While many driving tips exist, the most impactful ones are listed below:
- Keeping a safe distance from the car in front of you has a significant advantage. If another vehicle merges into the gap, it only takes a few seconds. By maintaining distance, you're giving yourself the crucial time to react if something unexpected happens, putting you in control and reducing any sense of rush.
- Being situationally aware is a non-negotiable responsibility when you're behind the wheel. Keep your focus down the road, pay attention to feeder roads joining yours, and use your mirrors constantly. Avoid distractions from passengers or other things inside the car to stay alert and responsible.
- Pay attention to the road and other drivers; assume everybody around you is impaired.
- Always assume the worst. Learn to identify dangerous situations (for example, someone leaving their roadside parking spot, someone merging into traffic at a significantly slower speed, someone entering an intersection in front of you, etc.) and when you see someone may want to make a maneuver that might be dangerous for you, assume he\she will be doing that so have a backup plan - be ready to brake. Check your surroundings to know if you can move to the side or if anything spells Plan B. I'm not saying everyone is an idiot, but thinking so when driving is genuinely beneficial.
- Only overtake when you're 100% sure you can do it safely.
- Always scan the road, left, right, and mirrors. Essentially, be aware of your surroundings. But I want to reiterate the scanning down the road part. So many drivers have an average focus distance of barely a couple of meters (12 feet) in front of them. You should be averaging more than 30 meters (100+ feet) down the road. Average.
- Pay attention to your tire type/tread. It's not so much because you might have a blowout but because you won't be able to stop well on a wet road.
- Don't drink and drive ever.
- Constantly keep a mental index of what and who is behind you by often glancing in your rear-view mirror. That way, in the event of an incident in front of me, you will have an excellent idea of whether you can quickly swerve into another lane to avoid an accident.
- Put your phone in your pocket, and do not text or drive.
- Don’t forget to shoulder check. Mirrors alone aren't quite enough.
- Remember to turn your lights on at dusk. If your car has automatic lights, leave them on auto. Also, remember to turn your brights off when passing people and in cities.
- Obey speed limits.
- Don't be in a hurry. Accidents often happen when we rush and don't react as usual.
- Don’t let the people around you dictate what speed you’re driving at
- If you're sliding, DON’T hit the brakes. Instead, turn SLIGHTLY in the direction you want to go/into the slide and expect the car to oscillate back and forth.
- When driving on a road with multiple lanes of traffic going in the same direction, assume that the cars ahead of you in the other lane will try to turn across your lane.
- When reversing, ensure you're also looking to see if anyone is about to walk or ride their bike behind you. Just because no one is behind the car doesn't mean no one's not heading in that direction.
- Always watch your rear-view mirror when approaching a red light or suddenly stop to see if someone is behind you and, if they are, if they're slowing down. If they're not slowing down, look for a safe way out. It's not 100% doable, though.
