Prospective owners of used cars in New Jersey beware – distracted and unsafe drivers are all over the road. What they are looking at may actually surprise you.

The University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center recently unveiled the top 10 driver distractions and found that cell phone use only accounts for 1.4 percent of the study.

The leading distraction for motorists is becoming obsessed things outside of the car, such as accidents, billboards or scenery. Many car crashes also occur when drivers take their eyes off of the road to adjust the radio, which is the second most frequent distraction in the survey.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has reported that driver inattention is a contributing factor in over 50 percent of all car crashes.

Authors of the study suggest that drivers pull off the road if they begin to daydream or if they need to use a cell phone for an extended conversation. Researchers also recommend that you don’t drive when you are agitated or tired.

Remember, limiting distractions is the first step toward safer travel.

Last year, New Jersey Governor John Corzine signed the nation’s first state law prohibiting vehicles from driving with dangerous accumulations of snow. Owners of used cars in New Jersey may be interested in a terrifying accident outside of Chicago that could force other states to adopt Corzine’s innovative piece of legislation.

Early in January, Peter Morano was driving in Aurora, Illinois when a large block of ice slipped off of a semitrailer and crashed through his windshield.

“The sheet of ice hit directly on the windshield, broke the windshield and sprayed the glass into my face,” said 41-year-old father of two, quoted by the Chicago Tribune.

The semitrailer continued driving, but other pedestrians came to Morano’s aid. He spent two days in the hospital and had to undergo numerous facial surgeries.

Morano and his family believe that the accident could have been prevented and are now pushing for stronger regulations concerning snow removal for motorists.

“There needs to be more awareness of this,” said Debbie Morano, Peter’s wife. “Every time we’ve told the story, someone says, ‘That happened to me,’ or ‘That happened to a friend of mine.'”

Owners of hybrid cars in New Jersey may be interested in a new analysis of battery-operated vehicles and their projected impact on oil consumption over the next two decades.

According to J. Marshall Adkins and Pavel Molchanov, analysts for the financial services firm Raymond James, hybrid cars had a market share of approximately 3 percent last year.

The two analysts found that, even under the highest-growth assumptions, where hybrids own a third of the market share in 2020, oil savings would be relatively insignificant.

Under those conditions, the U.S. would save roughly 200,000 barrels of oil a day, less than 1 percent of the nation’s oil demand, according to the Oil and Gas Journal.

“No matter how ‘cool’ and popular the concept might be, from the oil market’s standpoint, hybrids will be irrelevant as far as the eye can see,” the analyst stated, quoted by the New York Times.

The report went on to say that, according to the analyst’s calculations, “the internal combustion engine isn’t going anywhere.”

We have all been there. The fuel light is on, you are a few miles away from a gas station and worried that you might not make it. Owners of used cars in New Jersey may be interested in a few helpful tips of how to conserve gas while driving.

First, turn the air conditioner off or use it sparingly. Running your air conditioner will cause your vehicle to consume more fuel and could make the difference on a short trip to the gas station.

Secondly, roll the windows up. Driving with your windows down can increase the drag on the vehicle and will hurt your mileage.

If you must do one or the other, put the windows down when driving slowly, such as around town or in traffic, and use the air conditioner when traveling on the highway, according to Edmunds.com.

Finally, drive the speed limit. Unnecessary acceleration will burn up additional fuel and could cost you a long walk to the gas pump.

For general fuel efficiency, experts highly recommend that you keep your car well maintained. Proper maintenance can make a huge difference in a car’s fuel economy, the news source reports.