Big NO NO!
We all passed Drivers Ed by taking the written exam and noting hours and hours of driving. But, only more knowledge and experience will allow you the confidence to drive safely on the roads.
Here’s some tips I gathered from Edmunds — and some I wrote myself — to help you prevent getting into a car accident:
- Stay out of the fast lane, especially if you’re not driving fast.
- Don’t just stare straight ahead when driving. Keep scanning the road.
- Keep your car healthy. Make sure you get regular check ups to help avoid breaking down.
- Use the old 9 and 3 o’clock rule for your hands. I know it looks cooler to drive with your knee, but it’s NOT SAFE!
- Check your blind spots while on the road.
- Know your car’s performance limits and don’t try to test them.
- No texting or talking on the phone while driving. Just drive!
- If you’re in the least bit feeling fatigue, do not drive.
- Take your time. Don’t rush. It’s better to be safe and late, then on-time and injured (or with a ticket).
Have a good tip on how to prevent a car accident from occurring?
5 Comments
I am sorry if this offends anyone in the car business, but I feel most of them are partially at fault for accidents these days, albeit indirectly. I feel that the real cause of all these accidents is the false sense of security caused by all these advanced safety features in cars. I see it time and time again here in my hometown of Overland Park. Every year when it snows, people with big SUVs and trucks that have 4WD and ABS think they can drive as fast as they want and that if anything happens the 4WD and ABS will save them. I also encountered one guy who got his truck stuck on a snow drift. I asked him if his 4WD was on and he said “Yeah, its on all the time”, so I got into his truck and showed him how to put it into 4WD and then I effortlessly drove the truck out of the snow bank, and he responded with “Oh! Nobody ever told me I had to put it in 4WD myself. I thought that because it said 4WD that the 4WD was on all the time.” Not to mention, even during the warm months, people drive like idiots. This morning, I got rear-ended by a guy who was in such a hurry to get back to work from his lunch break that he was trying to type on his laptop and talk on his cell phone while he was driving. His excuse? He was late getting back from lunch and he didn’t want to get fired.
My 1991 Honda Accord has only one safety feature – pretensioner seatbelts. No airbags, no anti-lock brakes, no stability control and traction control, none of that stuff, and guess what? That has made me both a smarter driver and a better driver because I know my car lacks those safety features, so I drive much more carefully to avoid getting into an accident and I pay more attention to the road and traffic around me to avoid any nasty surprises. The more safety features you have in something, the more careless people get with that something because they feel those safety features will protect them if something happens. While it is true these advanced safety features do save lives and make our lives easier, they also make people stupid. People think that because they have all these really advanced safety features that they can drive as fast as they want and the safety features will protect them if they crash.
Have you ever wondered how some of your employees make it to work on time every day, even though most of them have a spouse and kids to deal with? I can answer that, too. I confronted one guy about his driving because I caught him with a newspaper propped against the steering wheel, a cup of freshly-brewed (and obviously very hot) coffee in one hand, his cell phone in the other hand glued to his ear, and his laptop in his lap. His excuse? “I didn’t have time to read the newspaper, check my email, and get my morning cup of coffee this morning because the daycare doesn’t open until 9am and I have to be at work at 9am and I didn’t get much sleep last night anyway, so leave me the hell alone and stop sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong. I can drive however the (expletive) I want. Its not your job to tell me what I can and cannot do.”
While driving & texting or not remaining 100% focused on the road and YOUR surroundings is a no-no…. Lauren, where is your seat belt in the picture above?
Or… was that one of the no-no’s along with the cell phone and only one hand on the wheel?!?
No worries … I was parked! 🙂