When it comes to your vehicle, it can definitely be easy to overlook safety when you’re wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. If you’ve successfully managed to drive without ever getting in an accident, not only are you lucky, but you might not think as carefully about all the driving decisions you make. Fortunately car safety is something everyone can learn and improve at! We’ll cover the best driving safety tips in the rest of this article!
Driving Has Risk
Even if you’re the safest driver around, you can still get into an accident and injure yourself and others. You can give your best effort to stay safe and drive correctly, but you can’t control what other drivers do. This means that there will always be some level of risk when you drive.
Consider those who get into accidents with drunk drivers. Do you think sober drivers had any control over whether or not they got into accidents with drunk drivers? Absolutely not! While some may have been able to avoid the drunk driver if they noticed sooner, often times situations like these are entirely out of your hands.
Ultimately, you’ll never know who’s driving the car in the oncoming lane and what their mental state is. With this in mind, all you can control is what you do when it comes to vehicle safety. While you can’t guarantee that you’ll completely avoid any accidents by being a safe driver, you can drastically reduce your chances and likelihood of actually getting into an accident.
If the only variable you can influence is yourself, then you need to take care safety into your own hands. The only person that will be with you every time you drive is you. However, this does mean that you will always be the common denominator, which makes any actions you take very impactful when it comes to trying to ensure your safety.
Driving Safety Facts
If you aren’t convinced that car safety is important, here are some driving safety facts to help persuade you:
- More than 35,000 people die from car crashes in the U.S. every year. Globally, that number easily exceeds 1 million.
- If not killed, more than 2.25 million are injured as a result of a car crash in the U.S. every year. Globally, that number grows far beyond 20 million!
- Distracted driving is now the leading cause of traffic accidents in the U.S., higher even than drunk driving. More than 75% of accidents were linked to some form of distraction from at least one driver just prior to the accident.
Driving Safety Topics
There are multiple aspects of road safety that a driver should consider. There are things you should be aware of before even starting the vehicle, but you’ll absolutely also need to stay vigilant while you’re on the road. You’ll also want to keep an eye on the road even as a passenger. This makes any time you enter a vehicle a necessity to know good driving safety tips.
Before Driving
You might be wondering how you can endanger yourself before hitting the road, but it’s definitely possible. There are several aspects of your car, things like fuel, seat belts, tire pressure, and fluid levels that must all be routinely and properly maintained. If you’re lacking fuel, your car may run out of gas while out on the road. Seat belt failure can be catastrophic if you do end up getting into an accident.
These are just a few examples, but the basic concept is what is important. You’ll want to think about what really matters when it comes to vehicle safety. This often comes down to parts/systems that must be maintained in order for the vehicle to run properly, and those that keep you safe when disaster actually does strike.
You don’t have to do anything extreme or time-intensive. Some of these won’t even need checking every time you decide to drive. Just remember to check them frequently. Make sure you’re also staying on top of routine maintenance and fixing any parts that need replacement. Not only can fault parts cause your car to malfunction, but they can also break off your vehicle. This is a major problem if it hits another driver.
Here are a few driving safety tips for both that can easily be forgotten:
- To Run Properly: fuel, tire pressure, oil, fluids (transmission, brake, power steering)
- To Safeguard in Case of Disaster: seat belts, airbags, windows, safety systems
Road Safety Tips
Depending upon your experience and comfort level, driving can be either easy and natural or difficult and foreign to you. To be fair, there are several things happening around you all at once that you need to have some level of understanding for. This can easily become overwhelming, especially when you think about how disastrous and serious an accident actually is. The margin for error is slim when mere inches separate you from another vehicle.
So how do you stay safe while driving? Well, this requires you to fully commit yourself to paying attention and practicing good safety every time you’re driving. To start with, this means leaving your cell phone alone. Distracted driving is the leading cause for car accidents (at least in the U.S.).
When you’re looking at a phone, you’re not taking in all the information from your surroundings. While you may be able to recognize what is going on around you in time to prevent an accident, you’ll be far better equipped had you been paying attention all along. Furthermore, you won’t have an understanding of your surroundings. This might have let you know that the lane to your right was open, which you could’ve swerved towards to avoid hitting the person who abruptly stopped in front of you.
Defensive Driving
Not only do you need to ignore your phone, but you also need to watch other drivers like a hawk. It may seem harsh, but you should assume that other drivers are not paying attention and will likely make errors. This naturally puts you into a defensive mindset, which can prepare you to quickly react to any mistakes that do happen.
This does mean that sometimes you’ll need to yield to other drivers even when you’re in the right. What matters more to you; your safety, time, and money, or being right about something? When you think about it like that, preserving your own safety is far more important than trying to stand your ground just to stick it to another driver. Many times accidents are avoidable, but stubbornness gets in the way of allowing a peaceful resolution.
What are the road safety tips? You’ll want to always be looking at the road in front of you. You'll also want to be aware of any vehicles in lanes besides you. Where you’re going is very important, but vehicles next to you are also important to know about.
This also allows you an escape route in case you need to quickly change lanes. Look at the wheels of other vehicles to see where they’re going. Are they slowly starting to veer towards your lane? Slow down and consider pressing on your horn if they start to drift over. More driving tips include remembering to use all signals, obeying all laws, and slowing down when conditions are less than ideal.
As a Passenger
What are the driving safety tips to be followed while riding a vehicle? Well, even as a passenger, you can also do your part to help ensure car safety. While you aren’t operating the vehicle yourself, you can still do just about everything you would to ensure safety if you actually were driving.
This means keeping an eye on other vehicles to see what they’re doing. As a passenger, you have much more freedom to look and observe for prolonged periods without needing to focus on everything at once. This gives you a great opportunity to notice if a car is swerving up ahead when the person driving your vehicle might not know.
You’ll want to make sure and communicate any issues or advice to your driver so that they have the most knowledge available to them to help them make the best driving decisions. On top of that, you’ll also want to make sure and respect whoever is driving. They are in control of the vehicle, not you. Don’t distract them, and certainly don’t criticize or micromanage them, which can cause them stress, reducing their driving capabilities.
Practice Car Safety Everyday
This article had just a few car safety ideas, but you could probably spend an entire day thinking of ways to be safer when it comes to driving. While you can’t entirely avoid every accident, you can certainly improve your chances of avoiding one if you stay well-informed and practice good car safety.
Car safety is something that takes several years to foster a full appreciation and understanding for. Don’t let that stop you from looking up safe driving articles and conducting other forms of research to find ways you can be a safer driver. While it may seem fun to speed and that new text you got might be from that special someone you have a crush on, getting into an accident is never worth whatever you gain from sacrificing your safety by speeding or distracting yourself.
If you do your best to be a cautious, defensive driver, you can do your part to help reduce the growing problem of vehicle safety. Doing so will also drastically improve your own odds! Remember that every single time you drive you open yourself up to risk. This means you should remember helpful driving safety tips to practice good car safety every time you drive!