How Can You Be A Better Defensive Driver?

On Behalf of | Apr 11, 2023 | Car accidents |

When you’re trying to stay safe on the road, one of the best things you can do is to become a defensive driver. You can’t prevent other drivers from making mistakes. They are going to cause accidents. But, by being a defensive driver, you may be able to avoid the severe ramifications of those mistakes.

So how do you do this? Here are a few tips that can help: 

Always stay alert and focused

You never want to allow yourself to get distracted behind the wheel. You don’t want to drive when you’re feeling too fatigued to pay close attention to what’s happening around you. Also, you generally just want to remember that driving is a complicated task that deserves your full attention.

Never trust another driver

Always assume that other drivers are going to make mistakes and try to anticipate those mistakes. Don’t trust them to drive perfectly. For instance, it’s dangerous to blindly pull into an intersection, even if you have a green light because you can’t just assume that the other driver is going to obey the red light.

Give yourself more distance

Defensive driving also focuses on increasing the time that you have to react when someone else does make a mistake. For instance, driving three or four seconds behind the next car increases your following distance enough that you have a few more seconds to react. That can be the difference between getting into an accident and finding a way to avoid it.

Unfortunately, since other negligent drivers are still going to cause accidents, you could be injured even if you don’t make any mistakes. Be sure you know how to seek compensation if this happens.