This is Why Car Accidents Happen in Colorado Springs

Written by Jeremy D. Earle, JD

April 8, 2023

Best Car Accident Law firm in Colorado Springs

Accidents involving cars often occur in Colorado Springs. On I-25, cars collide at high speeds. On Powers, they get into fender benders. On Woodmen, they meet head-on, and in residential areas like Briargate, they sideswipe one other.

Car accidents happen so often in Colorado Springs that many people don’t think about why they happen. That is an issue. We should all be aware of what causes car accidents in Colorado Springs; understanding the causes may help avoid accidents and save lives.

This blog article investigates the causes of car accidents in Colorado Springs so that you, our readers, and other Colorado Springs-area drivers may utilize that knowledge to keep yourself, your loved ones, and the general public safer.

CAR ACCIDENTS IN COLORADO SPRINGS: FACTS

More than 77,000 motor car accidents involving passenger cars (including pickups and SUVs) occurred in Colorado Springs in one recent year, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Crash Records Information System (CRIS), with more than a third of them resulting in injuries or fatalities.

Car accidents that result in injuries happen all across Colorado Springs, both within and outside 610 Loop. They occur on important roads and interchanges, such as the N. Academy BLVD. and Carefree corridors that pass through downtown. They may be found at downtown junctions and on meandering residential lanes. We can easily observe that no place in Colorado Springs is devoid of car accidents by overlaying CRIS crash data on a city map.

The Colorado Department of Transportation estimates that motor car accidents cost the state more than $40 billion in economic damage each year, with a large percentage of that cost falling on people and companies in big cities like Colorado Springs. But, of course, dollars and cents are just one

 

method to evaluate the effect of Colorado Springs car accidents, and they don’t consider the human suffering that occurs as a result of them. Every year, victims in Colorado Springs car accidents face profound human anguish and loss that no economic assessment can properly express.

CAR ACCIDENTS IN COLORADO SPRINGS: COMMON CONTRIBUTING FACTORS

The Colorado Department of Transportation produces yearly reports containing accident statistics from around the state. Combining the information in those reports with CRIS data allows us to determine some frequent contributing variables in Colorado Springs car accidents, as indicated in police accident reports.

SPEED

Failure to Control Speed, defined as any time a driver “fails to control the speed of a car as necessary to avoid colliding with another person or car that is on or entering the highway in compliance with the law and the duty of each person to use due care,” is the single most common contributing factor cited in Colorado DOT data for car accidents in urban areas like Colorado Springs.

Unsafe Speed (driving too fast for circumstances) and Speeding (Overlimit) (driving over the speed limit) are two related contributing variables in collisions that police officers report more often, although the three are likely connected.

According to CRIS statistics, in only one year, police in Colorado Springs reported one of those three speed-related contributing factors in 5,582 injured or fatal car accidents.

INATTENTION/DISTRACTION OF THE DRIVER

According to the Colorado Department of Transportation, the next most common contributing factor in urban area car accidents is Driver Inattention (“a driver’s lack of attention to the roadway, highway, or traffic”), as well as the related factors of Distraction in Car and various forms of cell phone use.

These variables combine to cause tens of thousands of car accidents in Colorado each year.

According to CRIS Data, such variables contributed to the cause of 510 car accidents in Colorado Springs that resulted in injury or death in a recent year.

 

REFUSAL TO YIELD THE RIGHT-OF-WAY

In Colorado, the road laws determine who has the right of way in several driving situations. Another important contributing factor in car accidents in Colorado, particularly in metropolitan areas, is a driver’s inability to surrender the right of way in a given scenario. In reality, failures to give the right of way resulted in 3,301 injury-causing or fatal car accidents in Colorado Springs in one recent year.

IGNORANCE OF STOP SIGNS AND LIGHTS

Many car accidents occur when drivers ignore signs and signals ordering them to stop, generally at a junction, similar to failures to give the right of way. Every year, tens of thousands of Colorado Springs junction accidents occur, with 1,791 of them resulting in injuries and deaths in Colorado Springs in the previous year.

IRREGULAR PASSING AND FAILURE TO OCCUPY ONE LANE

Drivers on multi-lane highways fail to maintain their cars “completely inside [the] lane of travel” or fail to pass another car or road user safely, resulting in tens of thousands of car accidents in Colorado. Recently, these risky practices in Colorado Springs resulted in 1,387 car accidents, resulting in injuries and deaths.

DRUGS AND ALCOHOL

Despite ongoing public awareness efforts and harsh fines, some Colorado drivers continue to drive while intoxicated or under the influence of drugs or alcohol. According to CRIS statistics, drunk and drugged drivers caused 305 car accidents in Colorado Springs in the last year, resulting in 305 injuries and deaths.

WHAT WE CAN LEARN ABOUT DRIVER BEHAVIOR FROM THOSE FACTORS

The characteristics listed above describe how car accidents occur in Colorado Springs and its surroundings, but they don’t always explain why they happen. So, let’s delve a bit further and ask: What can we learn about WHY accidents happen from crash contributing factors?

 

DRIVERS IN COLORADO SPRINGS MAKE MISTAKES.

The most apparent conclusion from the major contributing variables in car accidents in Colorado Springs is that drivers cause accidents by making mistakes behind the wheel. That’s all there is to it. Human mistake is the primary cause of car accidents in Colorado Springs. Consequently, accidents occur, and innocent people are injured or killed.

DRIVERS IN COLORADO SPRINGS ARE TENSE.

Aside from those contributing variables, another cause for Colorado Springs car accidents is that drivers are anxious.

We see this in the fact that speed plays such a large part in car accidents in Colorado Springs, which is a symptom of drivers feeling compelled to go from one location to the next. We see it in the role of drugs and alcohol in car accidents, reflecting a population of drivers who self-medicate and make terrible driving decisions after taking substances. We see it in the way inattention and distraction create accidents, implying that drivers have too much on their thoughts and strive too hard to do too many tasks at once while driving.

DRIVERS IN COLORADO SPRINGS ARE EXHAUSTED.

Many folks seem to be exhausted all of the time. They were driving when tired may, unfortunately, result in an accident. Tired drivers are just as dangerous as drunk drivers, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one-third of Texans do not get enough sleep daily.

Tired drivers have difficulty making decisions, judging speed and distance, and maintaining motor coordination. They have weak visual acuity and are unaware of their surroundings. They do fall asleep at the wheel from time to time.

Fatigue-related impairments cause collisions, such as running a red light or stopping at a stop sign and T-boning another car, failing to yield the right of way, and colliding with a bike or pedestrian.

TRAFFIC IN COLORADO SPRINGS IS A NIGHTMARE.

Finally, if you live or travel in Colorado Springs, you are well aware that the city has some of the country’s worst traffic congestion. In reality, all of the accidents described above may most likely be attributed to excessive traffic. With more cars on the road, drivers have less time to respond to risky

 

circumstances, less space to move, greater annoyance, tension, and, eventually, more accidents.

CAR ACCIDENTS ARE NOT EXCUSED FOR ANY OF THESE REASONS.

While there are various reasons why individuals in Colorado Springs get into car accidents, it doesn’t mean we have to accept the consequences and not hold intoxicated, speeding, or tired drivers responsible for the accidents they cause. These accidents may have been avoided. They are generally caused by causes beyond the drivers’ control and others whose choices and actions result in collisions. We can and should all do more to avoid road accidents.

Lawyers representing car accident victims have a poor reputation for profiteering off other people’s pain. However, the work that car accident injury attorneys perform to hold those responsible for car accidents serves the larger goal of preventing the behavior that leads to car accidents.

Individuals, corporations, government bodies, and others are encouraged to exercise reasonable care by the potential of facing a lawsuit and legal blame for causing an accident.

This is why, not only for you and your family but also for the general public, you must obtain expert legal counsel after being injured in a Colorado Springs car accident caused by no fault of your own. Under Colorado law, you have the right to seek compensation for your injuries and losses.

A professional lawyer can seek compensation on your behalf to cover the following expenses:

Medical expenses incurred as a result of the car accident injuries Other costs that you would not have incurred if not for the accident

Wages and income you were unable to earn or would be unable to earn as a result of your injuries (such as if you miss work while in recovery or become disabled)

Your injuries have caused you pain, suffering, and a general loss of quality of life.

 

Punitive damages are intended to penalize a person for very heinous misbehavior in certain situations.

Lawyers cannot guarantee that every case will result in plaintiffs collecting damages or a certain sum for their car accident in Colorado Springs. You may significantly improve your chances of a successful result by entrusting your rights to an attorney with knowledge and a track record of success.

WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO TO HELP REDUCE CAR ACCIDENTS IN COLORADO SPRINGS?

Contacting a lawyer as soon as possible following a car accident in Colorado Springs may benefit you, your family, and your community. However, there are a few things that all Colorado Springs drivers may do to help minimize car accidents.

HAVE A RESTFUL NIGHT’S SLEEP

Many individuals underestimate how much sleep they need to operate well. You may believe you are one of those individuals who can get by on 5 or 6 hours of sleep every night, but this is most likely not the case. True short sleepers make up a tiny fraction of the population. To operate efficiently throughout the day, the rest of us need 7 to 8 hours of sleep every night. One consequence of chronic sleep deprivation is that we are less aware and effective behind the wheel than we should, increasing accidents.

So, Colorado Springs residents, get some rest and help to make our roadways safer.

Take a few deep breaths and take your time.

Stress, like sleep deprivation, can be managed. Our days are overbooked. We don’t provide enough time to get from one location to another. We are concerned about things we have no control over.

Every one is occupied. Stress affects us all, and this article does not profess to provide a cure for stress relief. However, by allotting a little more time in your day to travel from point A to point B and remembering yourself to take a few long, deep breaths now and then (particularly behind the wheel), you can clear your mind, decrease tension, and prevent making the kind of driving errors that lead to accidents.

 

LEAVE YOUR PHONE AT HOME.

Finally, don’t talk on your phone while driving! Another common deception individuals tell themselves is that they are multi-taskers who can drive safely while talking on the phone. This is a serious misunderstanding. Our brains are incapable of true multitasking. Using your phone while driving reduces your ability to maintain a safe pace and drive in a straight line inside your lane.

There is no text worth risking one’s life for.

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