By now, virtually every driver realizes it is a bad idea to operate a motor vehicle after consuming alcohol. After all, Wisconsin law allows for some serious penalties for operating a vehicle while impaired. While many drivers would never climb behind the wheel after drinking too much, motorists often make calls or send text messages. Unfortunately, distracted driving may be just as bad as drunk driving.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation estimates that a distracted driving accident occurs on state roadways approximately every 22 minutes. While stowing your phone every time you drive is a good way to stay safe, you cannot control the actions of other drivers. You can, however, understand when and how distracted driving accidents tend to occur.
Risk throughout the day
Most drunk driving crashes occur between midnight and 3 a.m. If you are not a night owl, you may rarely drive when intoxicated motorists are also on the road. The same is probably not true for distracted drivers, though. According to AAA, distracted driving collisions often happen between 3 and 6 in the afternoon. Another big chunk of these accidents occur during morning commutes.
Danger throughout the week
As you may suspect, most drunk driving accidents happen on the weekend. As such, if you drive between Friday evening and Sunday morning, you may have an increased risk of sustaining a serious injury due to the actions of an intoxicated driver. That is not the case with distracted drivers, however. On the contrary, AAA notes an even distribution of distracted driving collisions throughout the week. Therefore, your risk of having a collision with a distracted driver may be the same on Monday morning and Friday evening.
Regardless of when you drive, you must watch for both intoxicated and distracted drivers. Unfortunately, though, while drunk driving is serious, distracted driving may be just as bad. If you find yourself in the middle of a collision with either a drunk or distracted driver, you must act diligently to recover completely from both your injuries and your property damage.