Dolphin Technologies, a telematics provider, has released a study saying that short car trips are more likely to result in an accident. Drivers in San Antonio may want to avoid trips that are shorter than 10 minutes, choosing instead to walk or ride a bicycle.
What the study involved
Researchers looked at a total of 3.2 million car trips that 40,000 people went on between 2018 and 2019. Of these car trips, 1,986 ended in an accident. Around 87% of trips lasted less than 30 minutes while 1% lasted over one hour. They found that a quarter of the accidents took place within the first three minutes and that an additional 14% took place in the first six minutes of the trip.
This means that if drivers don’t take trips that are shorter than 10 minutes, they could prevent nearly 40% of all car accidents. However, longer trips can be dangerous, too. Trips that exceed 40 minutes are 2.5 times more likely to end in a crash than trips that are less than 20 minutes. The trips that run the lowest risk are those between 10 and 20 minutes long.
Preventing car accidents
Besides avoiding short trips, drivers should prepare accordingly for longer trips. They should, for example, take frequent rest breaks. Phone use is behind 26% of accidents, so drivers must put away their phone.
A lawyer to represent victims
Phone use is just one way that many drivers cause motor vehicle accidents. Other ways include drowsy driving, DUI and aggressive driving. If you were harmed through another driver’s unsafe actions, you may be able to seek compensation from that driver’s auto insurance company. It might take a lawyer to successfully negotiate a claim against the insurance company’s own legal team, so you may want to consider a case evaluation.