Top tips for Safe Driving

Safety on the road should always be the first thing on your mind when driving, whether it’s a 2 minute drive to the shop or a trip across the country. There is a lot of legal requirements that are great for keeping you safer when driving. Like always wearing a seat belt and not being allowed to use your phone whilst driving unless it is through your Bluetooth Car-Kit.

Now you may find this a bit daft thinking everyone should know. But as soon as someone passes their driving test or maybe a few years down the line they can start getting into bad habits. You must obey all the rules of the road at all times. From small things like wearing a seatbelt, this could make a huge impact if you were to get into an accident.

Before setting off, try making a plan. Make sure you have planned your journey leaving early in-case you run into any traffic jams or diversions that may cause a bit of time loss. Add in time for necessary stops like toilet and food breaks. This ensures that you are not rushing to get to your destination and not speeding to get there.

The most frequent reason for any accidents or crashes on the road is driver error. What this actually tells us is we shouldn’t be too trusting in other drivers as they could in-fact be your biggest danger. So don’t trust little things like another driver flashing his headlights or possibly waving for you to go ahead as you may find yourself in some danger.

Don’t you hate it when someone is tailgating you and right up your backside?! No one does, so don’t do it yourself even if behind a slow vehicle like a large HGV or tractor. Allow plenty of distance as to allow plenty of room for sudden braking. You won’t be able to see what is happening in-front of that vehicle as you will be too close behind them. The rule is to be four seconds behind the car in-front to ensure you have enough braking distance.

You may have noticed how all newer vehicles have got lights constantly on, a lot with cool LED’s. These are called Daytime Running lights (DRL’s), as they say in the name they run at all times when the car is on. This is not just some new craze, it’s for good reason. A car is four times as visible from distance with its lights on compared to one that has not got its lights on. As soon as the evenings begin to darken or even if you wake up and the mornings aren’t entirely bright you should put your lights on.

If you found those few tips helpful, take a look at some of our other blogs here.