The Safe Driver

Tips on driving safe when traveling in a busy city

Modern living is fast-paced nowadays, and it’s easy to lose your patience and temper when driving in a busy city. No matter what the road situation is, safe driving is paramount because your life and the life of your passengers are at stake.

In this post, you’ll learn helpful tips when driving in a busy city to ensure that you’re complying with traffic laws and prevent any trouble down the road.

Follow the Fundamentals of Driving

It’s important to make smart, safe driving decisions at all times. As a professional driver, you need to keep yourself abreast with driving laws and remind yourself of the fundamentals of driving. In a busy city, you may encounter parking issues, road rage, and ignorance of traffic city ordinances and laws. That’s why Driving Geeks highly recommends strictly following the fundamentals of driving.

Here are the driving fundamentals you need to follow:

• Avoid rear-ending collisions and frequent braking by keeping a safe distance between you and other vehicles.
• Slow down before braking to avoid abrupt braking.
• Use blinkers when merging or changing lanes. Check your state law about the required distance when activating blinkers before turning or joining lanes (most states require 100 to 200 feet).
• Plan your trip ahead by using traffic apps or listening to radio reports to trace congested areas.

Practice Driving Etiquette

The road is intended for every driver and motorist to be used as a right of way to get to different destinations in the city. That’s why everybody has a responsibility to practice safe driving. Always show appropriate behavior or driving etiquette to avoid motor-vehicular accidents and road rage.

Here are some examples of driving etiquette you need to observe when traveling in a busy city or anywhere else:

• Don’t take traffic issues personally.
• Don’t challenge other drivers to race with you.
• Use your horn sparingly to avoid misinterpretation.
• Don’t tailgate.
• Avoid blocking the passing lane.
• Avoid blocking the right turn lane.
• Avoid using your mobile phone or eating while driving.

Wear Seat Belt Restraints

Based on the compiled data of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA, most traffic fatalities were traced to be results of non-use of seat belts and over speeding. That’s why wearing a seat belt at all times should be automatic and non-debatable. Even if the city has a terrible traffic jam, it’s a must to wear a seat belt for safe driving.

Here are the benefits of wearing seat belts:

• Wearing seat belts provides utmost safety to the driver and the passengers, as well as other motorists.
• A seat belt keeps you in place or your seat, preventing you from being thrown loose on a vehicle or through the windshield during impacts which may cause serious bodily injuries.
• Seat belts are designed to work with airbags, so the airbag system becomes ineffective when you’re not wearing a seat belt.
• Survive major car accidents because of less injury by wearing a seat belt.
• Not wearing a seat belt affects auto insurance rates. Refusal to wear a seat belt results in getting traffic tickets that can skyrocket your auto insurance because you’re considered to be a high-risk driver.
• It prevents your car insurance from declining, covering damages in a car accident for not wearing a seatbelt. Some insurance policies have a clause stating that you’ll not be reimbursed for any damages if you failed to wear your seat belt during the accident.

Avoid Aggressive Driving

You have probably heard of horror stories involving road rage. But you can control or avoid road rage before it happens. In a busy city, most people are working, under stress, meeting tight deadlines, and always on the rush.

Here are some tips to avoid or control road rage:

• Always be courteous and polite even if the other driver is not calm or reasonable. Move out or avoid a heated conversation to prevent any form of conflict for road safety.
• Always leave enough space if you’re stuck in traffic so you can pull out from behind the vehicle you are following.
• Make sure that all your doors are locked. Listen to soothing music when driving to reduce your stress and avoid impatience and anger while driving.
• Call 911 right away or go to the nearest police station if an aggressive driver confronts you.

Conclusion

A smart driver makes intelligent decisions. You can always share your experience of recent road rage with your family members and friends to learn from it. By keeping the above-mentioned safe driving tips in mind, you can protect yourself and your passengers by understanding the situation better.