Thursday 28 March 2024
LIFESTYLE

Safer driving: how to protect yourself on the road

Each year, car accidents are the leading cause of injury-related deaths in the US. There are hundreds of thousands of cars on the roads in the US, and some truly awful drivers, which means that your chance of being involved in a road traffic accident is rather high. Even the safest drivers can’t completely protect themselves, as there are many reckless drivers on the roads.

The statistics show that there are an estimated 5,808,272 car accidents in the US every year, which amounts to 15,913 accidents a day. That’s a lot of car crashes, isn’t it? Although you can’t control how other road users drive, what you can do is take steps to ensure that you are driving as safely as possible. There’s no way to completely protect yourself from other road users, but there are steps that can be taken to minimise risk.

Avoid all alcohol

A high percentage of road traffic accidents occur when one of the drivers has been drinking alcohol. This doesn’t necessarily have to mean the driver being over the limit, just that they have consumed some alcohol. You may be able to safely consume a pint of beer and still drive but the fact is, even a small amount of alcohol can hinder your concentration. Therefore, if you want to be a safer driver, it’s best to be an alcohol-free driver and only have a drink when you’re not going to get behind the wheel.

Don’t drive when you’re tired

Tiredness kills. That’s a fact of life and a message that you will most probably see on every service station signpost on the freeway. The fact is that tiredness can kill. All it takes is a split second for a driver to fall asleep, swerve, hit another car, and leave that driver with life-changing injuries, and needing the help of the Dolman Law Group to file a lawsuit. Don’t be this driver; if you’re tired, don’t get behind the wheel.

Remember, the speed limit isn’t a challenge

There is a common misconception that you have to drive at the speed limit all of the time – as if it is a challenge. However, that isn’t the case, speed limits aren’t there to set a challenge, they’re there to remind drivers what the highest safe speed is to drive. However, just because a small windy road has a speed limit of 60, that doesn’t mean that it’s always safe to accelerate to that speed. Common sense is key here. Always observe the legal speed limit but that doesn’t have to mean driving up to it – it’s about doing the speed that you feel is safe, taking into account the lay of the road.

The truth is that even by taking note of the above tips, you can’t guarantee the fact that you will stay safe while you are out on the road. However, by being a smart, safer driver, you can reduce the risk that you will be involved in a car accident while out on the roads.

** This is a collaborative post

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