A Deep Breath Can Go A Long Way In Avoiding A New Haven Auto Accident

We’ve all been there before. Someone cuts you off and you swerve to move out of the way so you don’t get into a New Haven auto accident. Your nerves are frayed and you are on edge because you, quite literally, just saw your life flash in front of your face. You have two choices, you can scream at the person who cut you off and tell them what you really think about their driving or you can take a few deep breaths, collect yourself and move on so you can continue to drive safely. Which route would you pick?

If you’re anything like many drivers in the state of Connecticut you would pick the first option of laying on your horn, shaking your fists and letting the person who cut you off know how you really feel about them and their terrible driving. That is because in recent data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Connecticut ranks among the nation’s top ten states in auto accident fatalities that are the result of a road rage incident. In fact, Connecticut is ranked #6 out of all 50 states in the United States.

This staggering statistic should give all of us who drive in Connecticut pause and concern. In the time period of the survey, between 2010 and 2021 there were 3,100 fatal auto accident reported in the state of Connecticut. The percentage of those crashes that involved road rage or aggressive driving was 6.6% or 200 fatalities. We all know that not all accidents can be avoided, but to think that over the last eleven years we could’ve saved 200 lives by simply slowing down and taking a deep breath, is astonishing.

Road rage and aggressive driving are real things and can cause real issues for drivers throughout the state, this much is true. If you are prone to road rage or aggressive driving what can you do to make sure that you don’t become a statistic and cause or become involved in a crash that becomes fatal? Here are some tips to staying calm while behind the wheel.

1.) Be prepared for other drivers to make mistakes. No one is a perfect driver (even you) so you should be prepared that while you’re sharing the road with others they are going to make mistakes. How you react to these mistakes will send you into a spiral of road rage or a calmness and safety while driving. If you know people will make mistakes, when they actually do make mistakes while you’re driving you can pause and give them the space and grace to make that mistake without feeling your wrath.

2.) Speaking of space, give yourself plenty of space so that when mistakes do happen, and they will happen, you have plenty of time to react and avoid any mishap. If you have time to brake smoothly and without any herky jerky motion that could send your heart racing out of your chest, it will be significantly easier to stay calm because you won’t have just seen your life flash before your eyes.

3.) Stay patient. Delays will happen. Mix-ups will occur. If you let every issue that you face while driving get you worked up you’re going to be an incredibly stressed out and rage filled driver. If you know that these things will pop up and there is honestly not much you can do about them you are going to be in a much better situation. If you are able to remain patient you will be much more likely to avoid road rage, especially the kind that leads to fatal accidents.

4.) Disengage from anyone who is trying to poke at you and get you to react. Just because someone else on the road is giving off road rage energy, doesn’t mean you have to meet that energy. If you are being yelled at or someone is trying to engage you, do your best to ignore this behavior and move on so you can get home safely and your blood doesn’t start to boil. The minute you engage with the other driver there becomes two drivers who are more focused on being right than driving safely. This can become extremely dangerous.

While Connecticut is not at the top of the list of states where road rage accounts for a high percentage of fatal car crashes, we certainly could do better. If you utilize some of the tips above you can be committed to driving safely and skipping the road rage that might lead to a New Haven auto accident and could even lead to a fatal accident. When you practice these behaviors and others do too it will go a long way to resolving this issue that Connecticut drivers are currently facing on the road.

Even if you stay perfectly calm, accidents do happen and injuries are often the result. If you get injured you may need to speak with an attorney who can review your situation. Contact our office and one of our attorneys who has years of experience handling situations like yours will speak with you and work with you to protect your long-term interests.