How You Can Prioritize Driving Safely and Avoid Accidents in the USA

Many individuals get driver’s licenses. They know that, as adults, not having a driver’s license makes things difficult. Unless you’re in a city with excellent public transportation, you probably need a car.

How You Can Prioritize Driving Safely and Avoid Accidents

If you drive, you should stay safe however you can. That means following all traffic laws. We will talk about how you can do that right now. By obeying all traffic laws and following other safe driving behaviors, you can avoid most accidents.

Know About Common Car Accident Varieties

Learning about common car accident varieties and what causes them can keep you safe. It can keep your passengers and drivers around you safe as well.

Rear-end crashes make up one-third of car wrecks, so you should know about those. Rear-end crashes often happen if a driver ahead slams on the brakes suddenly. If you’re tailgating that driver, you might hit their rear bumper, causing a fender bender.

If you stay at least one full car length behind a vehicle ahead of you, you should stop in time if they step on the brakes suddenly. They might do that if an animal runs across the street or there’s a sudden traffic slowdown up ahead.

You should also know about T-bone collisions and what causes those. T-bone collisions usually happen if you try running a red light.

If a light turns yellow as you approach an intersection, you can go. If it turns red before you can enter the intersection, you must stop. By doing so, you will avoid most T-bone crashes.

Head-to-head crashes can happen as well. They often occur if you drive the wrong way up a one-way street. They might also happen if you enter a freeway by going up an exit ramp.

To avoid these wrecks, watch for the street signs around you. If you’re in an unfamiliar city, look for any signs that indicate one-way streets or freeway entrances. The signs should clearly mark which way you should go, and if you follow their directions, you probably won’t make a traffic mistake that causes a head-to-head car wreck.

Don’t Let Your Kids Distract You While You’re Driving

You can also prioritize safe driving by making sure your kids and other passengers don’t bother you while you’re in the car. Your children might distract you if they’re young and don’t understand they can cause an accident if they act up. They might scream, argue with each other in the back seat, sing, or do other things that might draw your attention.

Tell your kids that they should not distract you while you’re driving. If they’re too young and they don’t understand the danger, you should give them something that can keep their attention when they’re in the car. Maybe you’ll give them a stuffed animal or some other toy so they won’t make noise and divert your attention.

You should also know that even if you have a child crying in the backseat or otherwise carrying on, you can’t look back there or calm them until you’ve pulled over and you’re out of traffic. If your child needs your attention, you can give it to them, but not till you’re out of a busy roadway and you’ve turned off the vehicle.

Don’t Drive in Bad Weather Unless You Can’t Avoid It

You can prioritize safe driving by avoiding any bad weather driving unless you have no alternative. Maybe you must drive to work in the rain.

If so, make sure you turn on your lights and windshield wipers and that you drive slowly and carefully. You should drive 5-10 miles below the speed limit if you must drive in very bad weather.

You can also avoid driving in bad weather entirely if you can put off whatever you must do. If you’re scheduled to work, maybe you can work from home instead. Many employers will let you work from home these days, and if you explain that the bad weather worries you, then maybe they’ll say that’s okay.

If you have errands you must run, wait until it’s not snowing or raining. You might also wait till daylight if it’s nighttime. Day driving gives you better visibility, which makes accidents less likely. 

Understand Drunk Driving Dangers

You can prioritize safe driving by never ingesting alcohol and then getting behind the wheel. You might feel like you’re okay if you have one drink and then drive. Even if you’re under the legal limit, though, a single drink might affect you.

Maybe you don’t drink often, so one beer will have more of an impact than you imagined. You might also drink on an empty stomach. If so, that can impact you more than you thought.

You should realize that driving drunk can change your entire life in an instant, or someone’s life who you hit. If you have a policy where you never drive after drinking any alcohol at all, you can stay safe that way. Your family and anyone else in your life who loves you will thank you.

Get a Car with Excellent Safety Features

You can prioritize safe driving one additional way. You can get a car that has the best and latest safety features.

You can get one that has a rear backup camera. All vehicles must have them now, and if you buy a recent model, it should have one. You can use that when you’re backing out of the driveway or when you’re in a parking lot.

You can get a car that has automatic front braking. If you can’t stop in time when a vehicle stops ahead of you, the automatic braking will detect the car or another object up ahead and stop for you.

You might get one with lane departure alerts. If you swerve out of your lane without realizing it, your car will make a sound that can alert you.

If you prioritize safe driving, then you can stay vigilant, and you’ll avoid most accidents that might occur.

Image credit: Depositphotos