The first step to avoid personal injury is to be a safe driver. Car accidents are one of the most common causes of serious injury in the United States. Click here to learn some driving safety tips that can help you be safer on the roads.
More than two million people are injured or disabled in road accidents in the United States each year. It may be impossible to eradicate car crashes entirely–you can’t control how other people drive or what they do–but the safer you are as a driver, the better off you’ll be.
Avoiding injury starts with you, and the decisions you make as soon as you get behind the wheel of your car. If you’ve been driving for a long time, you may feel like you know everything there is to know about safe driving.
The truth is, it’s easy to get comfortable behind the wheel and you may not always have driving safety at the top of your mind. It’s good to get a refresher on driving safety tips every once in a while.
Below, we review five safe driving practices that everyone should follow. Read on!
1. Avoid Distracted Driving
If you spend a lot of time in your car commuting, running errands, or shuffling your kids around, it’s tempting to multitask during your time behind the wheel. But in order to be the safest driver possible, you need to be completely focused on the road.
Eating, drinking, and using your cell phone are all dangerous distractions that could prevent you from driving safely. It’s important to keep things in perspective. Anytime you want to answer a call, ask yourself if it’s worth the risk of serious injury.
2. Drive Defensively
One of the scariest things about driving is that you’re partially at the mercy of others. Even if you are driving safely, you can’t guarantee that others will be as well.
If you are sharing the road with a reckless driver or are n an area of high traffic, it’s important to stay calm and drive defensively. Don’t get competitive with other drivers who are speeding down the road or cutting people off. If you react to their unsafe driving by getting aggressive yourself, that’s when car crashes happen.
3. Insist on Seatbelts
As the driver, you know that you should always wear your seatbelt. Passengers don’t always feel the same sense of necessity when it comes to buckling up.
You should always insist that everyone who rides in your car wear their seatbelt the entire ride. It will help protect them if anything happens, but it also helps you to drive safely because you won’t be distracted by passengers who are moving around or being unsafe.
4. Make a Plan for Long Drives
On a long road trip, it’s especially easy to give in to bad driving practices. If you’re trying to get from Point A to Point B as fast as possible, you might want to complete a long drive without stopping.
Building in time for breaks to rest, eat, and stretch your legs can make your trip longer, but will help you be more alert and focused when you are behind the wheel.
5. Maintain Your Vehicle
What you’re driving is as important as how you’re driving when it comes to safety. It’s important to keep your vehicle in the best shape possible. An unexpected breakdown or malfunction could lead to an accident.
Make sure that your headlights, taillights, and turn indicators are working and that you’re keeping up with oil changes and other regular maintenance.
Want More Driving Safety Tips?
There’s no such thing as being too safe behind the wheel. The more driving safety tips you can rely on, the easier it will be for you to avoid injury.
For more information about safe driving, please contact us at any time.
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