Years ago I took a Defensive Driving Course and
many of the techniques stuck with me. Indeed,
some of them probably kept me out of serious
accidents. Here are a few of the common sense
tips I learned:
- When traveling on a 4 lane or wider highway
always stay in the right hand lane
(at least in
the good old USA) unless you are passing someone.
If an oncoming car loses control, and swerves
across the median, the chances are that he will
hit a vehicle in the left lane before hitting one
in the right lane. So the right lane is the
safest place to be. Always play the odds in your favor.
Along the same lines, if you're traveling in
the left lane and someone coming towards you
swerves across the line, you have very little time
to react. This is how head-on collisions occur.
Curves are especially dangerous in this respect.
The next time you are traveling around a curve on
a road where there is no median, look at how worn
the center line is. This is from cars crossing
over into the oncoming lane. Be cautious, and
stay to the right, especially on curves.
- When traveling on a multi-lane road always give
yourself maneuvering room
in case another car
looses control. Don't drive along right next to
another vehicle, especially big trucks. One false
move and you could get tangled up under the wheels
of an 18 wheeler.
The idea is to always have an escape area, or a
space to the front, rear and sides of your
vehicle. That way if something goes wrong you
have a place to maneuver into to avoid crashing.
- Distance between you and the vehicle in front
of you is absolutely critical.
You must be able
to maneuver, under control, if something happens
to the vehicle in front of you.
This is especially true if you are traveling in
the rain or snow. Allow yourself additional space
if the road conditions are bad, because you can't
stop as fast as you normally could.
When road conditions are bad you don't want to be
in the position where you have to make a panic
stop, because then you will lose control of your
vehicle. You must be able to slow down gradually
and under control.
If someone behind you gets impatient and passes
you, simply back off and put an appropriate
distance between you and them. It could save
your life.
- Be very cautious at stop signs and traffic lights.
Whenever you take off from a stop sign or a traffic light after stopping, always look for oncoming cars that may be turning in front of you, and for cross traffic from both directions on the street you are going to cross. Don't assume that someone is going to stop just because they have a red light or a stop sign. Don't pull out in front of them until you are sure they have committed to stopping or yielding the right-of-way to you.
Also, when you are driving down the road always be on the look out for drivers who may not stop at side streets or intersections where they have either a stop sign or a red light. When you see someone approaching, slow down and be ready to stop just in case they don't....and when slowing down always be aware of how close cars behind you are. You don't want to slow down too quickly with someone on your rear bumper.
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