210 million Americans possess a driver’s license. Due to distracted drivers, many car owners will find themselves in need of the services of one of the 119 thousand auto body shops that exist in America. While car manufacturers are creating automobiles with better safety components that will help drivers avoid accidents, the fact remains that as long as there is more than one car traveling the road at one time, accidents are inevitable.
So what should a driver do to avoid accidents?
The National Auto Body Council has launched a Distracted Driving Initiative to educate people who have a driver’s license about ways to stay safe while on the road.
Statistics show that younger drivers, age 16-25, are more likely to be involved in an accident. This is mostly due to inexperience behind the wheel, but distraction while driving is also a factor which is why the NABC is offering free driver education at local schools using a prop total loss vehicle and videos to drive the point home (pun intended).
With fewer young millennials applying for driver’s licenses, we may see a drop in distracted driver accidents in the future.
Distracted drivers and inexperience aren’t the only accidents that occur on the road. Most vehicle accidents occur at low speeds within a mile from the driver’s starting point. Fortunately, these accidents don’t usually result in fatality or injury to the driver or passenger. They do, however, result in vehicle damage which should be fixed immediately, but often is not.
Many drivers continue to operate damaged vehicles because they do not have a dependable car repair shop and they believe that repairs are too costly. However, operating a damaged vehicle can make it more likely that a driver will get into another accident. Just because a vehicle seems to be working well, doesn’t mean that it is. Impact damage can cause car parts to crack or not operate optimally increasing the risk of operational failure.
In order to be certain that your auto accident didn’t cause damage beyond dents and dings, it is important to bring it in to a dependable car repair shop to have it looked at.