivers who have had prior collisions with injuries are more likely to later cause collisions that lead to casualties.  What this tells us is that such drivers do not learn from their prior mistakes.  You would think that a reasonable person would learn to drive more cautiously after causing a wreck with injuries but apparently these folks seem to be a special breed.  These are simply high risk drivers.

There are variables that contribute to this increased risk such as habitual drugs and alcohol use, texting while driving and habitual speeders and high risk takers.  Researchers have found that there are unique behavioral, personality and neurobiological characteristics behind each form of dangerous driving.

One potential explanation is that, according to behavioral research, drivers who takes high risks do not believe that are risk takers.  This helps explain why they do not change their behavior – why change something that you don’t consider risky?

One of the best ways to prevent becoming a victim of high risk drivers is to practice defensive driving.  Examples of defensive driving are:  not going through a green light before checking to see if the corresponding red light is not being run by a high risk driver; keeping two seconds behind cars ahead that are travelling in the same direction; don’t just check your mirror once when changing lanes – take a quick glance in your blind spot and check mirror again to avoid a high speed driver passing on your left.