Driving Safety

A Perfect Day -- Think! Road Safety Campaign

ANTICIPATION!.. Watch this video and THINK about how much you anticipate while driving...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqCxBzHBgiY

How to Drive a Car Safely

Follow these guidelines and you will enjoy driving more, and increase your chance of arriving safely as well!

   Steps

Never consume alcoholic beverages before driving. This is the most frequent cause of serious accidents. If you drink, use a non-drinking designated driver, a taxi, or sleep over.

Check your car over mechanically, including headlights, brake, and taillights, the brakes, and suspension regularly, or have this done by a capable mechanic. Failures of any of these components can create a dangerous situation.

Mentally prepare for driving. If you are distracted, upset, or unusually tired and sleepy, do not drive. This also applies to driving when you are using medications which may cause drowsiness. If you are taking a cold medication or antihistamine, read the warnings on the label.

Observation and anticipation are key skills to master.If you remain very observant ,of everything,and learn to predict others actions you will be well on your way to being a safe driver and avoiding being the victim of others mistakes.

Turn your lights on whenever visibility is limited, such as at dusk, while raining, in tunnels, and similar. To avoid being hit, first you must be seen! Older drivers can only see 1/3rd as well as younger ones.

Follow street signs and traffic lights, but use your judgment too. Don't try to beat red lights. And expect others to try to do so, so give them time to go through, particularly trucks that have trouble slowing down. Always stay at a safe distance from other vehicles. A general rule is the farther you are from them, the safer you are.

When you try to run a red light, there are many grave hazards. You take the risk that someone will turn in front of you (thinking that you must be stopping). Or, when the light changes, someone will pull out from the side and into your path. Or, a pedestrian (perhaps a child) will step out into the crosswalk on the far side. You are probably speeding and are committed to running the light, so the accident will be a severe one. The resulting carnage will be your fault, and you will have to live with it for the rest of your life. Keep in mind here that, it is exceptionally difficult for the other driver, when looking at your vehicle head on, whether your are about to accelerate, stop, or even how fast you are going.

Use turn signals to indicate where and when you're going to turn. Other drivers need to know this. This includes lane changes, to warn approaching drivers of your intentions. It's not only safer, but, it's common courtesy. Signal as soon as you decide that you would like to make a turn, then look for a space into which to make the turn, not vice versa. This gives other drivers more time to notice you, and perhaps even open up a space for you.

Trucks are a special hazard. Give them extra room. They cannot see other vehicles as well as you can in a car. If there is an accident between a car and a truck, the driver of the car will be the one most at risk.

Use the horn only in when necessary to avoid an accident. It is rude, it is upsetting to others (possibly causing road rage), and adds to noise pollution.

Don't block your vision. Avoid decals, dangling objects from the rear-view mirror, and similar. Stop and clean off fogged or iced windows. Surface treatment such as "Rain-X" improves visibility through rained-on glass. (The kind sold on a towel, rather than in a bottle, is frequently overpriced.)

Use your mirrors. Good safe driving involves not only a great awareness of what is in front of you, but what is behind you, what is next to you. Every vehicle has blind spots; know what yours are, and make allowances for those of other vehicles

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Expect other people to make mistakes and bad decisions. No one is perfect. If you learn to expect or anticipate it, to take it into account, you will be ready when they eventually do make mistakes. (If you leave some room around yourself, you'll often be safe even if you and another driver happen to make or fail to notice mistake at the same time.)

Quick stops are a recipe for crashes, since people behind often have to stop even quicker, and aren't always paying attention. But make them anyway if you must in order to avoid hitting a person or another car head-on; a front-to-rear collision is usually much better.

Maintain your car properly. For example, if your wheel falls off and you have an accident, your insurance company will find that you are at fault. Minor things count, too. Change windshield wiper blades when they begin to streak the windshield during use. Also keep your windshield washer reservoir filled regularly to clear mud or debris from your windshield.

Keep all four tires properly inflated. This will give the best traction, mileage, and performance. Replace worn tires. Wet traction deteriorates before tread wears to its legal limit because the water has only smaller places to be squeezed out to; replacing at 4/32 can be wise. ^[1] Check your spare when you check your four tires.

Loose objects inside a car can be hazardous. Keep the dashboard and interior clear of objects or debris that could slide around and interfere with driving, fall and block your steering wheel, and similar actions. Cups, bottles, and other objects can slide under the pedals and interfere with your driving. Objects on the deck under the back window can fly forward in hard braking and injure you or one of your passengers (if any). Make a habit of drinking only water, sugar-free and milk-free drinks in the car. If you don't fear a mess from evasive maneuvers (though you should accept one if it must happen), you may more readily make them when appropriate.

Talking on cell phones while driving is seriously detrimental in terms of the effect on your attention to driving. Pull off the road to use cell phones or other distracting devices or items. In some states, such as Oregon, they have outlawed, but not enforced these, no talking on your phone. At the very least put the cell phone in a holder, on speakerphone. If traffic is not heavy a brief call to a police non-emergency number to assist a stranded motorist is appropriate, or nearly always to an emergency number to report a dangerous situation.

Do not eat while driving, and if you drink (non-alcoholic of course!), do so carefully. Spilling a drink while driving can cause you to be distracted and leave the road or not notice a dangerous situation suddenly occurring.

Use care when transporting animals. Keep pets in the back seat or a pet carrier. Having the family dog decide to jump in your lap while driving in traffic can cause a dangerous distraction. Don't put the pet somewhere it is likely to be forgotten in the car and cooked.

Driving on ice requires special care. If you find yourself suddenly on ice (or black ice) do not slam on the brakes; you could lose all control. If you must slow down, put your vehicle in a lower gear and/or apply brakes lightly and steer straight. Four-wheel drive is for getting unstuck, not driving faster. It will not stop you significantly better than a regular car, all of which have four-wheel brakes already.

On ice, do not turn your steering wheel. A common cause of serious accidents in winter is when a driver turns his wheels on ice. This has little or no effect, until he passes the ice (say, while going under a bridge); suddenly, the tires regain their traction, and the vehicle steers violently to the side and into a bridge (or other obstacle).

When in a turning lane, don't suddenly change your mind and pull into traffic: make the turn everyone is expecting you to make, and recover later. Do not follow a turning car closely if it blocks your view of traffic coming the other way.

No accident is a good accident! Whether or not you are at fault, hardly matters! You still are at risk of injury or death. You still have to get your car fixed or replaced. And, even though you are "in the right", the other driver may successfully argue the opposite.

Turns into traffic (for example, left turns in right-hand-drive countries) are especially hazardous. Plan your trip to make turns with the traffic whenever possible; go out of your way if necessary.

Keep your temper when other drivers are less than courteous, or act dangerously. Give them room, and stay out of their way, let them by, etc., rather than returning aggression or acting a hostile way, which could create a dangerous situation.

Plan your maneuvers to accommodate other drivers. For example, avoid passing someone, only to apply brakes to turn or to slow to look for your street.

http://www.wikihow.com/Drive-a-Car-Safely

Ten tips to become a better driver

Road safety charity the IAM is offering motoring tips from Britain’s top advanced driver, Peter Rodger.

He recommends ten tips for better driving:

1. Read the road: the further ahead you look, the more time you have to recognise and respond to hazards. Always be able to stop your vehicle in the distance you can see to be clear.

2. Anticipate: having looked further ahead use that knowledge to anticipate the problems that might come up and plan for them well in advance to avoid needing to take last minute action.

3. Use the two second rule: spot a marker ahead, such as a bridge or a lamppost and wait until the vehicle ahead of you goes past it. Then say to yourself “only a fool breaks the two second rule”. If you are at the marker before you have finished, you are too close. Double it if the road is wet.

4. Concentrate: at 70 mph your stopping distance is the length of a football pitch. Looking away at a crucial moment can be fatal.

5. Assume the worst: never assume that another motorist has seen you or will react as you expect – and don’t rely on somebody else’s reactions to keep you safe.

6. Look behind – and to the side: use mirrors regularly so you have a 360 degree knowledge of what’s going on around you. Use shoulder checks before you move out to solve blind spot problems.

7. Manage your personal space: if you keep space around your vehicle, you’ll have more time and room to deal with hazards.

8. Stay fresh: driver fatigue is a major factor in many crashes. Take at least a 15 minute break after two hours at the wheel.

9. No sudden movements: if you have scanned all around you and used that information to predict what may happen, you should never be surprised by another vehicle’s movements.

10. Learn from your mistakes: near misses happen to everybody. Afterwards, think how you could have avoided getting into that situation, even if you think it was the other driver’s fault.

Rodger said: “Following these tips could make the difference between being in an accident or avoiding it. All drivers should think about taking further driving training to improve their performance behind the wheel and save money on running and maintenance costs.”

http://www.expressandstar.com/lifestyle/motors/2011/05/18/ten-tips-to-become-a-better-driver/