Stress-Induced Wreck? Chicago Injury Attorneys Can Help

Stress in everyday life is unavoidable.

Sometimes it’s from a personal relationship. In other cases, it can be produced by work or even a commute.

Being under stress can lead to all kinds of health problems and even accidents. Stress can certainly increase your risk for a car accident. If you’ve been in a stress-induced car accident, Chicago injury attorneys can help.

Let’s take a look at what leads to those accidents, and what you can do to prevent them on your end.

How Stress Manifests Itself

To understand why people may be at a higher risk for accidents when under stress, we have to understand how stress affects us. There are three major categories under which stress manifests itself.

Physical Symptoms

Our state of mind and physical well-being are closely linked. A person under high levels of stress may find that they experience physical symptoms of that stress.

These symptoms can include chronic fatigue, insomnia, tightened muscles, nausea, headaches, and much more. It can even go so far as to impact your motor skills.

This can easily lead to dangerous situation when a person is behind the wheel of a  car.

Intellectual Symptoms

In this instance, stress can also lead to a vicious cycle at work. Being under stress can cause forgetfulness, a lack of awareness, a reduction in creativity, and a lack of attention to detail.

All of these symptoms can cause behavior that only increases your stress level. Forgetting information during a presentation or losing focus during an important task all compound the effects of stress.

Of course, a lack of awareness and attention to detail are also unwelcome on the road. Anyone suffering from these symptoms is certainly at a higher risk of getting in an accident.

Behavioral or Emotional Symptoms

Stress can also manifest itself through our emotions. A stressful environment can cause depression, anger, anxiety, mood swings, restlessness, and withdrawal, among other symptoms.

Those aren’t the types of emotions that lend themselves to responsible and safe driving.

Taken as a whole, it’s easy to see how stress could cause an accident. A lack of focus, combined with physical and emotional problems, is a recipe for trouble on the road.

If you do wind up in a stress-induced accident in the Chicago area, it’s wise to hire experienced Chicago injury attorneys to help you.

How To Reduce Stress While Driving

If your job or another situation in your life is causing your stress, it may be hard to avoid it. After all, not everyone can immediately quit a job or resolve an issue in their personal life.

But that doesn’t mean that you’re stuck with the stress and its symptoms. Knowing that you’re under stress and may need to help yourself control it is a step in the right direction.

Luckily, there are concrete actions you can take while driving to lower your risk of a stress induced accident.

Use The Drive To Unwind

Some of you may be incredulous that you can unwind during your commute. We know that it’s a little harder to do during bumper-to-bumper traffic.

But try playing soothing, or classical music. Find a podcast that you enjoy and play it during your commute. It’s amazing what good music or a calming voice can do for your stress levels.

Or enjoy the silence and use the time to reflect on positive things in your life. Time spent driving may be some of the only free time you have to really be alone with your thoughts. Don’t waste it by stressing yourself even more.

Vary Your Route

The repetitive nature of a commute, or any other daily drive, can be grating. Sometimes you’ve had to wait at an intersection so many times you can barely stand it anymore. It’s frustrating, it can add to your stress while you drive.

The best solution is to switch things up a bit. Is there an earlier exit you can take? Back roads with slower speed limits but fewer stops?

Taking a different route each day will keep you alert and focused on the drive. Try several different routes — as long as they don’t add to your stress during your drive.

Turn Your Phone Off

At the very least, place it on silent and put it in the glove compartment or somewhere you can’t see it. The benefits are twofold.

First, you have a much higher risk of getting in an accident when using your phone. Texting is very risky. In fact, even talking on the phone can be a significant distraction.

Second, your phone is likely a stressor. Looking at it on your way to work, or coming home, can easily add to your stress levels.

It could be a work email after you’ve just gotten off, or a personal text while you’re commuting to work. Whatever the case, it forces you to think about something you have no control over.

Your commute should be a time to think positively and relax. Your phone can ruin that.

How Chicago Injury Attorneys Can Help

Even if you’ve done everything you can to avoid a stressful drive, others may not have. Another stressed-out distracted driver can easily cause an accident.

So what do you do if you’ve been involved in a stress-induced accident?

Many Chicago injury attorneys can help you with your accident. But not all of them are the same.

Get In Touch With Us

You need an experienced attorney who understands all the rules of the road and different regulations that may pertain to your case.

Laws and ordinances vary from state to state and from city to city. Your attorney needs to be well-versed in them, with plenty of experience and a great track record.

If you’ve been in an accident in the Chicago area, you need to call the Law Office of Scott D. DeSalvo. We’ll give you a free case evaluation, over the phone, in person, or even by email.

So don’t delay, contact us today and we’ll make sure you’re represented by the quality Chicago injury attorneys that you need