With the number of motorists increasing every year, the likelihood of being involved in a car accident is also growing. We want to give you our top 10 tips on how to be a safe driver.
According to the Gov.uk website, over 24,000 people were killed or seriously injured in road traffic accidents last year. The UK also has an average of 336 car crashes per day!
AutoCoinCars have some advice on how you can be a safe driver.
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Check Your Vehicle Before Setting Off
Everyone should know how to do the basic checks on their vehicles. This includes: checking your tyre pressure and tread, checking your oil, fuel, brake fluid, and wiper fluid levels. Regularly checking these can help prevent issues during your journey.
Ensuring you make other checks before setting off such as your warning lights, mirrors, and your lights is also good practice.
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Stop Speeding
Firstly, for obvious reasons this is illegal. Risking your life as well as others around you by driving over the speed limits is highly irresponsible. 1 in 5 crashes are caused by drivers who are speeding.
The risk of causing fatalities and serious injuries increases with speed. There should be no reason for you to be speeding. It is much safer for you, and any of your passengers, as well as other drivers on the road if you stick to the speed limits.
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Do Not Succumb to Road Rage
Road rage, we see examples of it on social media all the time, maybe you’ve experienced it yourself. Road rage can cause road traffic accidents or even fights. When driving you need to control your anger.
Be careful not to tailgate or invade the space of other drivers. Avoid cutting people up, honking your horn or flashing your lights unnecessarily. Similarly if you notice another driver behaving or driving aggressively, avoid making eye contact and keep your distance from them.
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No Headphones or Overly Loud Music
Ensuring your senses are functional and alert while driving is so important. Being able to hear audio cues is an essential part of driving. Using headphones, earphones, or blasting music from your speakers can impair your driving. This could result in dangerous driving.
By not hearing properly you could miss audio signals such as someone honking their horn, a car overtaking you, or emergency service sirens.
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Avoid Unsafe Weather Conditions
Understandably we cannot always avoid driving in unsafe conditions, but where possible you should always avoid taking to the road in snow/icy conditions, high winds, or heavy rainfall.
If you do have to make a journey in these conditions, check your vehicle is safe before setting off. Have breakdown cover in the event of an emergency. Take precautions when driving as well, use fog lighting when needed, slow down and leave extra time for your journey.
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Use Your Seatbelts
We shouldn’t even have to point this one out! However, you should always be wearing a seatbelt whilst in your vehicle. A good, safe driver will also ensure their passengers are also correctly wearing their seatbelts before setting off too.
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Do Not Drive Under the Influence
Whether this is alcohol, drugs, or medicine, you should never get behind the wheel if your mind and/or body are compromised. You will not only be putting yourself in danger, but also any passengers you have, as well as other motorists.
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Get Enough Sleep
The National Sleep Foundation found that a shocking 37% of motorists admitted to having fallen asleep behind the wheel at least once in their life. It goes without saying that this is incredibly dangerous and irresponsible. You cannot drive safely if you are tired. To do so would endanger yourself and passengers and other drivers.
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Put Your Phone Away
Driving distractions. We thought about mentioning things such as children distracting you, and have already covered music. But, mobile phones or other electronic devices are becoming an increasingly high reason for road traffic accidents. No text or notification is that important that you should check your phone while driving!
If you need access to phone calls you should connect your phone to a hands free system in your car. If you use your phone as a sat nav it should be secured in a phone holder on your dashboard in a place that does not obscure too much of your vision. If using your phone for this we would also recommend disabling notifications to decrease distractions.
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Be Aware and Alert
Whilst we would love to live in a world where everyone is a safe driver, sometimes accidents can happen which are completely out of your control. Making sure that you are being aware of your surroundings and alert to other drivers around you can help you avoid these situations.
We hope these top tips on how to be a safe driver help you out there on the roads!
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