With an accident every minute during the evening rush hour, you need to know what to do in the event of an auto accident.
The Los Angeles area is notorious for its traffic. In fact, according to a study from Texas A&M University, seven of the top ten most congested roads in the country are located in Los Angeles County. Traffic makes for lots of unhappy commuters. It seems that people tend to have two main responses. Either they get angry and frustrated by the delays and by the behavior of their fellow motorists, or they try to make better use of time spent sitting in traffic by playing on their cell phones. Either response can be dangerous. By extrapolating the data from accident reports, we find that during the evening rush hour there is actually one car accident every minute in Los Angeles.
Here are some tips to help you deal with rush hour in Los Angeles.
1. Avoid Driving During Peak Traffic Times.
Anyone who has any flexibility in their schedule would do well to simply avoid driving during times when traffic is likely to be especially bad. This is just common sense. Of course, for many people driving during rush hour is a necessary evil because of their work schedules.
2. Keep Your Eyes on the Road.
Distracted driving causes over 400,000 injuries each year. While it may be tempting to use time spent stuck in traffic to catch up on emails and texts, eat or drink, comb your hair, or apply makeup, by engaging in these behaviors you could be increasing your risk of an accident. The cost of an accident would not be worth the time you saved.
3. Leave Ample Travel Time.
Yelling at other drivers or honking wildly from the safety of one’s own vehicle seems like a popular way of letting off steam for some LA drivers. However, it would be best not to let this frustration and anger build up in the first place. One easy way to minimize frustration is to leave ample time for traffic delays in your commute. This way you will not feel as stressed and you will be less likely to cause an accident through reckless driving.
4. Do Not Rubberneck.
Whenever a car accident happens during rush hour in LA, Twitter and Facebook suddenly flood with eyewitness reports. Some people even get out of their cars for a closer look. Paying attention to accidents in this way just makes traffic worse. Using cell phones to access social media is dangerous, as is exiting your vehicle during traffic.
5. Contact an Attorney If You Have an Accident.
If you are hurt in a rush hour car accident caused by another driver, you need to contact an expert car accident injury attorney as quickly as possible. Your attorney will help you to preserve the evidence in the case in preparation for any possible legal action you may wish to take.
