Accidents will happen. No matter if you’re behind the wheel, walking down the sidewalk, or eating a meal— there will come a time in everyone’s life where something unexpected happens. Sometimes unexpected things just… happen, and we’re left to deal with the consequences. However, there are certain measures we can all take to lessen our chances of facing an ‘oops’. Take, for example, driver safety. As a passenger car driver, we have certain duties to keep the roadway safe. By using caution, we can do our very best to avoid an accident, or causing one.
Driver Safety: Avoiding Accidents
Being aware of your blind spots is a strong start towards driver safety. In high-speed, heavy traffic situations, it can be easy to not think twice, and merge into the lane next to you. But, in doing so, if you din’t observe your blind spots, you might merge onto someone else and cause an accident. Be aware of surroundings, check blind spots often, and merge with caution.
Give green lights a second
While many of us impatient drivers, myself included, see a green light and get moving immediately— that might not be such a smart idea. Consider this: how many times have you seen a light turn but there’s still someone from the other lane midway through the road? Impatient drivers come in all forms, and many run red lights— especially in the moments following a light change. So, after the light turns green, count to two or three, and then take off. By doing so, you might just avoid a head on collision with an impatient driver.
Look twice to save a life
We’ve all heard this saying a time or two before, but it has a lot of validity to it. When you’re about to pull away from a stop sign, check one more time. Cars, bikes, kids, and animals can truly pop out of nowhere from time to time. You won’t see a thing, and next thing you know, you have a deer on your cracked windshield. So, take a moment, observe, check again, and then be on your way. The extra two seconds on your commute have the potential to make your day much easier.