The Safe Driver

Tips on how to drive safely without hitting any pedestrians

**A contributed post as written for The Safe Driver by Annie Gray.

Regardless of the type of vehicle that you’re driving, you’ll want to ensure that you’re not putting yourself or some pedestrian sharing the road with you in grave danger. After all, both drivers and pedestrians only have one life to live, and having it cut short due to a road incident isn’t anyone’s idea of a way to go. But as driving your vehicle of choice might already feel like mindless routine to you, there may be times when you forgot that you’re sharing the road with pedestrians which almost resulted in you hitting any one of them. To prevent that from happening again, here are some tips on how you should drive safely without hitting any pedestrians:

1. Before hitting the road, make sure that your vehicle’s brakes are in working condition.

When dealing with pedestrians on the road, you’ll use your vehicle’s brakes quite often as you have to slow down until you get to a full stop and let them cross before you can resume driving.

• When doing a scheduled thorough inspection of every nook and cranny of your vehicle, you should always include its brakes as worn out ones can make a huge difference between life and death.
• If your vehicle’s brakes have already succumbed to wear and tear and not functioning perfectly anymore, you should send your vehicle to the nearest repair shop and have a mechanic replace them immediately.

1. Pay attention to the road ahead instead of getting distracted while behind the wheel.

Juggling between two or more tasks at the same time may seem like the norm to you, especially if you have a hectic schedule and lifestyle. But multitasking while driving your vehicle is a dangerous thing to do as your focus gets split between the road and whatever it is you’re doing on the side.

• Driving a vehicle entails a great deal of self-control. Thus, you shouldn’t get tempted to drive your vehicle with only one hand and text someone using your phone, eat that burger you bought at some fast food chain’s take-out counter, or apply make-up with the other.
• The very minute you step inside your vehicle, you should keep both your hands on its steering wheel and your eyes on the road.
• You should also turn your vehicle’s stereo off – or if your vehicle has a pre-installed stereo, have it taken out by a mechanic – so that you can fully concentrate on listening to any sounds that might come from a pedestrian in case they aren’t within your line of sight.
• If you need to reply to a message sent to your phone, eat your food, or put some makeup on your face, you should pull over to the side or shoulder of the road where you’re driving along, turn your hazard lights on, and do them there.

1. Yield and give pedestrians their right of way when they’re using the crosswalk for them to cross a road safely.

Compared to you as a driver of a vehicle, pedestrians aren’t surrounded by a metal box at all which makes them more easily prone to getting injured or even killed in an incident.

• Thus, when you see a pedestrian crossing a road using a crosswalk, you should let them go first before you can resume driving your vehicle instead of speeding off and hoping that pedestrians will avoid you.
• However, a pedestrian might not have the same right of way privilege if they crossed a road without a crosswalk at all. Still, it’s not an excuse for you to hit anyone crossing a road whether marked or unmarked with a crosswalk. After all, you don’t want to be embroiled in legal trouble yourself, so you should simply let the pedestrian cross the unmarked portion of a road until a traffic enforcer spots and charges them with jaywalking.

1. Stretch your patience a bit more if an elderly or physically disabled person is crossing a road.

Not every pedestrian has the same walking speed or even the ability to walk.

• As you might encounter either an elderly or physically disabled pedestrian crossing a road on their own, you should get ready to wait a little longer than what you’re used to when yielding to other pedestrians.
• However, you shouldn’t step out of your vehicle and attempt to help an elderly or physically disabled pedestrian lest you want to cause a traffic jam yourself.

Transport Canada had found out that in 2015, more than 16,000 pedestrians were either injured or killed after getting hit by a vehicle. As a driver, accidentally hitting a single pedestrian can bring feelings of guilt and remorse, let alone roughly 16,000 pedestrians getting caught in an accident. But the good news is that most vehicle versus pedestrian accidents are preventable, and you can accomplish that by applying the above-listed tips on your next drive along some busy street. The road itself isn’t all yours as you have a lot of pedestrians to share it with, and driving safely without hitting any of them saves you from having to face unnecessary trouble, whether it be legal or otherwise.

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Annie Gray

Annie Gray writes topics on law subjects that can help the common reader understand them better. She keeps herself fit and  healthy by jogging during her free time.