We have all seen that reckless driver, while on the road, that makes us shake our head and wave a finger. For some reason people always try to place the blame or accuse the other driver of being the reckless one. These same people placing the blame have likely driven recklessly once or twice themselves. If driving unsafely can affect everyone and it is everyone’s problem, then how do we solve the problem and make the roads safer?
A team of safety professionals have taken the time to give us 3 tips that can help make our trips out on the road safer.
- Assume that others do not see you. Of course having the expectations that other drivers out there will be following the rules of the road, are paying attention and that they will see you is normal. Unfortunately that is not always true. Never assume, always play it safe.
- Don’t be a competitive driver. Just go with the flow. There is no race to be won nor is there a reward at the end, there is only risks. Competitive driving leads to people or animals being injured or possibly even death. It is among the top ten reasons car accidents occur.
- Stay cool. We all know it can be difficult to keep from acting with aggression towards aggressive drivers. ” For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”, trust Newton’s third law! When another driver cuts you off, or fails to signal when turning, just breath deeply and let it go. Allow it to cause you to be more careful.
Here are a few tips to help you stay cool while driving around hot heads.
- Keep calm during traffic delays. They might slow you down and even cause you to be late, but in the end there really isn’t anything you can do about it. So just sit back and enjoy the music.
- Be sure to leave plenty of room between you and the next car when turning into or changing lanes, and use those turn signals, they have saved lives.
- There is no point in confrontation with aggressive drivers, it will only cause a domino affect. Not to mention it creates a hazardous risk to all of the others around you.
- Keep your distance. This in itself has kept others safe. You never know when someone will stop short or turn suddenly.
These tips and tricks to sharing the road can improve your driving skills along with your awareness. Always be ready and alert because you cannot trust that the others will do the same.