Car crashes can ruin your day or even your life. Hence, if there are ways to reduce the risk, they are worth trying.
Perhaps the biggest step you can take to reduce your crash risk is to practice defensive driving. In short, you drive with the assumption that if something bad could happen, it probably will, and adjust your driving to reduce the chance it affects you.
Here are a few examples:
Assume someone will pull out in front of you
As you drive along a residential street on your way to work, you probably encounter various other commuters pulling out of their driveways. While you have the right of way if you are already on the road and they aren’t, you can’t assume they are going to cede to you. They might still be half asleep or distracted by a coffee in their hand or by a phone they are in the process of connecting to their Bluetooth system.
If you assume they might pull out in front of you, and slow in case they do, it saves a potential crash. Similar caution at intersections could also save you a crash where a driver pulls out without looking.
Assume the driver in front of you will brake late
If you rely on the drivers in front of you to brake with plenty of warning, you are likely to run into the back of someone. If you keep a safe following distance you give yourself more time to brake if their brake light goes on late.
Those are just two of the many ways to practice defensive driving. Yet they still won’t protect you from all situations and it’s worth finding out about your legal options if a crash occurs.
