If you take your car to work each morning, it’s crucial to remember that you are driving at one of the riskiest times of the day. Unless that is, you start work much later than most.
While you certainly can crash on an empty street, the more vehicles interacting with each other, the greater the chance someone causes a mistake that affects you.
Yet it’s not only about the volume of traffic. It’s about what morning commuters do. Here are some behaviors that could endanger you:
Finishing getting ready for work
You’ve probably seen people doing all manner of things in their cars that they should have done in their houses. For example, breakfasting, putting on makeup or knotting their tie. Drivers need their hands free to steer and their minds free to focus on the road.
Starting work early
Some drivers use their morning drive to start on their emails and phone calls. As our brains are poor at doing two things at once, it can lead to poor work and, more importantly, poor driving.
Getting impatient
Many of the people you share the road with will be late. Perhaps their kids threw a tantrum so they couldn’t leave the house on time. Maybe they underestimated the traffic, or perhaps an accident blocked one lane. Regardless, being late is no excuse for expressing impatience through their driving. Doing so is dangerous.
If a driver injures you in the morning rush hour, understanding their behavior at the time of the crash can help you to claim compensation.