Each year, thousands of lives are lost due to negligent driving. Distractions arising because of your ringing phone, talkative passengers, or four-legged furry friends may come with more negative consequences than you would imagine.
Driving distractions are usually categorized into three main types – visual (taking your eyes off the road), manual (taking your hands off the wheel), and cognitive (taking your mind off the task of driving). And while you may think that texting and driving are the only distractions that can happen, there are actually many others including eating food, drinking your favorite beverage, applying makeup, changing the radio station, or even using a GPS.
Then there are large amounts of visual processing on-going in the brain and a lot of coordination happening between hands and legs. All these things altogether can at times hamper the brain’s ability to interpret and react to what other drivers are doing. As a result, drivers are less likely to see and easily hit any object coming. Due to this reason, a good driving school always teaches its students to become more attentive and ensure safety for everyone around them.
Following are some great tips to help you reduce your distractions and drive safely on the road:
- Complete your grooming routine at home. One should always give himself or herself the desired time to dress up, shave, and do makeup in the morning. If you don’t have much time, then wait until you reach your destination and finish your rest of the grooming routine there.
- Limit the usage of your cellphones. Your phones should be meant for emergency purposes only. Even hands-free calling or voice texting can take away your attention and increase the risk of a crash.
- Take a halt if you are drowsy. Drowsiness has known to cause a majority of accidents among the U.S. drivers. So, if you anyhow feel tired or sleepy on the way, don’t hurry. Get off the road and take some rest in between.
- Secure your children and pets. With kids and pets in the vehicle, there can be huge distractions. Therefore, secure them in the back seat so that they don’t block your road view or bump into your steering wheel.
- Don’t eat on the go. Though it is not difficult to eat while driving, juggling with your sandwich or a cup of hot coffee can be extremely risky especially when driving in high-traffic areas. Plus, there is always a possibility of spilling the food either on yourself or your car.
- Decide your route in advance. Operating your navigation system while driving can do you more harm than good. Just a second of taking your eyes away and you can end regretting it for life. So, check the GPS before you onset for your journey and pick the best route possible.
- Restrict the number of passengers in the vehicle. Most states put a limitation on the number of people that can travel in a vehicle; which is important to maintain a balance of the vehicle as well as sustain the focus on the road.
Share these tips to help keep your loved ones safe. For more information on attentive and defensive driving, join our driving programs today!
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