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Recent Car Accidents ArticlesDriving Safe: How to Minimise Risks on the Road
http://www.vbilighting.co.ukActively Communicate: Many mistakes, misunderstandings and collisions result from simple miscommunication. When driving a car no-one can see your body language, so you must rely completely on your cars indicators and positioning to let other drivers know what you are planning. Just as you sit at a roundabout watching the other cars like a hawk, looking for indications of where they are going to turn off, other cars are watching you too.
Not only will you want to ensure you indicate when you should, but also make sure your indicators turn themselves off correctly. Driving along with everyone and their dog expecting you to turn to the left any second can lead to cars ahead turning into the road because they expect you to be leaving it shortly. You must also bear in mind that people on foot will be looking to your positioning and indicators for clues about your expected behaviour too.
Communication is particularly important when you're in unfamiliar territory - when visiting new cities with huge confusing intersections and turnoffs without clear labelling. When indecisive, it is better to turn off the road to make your choice, rather than stopping dead in the middle of the road or wavering around. Of course this may not always be possible, but you can communicate better simply by doing your best to warn other drivers of your actions, and by driving predictably.
Improved third-brake lights can improve your road communication considerably. Brake-indicators give the car behind you a clear message relating to how urgently you have just braked, and therefore how urgently they need to react. Furthermore, it moves the brake lights to eye-level, making it an unavoidable warning to other drivers on the road around you.
Actively Concentrate: Those comfortable with conversing while driving may also get comfortable with doing other things - checking maps, fiddling with the radio, turning off their phone when it rings or quickly checking a text message... when travelling with others, or with distracting gadgetry, there is a lot to steal your attention.
Whether we want to accept it or not, we are always dividing our attention between tasks. The two seconds it takes us to glance at our ringing phone and then reach over to turn it off, mean two seconds with our eyes and attention off the road. A lot can happen in two seconds. Of course its impossible to completely eliminate all distractions, but getting rid of everything you can will go a long way towards putting all your attention on the road, and ensuring you are not straining your brain trying to look at five things at once. Not only will you drive safer, but you will probably emerge at the other end less stressed.
Be Patient: This is perhaps the most important and hardest safe-driving tip to achieve. Impatience leads to risky overtaking tactics and general erratic anger-lead driving. Instead of presuming you're going to execute a drive at the fastest speed possible, try setting out with the goal to notice something new along the way, putting the focus on the trip rather than the destination. Fluffy though it sounds, this can lead to less aggravation when something slows you down or blocks your way. Having something entertaining in the car (like some music you like listening to) preserved for just such occasions can also help.
Drive For Conditions: For UK drivers, this is almost something that needs dialled down rather than increased. When conditions worsen and you're looking at floods, heavy rain, snow and ice - you need to drive slower. Traction will decrease and the chance of hydroplaning (gliding on a layer of water, meaning you have no directional control at all) in wet conditions is high, especially on motorways. When visibility is low, likewise, you need to slow down to suit that condition. In the UK however, we tend to overreact, and sometimes excessively slow speeds in the face of a layer of snow can cause more problems than it solves. Ultimately you must drive as slow as you feel safe, but if you are particularly nervous on wet or snowy roads, you may wish to look into tyres or tyres-chains suited to these times.
A standard rule is to slow by half in snow, by a third in rain. You will also want to ensure your tyres are in excellent condition, at all times.
Presume Someone Will Err: The best attitude to take when driving is to presume that some other driver will make a mistake at some point. You can have the best reactions in the world, but you won't be able to do anything about it if you're three feet away from the car in front when they screech to a halt without warning.
Create space when you drive, by leaving plenty of space in front of your car and positioning yourself on the motorway so that there are rarely cars to your sides. This gives you room for maneuvers in an emergency.
When in doubt about who has the right of way - yield to another driver. You may feel that you've lost face, but would you rather be involved in a car-crash leading to injury or serious insurance costs?
Dealing With Tailgaters: You might feel there is nothing you can do about another drivers bad driving habits, but there are some basic cautionary steps you can take if someone is bumper-hugging. Give yourself more space in front - so that if the car ahead of you stops suddenly, you can stop a little less suddenly, therefore giving your tailgater a chance to slow before hitting you. Slow down - this can give your tailgater a chance to do what he evidently wants to do, overtake. Do not, however, slow to a speed that forces him to do so, as they might feel it is the only opportunity you are going to give him, and he may overtake at a dangerous area of the road.
Take Responsibility: When you are the driver, you are responsible for making sure the passengers in your car adhere to safety rules too. The most important of these is that everyone is wearing a seat belt, and you may find it useful to make a rule that the car doesn't move until seatbelts are put on. This establishes clear rules and saves arguments. You will also want to discourage passengers from overly distracting behaviour such as erratic movements or physical interference that may remove your attention from the road.
Ultimately, if you keep your mind on all the possibilities when driving, you will drive safe. Working on staying calm while travelling will also have a knock-on effect, leading to safer driving and a more enjoyable trip all round.
Author:
VBI LightingAbout the Author:VBI Lighting offers a Vehicle Brake Indicator light for installation into existing cars, increasing safety and communication on the road and ensuring cars around you know how to react in case of an emergency. Visit VBI Lighting's website (www.vbilighting.co.uk) for more information on this low-power, easy to install yet crucial safety addition to your vehicle.
January 25, 2008 06:03:17 AM
