Every day, millions of parents drive with their children in the car. There’s really no way to avoid this in many cases, as they head to daycare, drop the kids off at school or take them to a friend’s house.
But is this an invisible epidemic of dangerous driving? Are these parents putting others on the road at risk? Many people never think twice about this, but it is worth considering.
Changes to the brain when a child cries
The thing to consider is that a crying child in the car can be incredibly distracting. Parents may be more likely to make driving mistakes or even cause car accidents if a child is whining, complaining or actively crying. This is especially true with infants and new babies.
What neuroscience has found over the years is that there is a specific brain activity that takes place when a child cries. This is common all over the world, to mothers of all sorts of different backgrounds. You could say that they are hardwired to instantly respond to that child’s cries.
In other words, this isn’t the same type of distraction as a phone or something else that someone could intentionally ignore. A parent has an internal reaction that they can’t avoid that makes them take their attention off of the road and give it to the child. They may do this instinctively, even when they know that it’s unsafe.
Have you been injured in a car accident?
As noted above, there’s really no way to avoid these types of distractions, so accidents are simply going to continue happening. Those who are injured in these accidents must know how they can seek financial compensation for their medical bills and other costs.
