10 Helpful Road Safety Tips You Might Find Helpful

Driving can be both fun and dangerous depending on how to handle your vehicle. Safety should always be everyone’s top most priority. So today, I have decided to share with you some tips that you might find helpful with driving.

1. Sugar and caffeine are bad – It is very true that foods containing lots of sugar give us burst of quick energy. But they are bad for the longer run. The energy that they provide doesn’t last for very long and they also make your feel lousy and tired after a while. So what should you do instead? Well, before driving, have snacks such as nuts and dry fruits. They are very easy on your stomach and keep your body energized for longer periods. Also, make sure that you keep a water bottle with you and drink plenty of it.
2. Wear comfortable shoes – Shoes are really important when it comes to driving. Make sure you are wearing shoes that are comfortable and are not slippery on the brake pedals. If you wear high heels for example, your foot is more likely to slip away from the pedal and get you in trouble on the road. If you every feel that you are not comfortable with the shoes you are wearing, take them off and drive bare foot. It’s also a good idea to have another pair of shoes in your car (of course the ones with some grip).
3. Don’t turn steering wheel to save animals – this one doesn’t sound very good, but police advice that it’s safer for you to hit the animal rather than turning your car to the side and getting yourself in a serious accident. It’s better to keep yourself and your vehicle protected. Some people do install bull bars on their vehicles due to such reasons.
4. Skip diesel spots – When you are out at the pump to get some gas for your vehicle, don’t park near the diesel pumps. Especially if there is a spillage. As you might know, diesel is slightly oilier and greasy than petroleum. If it gets on the sole of your shoe, you will be slipping a lot, especially on the pedal. So, avoid that.
5. Be careful with drinking and driving – Of course, you shouldn’t drink and drive. But, you also need to be aware of the next day. If you drank a lot late last night, and got up early this morning to go to work, you may be in trouble. Your body might not have had enough time to get rid of all the alcohol in your body. Therefore, watch out for this and give yourself enough time to become “alcohol-free” before driving.
6. Change tire carefully – this one may not sound like a big deal, but it is. Every year we hear about plenty of accident which involved people who were changing tires on the side of the road and got hit. So, whenever you have a flat tire, make sure get off the road completely and go as far away as you can from the traffic. If you are on the highway, try to get behind the safety barrier before you do anything with your vehicle.
7. Keep lights on – Your vehicle’s headlights should be on at all times. Doesn’t matter whether it is a day or night. It makes it easy for other people to see your vehicles. Also pedestrians are more likely to see a vehicle that has lights on compared to the one that doesn’t.
8. Take next exist – Whenever I’m out driving on the highway, I see people who missed their turn. What they do is that they try to cut across the lanes and get to their exit. It causes more stress on your body and makes you more likely to get into accidents. If you ever miss and exit, try to go around and take the next one.
9. Don’t overload – Don’t put a lot of stuff at the roof of your vehicle. Most vehicles can’t handle more than 100 kg of weight on the roof. When you put more than 100kg, you run into trouble when turning corners. It affects the structural integrity of your vehicle, which is integral to your safety.
10. Tread matters – last but not the least, make sure all four tires have proper tread. Tread and appropriate pressure in the tire provide better handling and make your vehicle safer for you. If the tread of your tires is any less than 1.5mm, you need to get them replaced. If you are not sure how to measure it, take your vehicle to a professional and they will do a thorough analysis for you. It’s a good idea to keep a tire pressure monitoring gauge handy and check the pressure regularly. You can get it from almost any automotive shop.

There you have the ten tips which I thought would help you in the future. If you have anything to add to the list, please feel free to let us know via the comments below. Also, please share these tips with your friends if you found them helpful. Thank you!