Every person who drives a vehicle will need to follow some basic driving safety tips. You might have often noticed that, even if you are a cautious driver, many others on the road whiz past you and driving rashly or dangerously. This article describes several common causes of accidents. Use this information, along with other driving safety tips to both drive defensively and avoid things that could lead to crashes.
Avoid drunk driving or driving under the influence of drugs. Drunk drivers account for a death every half hour, with the number of accidents rising over weekends.
Do not drive if you are sleepy. A sleepy driver is as dangerous as a drunk driver. Drowsiness causes a great number of accidents. With today’s increasingly hectic lifestyle, sleep deprivation continues to rob many people of their lives.
Ensure that your vehicle’s lights work. This will give you good visibility on roads at night and can help prevent accidents. Get your vehicle checked and serviced regularly so that the brakes and other parts will be in excellent condition. You will be ensuring your own safety as well as the safety of others.
Adjust all mirrors before you start out. Look over your shoulder before changing lanes since you'll still have a blind spot.
At night always drive with headlights on. Wear your seatbelt while driving. Implement other driving safety tips as much as possible.
Stop at all stop signs. Before proceeding look around to ensure that there are no drivers who are jumping signals. Be observant. Check your mirrors every 6 or 8 seconds to ensure that all is clear. Follow traffic rules to the letter and be ready to react in case someone else does not follow traffic rules.
Studies show that 30% of American crashes are caused by distracted drivers. Distracted drivers are as dangerous as drunk or sleepy ones. They might be looking at scenery, adjusting their CD players, reading maps while driving or even talking on a mobile phone. Avoid any activity that takes your attention from the road.
Even if another person refuses to give you right of way, never be the cause of an accident. There are drivers who operate their vehicles without regard for others or without any regard for road rules. Some of them aggressively tailgate others. Others get a lot of fun from preventing others from moving their vehicles. They might frequently change lanes or fail to yield right of way. Do not retaliate or try to compete with them.
If there is bad weather, it is often better to wait until it clears up before taking your vehicle out. Snow, hail, rain and other inclement weather can make driving difficult, often causing vehicles to skid. Poor visibility can also increase the number of crashes, especially on freeways.
