How Not To Be Negligent Of Neglible Drivers
It’s difficult to admit because we don’t want to seem like horrible people, but the majority of drivers are quite sub-par these days. So many people really don’t care about their cars or their driving skills. The rush to get to work and running errands overcomes some people and they could not care less if they cut you off and undertook you. There are people who literally do not have the skills to park their cars properly. Drivers on the road rely so heavily on technology to tell them what’s going on that they even lose their interest in being adept at the basic things. No the roads are not total chaos but as the number of drivers and cars keeps going up, there will inevitably a rise in car accidents. The general quality of drivers then also goes down. Here’s how you can keep safe from negligible drivers on the road.
Space is golden
It’s basic and it’s effective. Spacing between the cars in front of you, to the rear and to the side is the key to additional spacial awareness. The more space you have between drivers the more time you have to react to their moves. If someone looks like they are about to swerve into your lane without signalling then you need time to either slow down to let them in or speed up to have them behind you. However it’s not just for avoiding such ignorant drivers but to stop before you hit them also. The more distance you have to react and apply the brakes, the better chance you have of not rear-ending them.
However you also can’t put miles and miles of space between you and other drivers. So what is the default spacing? The simple answer is to put one car length in front for every increase in 10mph. So if you’re driving 50mph then the car in front of you should be 5 car lengths away. For higher speeds on the highway such as 80mph this will obviously be 8 full car lengths. At that speed you will only have tenths of a second to react to something such as debris, sudden braking, or even a crash occurring in front of you.
rossing your Ts
One of the most dangerous kinds of accidents is when two cars collide with each other in the form of a T-shape. This is because a car that is hit from the side will suffer major damage and pose a very difficult situation for the driver and passengers. These kinds of accidents happen mostly at junctions when a car either runs a light or fails to stop in time due to excessive speed. If this does happen to you it’s a shame because usually there’s no time at all to react. So what you’re left with is essentially a severely damaged car and possible serious injuries. How can you fight back against an unseen driver? Well, perhaps contacting a team like Gray and White Law’s car accident lawyers will help to smooth over any speed bumps in your life as a result of the accident.
You can dot your I’s and cross your T’s but in the end, if a driver is hitting you from the side with the front of their car then there’s not much chance of avoidance. At least you have a much bigger chance of proving your case because a car that hits another from the side is seen as inherently at fault because the driver stands more chance of seeing the car they hit. But the lawyers will know this and build a case for you so you can receive compensation to help you buy or repair your car as well as healthcare costs.
The racing driver peer
Many people are shocked to learn that racing drivers don’t actually look where they’re going when racing. What they’re actually doing is looking at where they will be going. Essentially, they are looking far ahead to a part of the race track they are approaching rather than the circuit that is right in front of them. This allows them to see what’s ahead and react to it with plenty of time. This is often called the racing driver peer because you’re keeping an eye on where you are headed to during a corner therefore your eyes are looking sideways; hence the word ‘peer’. This is something anyone can use on the road as well but what would the scenarios be?
When you’re about to take a 90 degree turn this is when you should use the peer. This means you will be looking through your driver’s side window and then transitioning to the windshield. You won’t need to look right in front of you at such a low speed but looking where you will be going. You can anticipate and react to oncoming drivers this way as well as pedestrians that suddenly rush out in the middle of the road. Peering can also be done on the highway as you’re going so fast that you should look hundreds of feet in front of you or where you will be going. Obviously you can switch back and forth from near to far vision.
Just let them through
Everyone and their dog hates bumper sitters also known as tailgaters. They think they own the road and can bully their way around. However, don’t engage in their kind of game because this can end up in a severe accident. The simple way to avoid having some kind of incident with these kinds of drivers is to just let them through. Don’t take it personally as they haven’t singled you out. Let them through and they will soon be out of sight and out of mind. Far better to do this than to play games such as brake checking.
Negligible drivers are the bane of every good driver on the road. It’s no good being careless behind the wheel as you endanger other people’s lives. However you don’t need to be one of the victims by using these techniques to avoid and anticipate such ignorant people on the road.