Recovering from a car accident is not easy and it can impact the rest of your life. From medical bills to lost work. They say that prevention is the best medicine and that certainly applies to car accidents as well. Although there are a lot of crazy drivers out there, you can do things to prevent an accident from even occurring.
you should do your best to try to avoid getting into an accident in the first place. There are many good personal injury lawyers out there that will help you get compensated if you are in an accident, yet you should do your best to try to avoid getting into an accident in the first place.
In this article, we will give you some tips on how to drive defensively so you can stay safe on the road.
1 – Don’t drive distracted
Paying attention to what is happening on the road around is essential to staying safe. You should be able to predict what others are doing and then react accordingly. If you are distracted for any reason, then this is going to impact your ability to react to things.
Make sure to avoid texting and driving at all costs. It is as bad to text and drive as it is to drink and drive. This is because your eyes are off of the road for up to five seconds or even more. When traveling at 30 miles per hour, the car is going to travel quite far before you take another look at the road.
If a car stops in front of you there will be no time to hit the brakes. You could easily drive the car up onto a sidewalk and hit a building or pedestrian within a few seconds of attempting to text.
Even eating while driving is dangerous although you have your eyes on the road. A split-second maneuver is hard to do when you have a sandwich in your hand. It’s best to eat, drink or put on makeup when you are home and don’t put yourself and others at risk by driving distracted.
2 – Think ahead
Take the time to look around you and understand where cars and pedestrians are so you can anticipate what to do if you need to react. For instance, don’t just look at the bumper of the car in front of you. Look ahead of them to see what the traffic is like further down the road.
Also, check your mirrors continuously so you can know if there is somebody that is passing you before you decide to change lanes. Then, plan your move based on the way traffic is flowing both in front of and behind you.
3 – Leave some space
Having some distance between your car and the one in front of you is essential to avoid an accident. If they stop suddenly there needs to be enough braking distance so you don’t rear-end them. Leave several car lengths ahead to be able to stop in time.
