Complacency: The Silent Killer

The majority of us try our best to be safe whenever we’re driving. We stick to the law, keep our eyes on the road, and we certainly don’t drive when we’re inebriated. However, there’s another big driving sin that almost everyone is guilty of at one point: complacency. If you’ve been driving for years without even the suggestion of an accident, it can be easy to lose all that concern and concentration you had as a new driver.

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Getting too comfortable driving a car, even if you’ve been completely safe so far, is a slippery slope. For many drivers, they can only be snapped out of their complacency when something out of the ordinary springs up on them. You’re driving to work, going through the motions, thinking about what the day has ahead of you, singing along to the stereo. Suddenly, someone cuts you off, and you don’t have time to react. You collide with this “maniac”, and instantly lay the blame on them. The usual justification comes down to “that (expletive) came out of nowhere! There was nothing I could do!”

In many cases, the truth of the matter is that the victim here was also at fault, as they weren’t paying enough attention to the road, and missed the signs that the stupid so-and-so in question was about to cut them off. It wasn’t an accident, more an avoidable collision. In the majority of these scenarios, the driver playing the victim technically had the opportunity to avoid the collision, but didn’t take it because they weren’t 100% focussed on driving. Instead of keeping an eye on vital information, such as where all the other vehicles were around them, the flow of traffic and weather conditions, the driver was busy processing information about work or some other distraction. They were playing it by heart, so to speak, letting their brain shut off and instinctively following the vehicle in front.

It’s a sad fact that modern society seems to accept fatalities as just another fact of life, and complacent drivers as the price we pay for getting from A to B quickly. Any experienced truck accident lawyers will be able to tell you that complacency behind the wheel leads to countless deaths every year, and that the majority of motorists are guilty of it at some point. It may not be as reckless as drink driving, but it’s still something you should be making a point to avoid.

You may be a great driver, but don’t let yourself become too complacent. Don’t think of driving as just another daily chore that you can do on auto-pilot. For most people, this is the one part of their daily routine that could get them killed. Make a point to stay focussed on the road, and treat it as seriously as you would operating any other kind of potentially dangerous machinery. Just like a chainsaw or a firearm, if a car is in complacent, careless hands, it can easily lead to one or more tragic fatalities.