By Gregory Colvin
Spring break is here and soon summer vacations will start and many of us will be on the roads visiting friends, relatives and loved ones. I wanted to give you a few tips that may help make these road trips safer. Every day I observe drivers that fail to pay attention to what is happening around them. Drivers that are aggressive. Drivers that are distracted. Whatever the reason, their actions put you and your passengers at risk. I hope that you are not guilty of any of these actions, but if you are, hopefully this article will strike a chord and you will change your driving habits.
The first action responsible for a large percentage of accidents is:
Complacency You know how to drive, right, you do it almost every day. You could drive with your eyes closed. WRONG. Driving when done safety and correctly demands all you attention. Hazards will appear out of nowhere. The person in front of you is about to miss their exit and they cut across two lanes of traffic to make the exit and your car is in the path.
The kids in the car next to you are fighting and mom is too busy attempting to stop the fight to pay attention when she serves lanes into the side of your car.
For these reasons and many more that I am going to cover in this article, is important that you pay close attention while operating your vehicle so you can arrive at your designation safely.
Texting, Checking emails and Talking on the Cell Phone- While driving I have a habit, it is hard to break, to watch for drivers driving under the influence. There appear to be more on the road these days. These drivers are under the influence or texting, emailing, and talking on the cell phone. But if your quiz these people about their cell phone use and driving, they will tell you that they drive fine while using their cell phones, even went they are bouncing off the curbs. Of course, the most dangerous aspect of these drivers lack of concentration is when their car drifts left of center. I am seeing that more and more frequently. Another is the driver who is busy talking on the phone that when they are sitting at a light to go straight ahead and the left turn arrow turns green they drive into vehicles turning left. Please if you are going to drive, park the cell phone and if you are going to be talking on the phone park the car.