When you drive, do you glance over at the people in the cars around you to see what they’re doing behind the wheel? If you do, it can be frightening. You see people trying to eat lunch on the way to school, trying to watch videos on their phones in rush hour traffic, or trying to send meaningless text messages to everyone in their phone — and a whole lot more.
Sometimes, it feels like no one is really paying attention. No wonder tens of thousands of people die in accidents every year. You have so many drivers in 4,000-pound vehicles trying to do everything but drive safely.
Then you spot a driver who is staring straight ahead. They have both hands on the wheel. They’re looking forward. You relax, finally happy that someone else out there is paying attention to the road.
The reality of daydreaming
Unfortunately, that person may not be paying any more attention than someone who is texting, talking, eating or changing the radio station. Just because they appear to be looking at the road does not mean their mind is engaged. They could be zoned out, daydreaming, with no concept of what is going on around them.
It’s true, as strange as it sounds. In fact, some researchers looked into the data and determined that nothing is more dangerous than becoming lost in thought. “We found out daydreaming is still the number one reason for fatal car crashes,” one of them said in an interview in Forbes.
Some days are worse than others
Strangely, some days apparently have greater risks than others. The weekends lead the way, according to the study, with more of these accidents during Saturdays in September than any other time of the year. They also found out that the worst days all year around are Friday and Saturday.
What they could not determine was why this was the case. Was it because students headed back to school in September and suddenly had a lot to think about after the summer off? Was it because people focused more during the week, with a rigid work schedule, and daydreamed more when the weekends broke that schedule?
It could be, but they admitted they did not know. They said that they simply wanted to make the public aware of the trends in hopes that it would help people stay safe on the road.
Accidents and injuries
If you get hit by a driver who is lost in a daydream, not even paying attention to the road, you could have serious injuries and high medical bills. Make sure you know what legal steps to take to seek compensation.
