When you are learning to drive you are told a lot about what you can do to be a safe driver. When you are young you may think that all the drivers on the road are also following all the rules of the road and being a safe driver. Sadly the reality is that there are many drivers that can be a danger to the community by the way that they are driving. The most common issue that cause accidents is that the driver of one of the cars is distracted. The distraction can be anything from talking with passengers in the car, trying to multitask such as playing with the radio or fixing your hair. You also could be distracted by a handheld device such as a cell phone which has skyrocketed among the most common reasons for distraction. You want to make sure that you know what you can do as a driver to avoid and recognize a driver that might be around you and distracted. Speedway Towing & Roadside Assistance outlines what you can do to avoid distracted drivers.
What Does it Mean to be a Defensive Driver?
The first thing that you want to do as a good and cautious driver is to make sure you know where to look. Of course you are looking in your immediate area to scan for pedestrians, debris in the road and more. The problem is that more and more drivers are distracted and that means that you need to be even more aware. The best thing you can do is to make sure that you are watching further down the road and even the drivers that are behind your line of travel. You can have someone that is coming up behind you and distracted which can be just as bad as someone in front of you. You also want to make sure that you are checking each intersection that you come across. There are lots of drivers that can be distracted that can come through an intersection and not know that there are other cars in the cross traffic. This is a great way to avoid an accident with a distracted driver.
Drive a Safe Distance from the Vehicle in Front of You
The next thing that you want to do is to make sure that you have enough room to maneuver as well as drive safely. That means that you want to leave room in front of you and behind you when possible. The space that you leave will give you the opportunity to move if a distracted driver is heading your way. You also want to be sure that you leave space in front of you when you stop as well so that if someone is about to rear end you there is space to move without hitting the driver in front of you.
How Can You Identify a Distracted Driver?
You might be wondering how you can tell that someone is a distracted driver. There are a few signs that will tell you that they are not paying attention to the road. When the driver is not keeping in their lane or shifting around inside their lane they might be distracted. If they are not keeping pace with the rest of the speed of traffic or changing speed erratically they might be distracted. You also want to look for people that do not take off at a green light in a timely manner as well as have their head down looking at their phone.
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