How to Reduce Your Chances of Being in a Car Accident

Car accidents are scary, and unfortunately, hard to predict. However, with the right awareness and preparation, you can reduce your chances of being in a car accident pretty significantly. Here are some tips for decreasing your chances of being involved in a car accident.

Cut out distractions

Distracted driving is a primary cause of many of the accidents on the road today. And handheld technology is making it more prevalent than ever – 64% of all car accidents have a cell phone involved in them. You can quickly reduce your chances of being in a car accident by actively focusing while you drive.

As is always the case with driving, you can’t control what other people are doing on the road, but you can control your actions. Be proactively aware of what’s around you. Stay off your phone, and reserve driving time solely for driving. Be as safe a driver as you personally possibly can, and your chances of getting into an accident will decrease. The worker's comp attorney Monroe suggests that almost 45% of the accidents occur due to negligence caused by cell phone use during driving. This alarming ratio can be decreased with care and responsibility.

Be extremely cautious of motorcycles

Many car accidents involve at least one other car, but the likelihood of motorcycle accidents are significant as well. Due to their smaller size, non-traditional road rules, and often faster speed, motorcycles are even harder than cars to keep an eye out for. And due to their high rates, there’s less reaction time to be able to make a correction or avoidance manoeuvre.

To reduce the chances of accidents, be hyper-aware of motorcycles if you are in an area (like a highway) where you are more likely to encounter them. Use your mirrors and all five senses to be as alert as possible to new sights and sounds.

Use your turn signals

This is such an easy behavioural change to make, but still, so many drivers neglect to use turn signals when they are making a turn or changing lanes. By not using your turn signals you are selfishly not alerting other drivers around you of your planned movements. If there’s no one near you, then you may think you’re in the clear to not use turn signals, but the fact is, you can never be 100 perfect aware of all the cars around you. Other cars can sneak up more quickly than you realise. Don’t make this easily preventable driving error – use your turn signals on every possible occasion.

Follow at a safe distance

Another factor that can increase reaction time and help prevent accidents is making sure that you are following cars in front of you at a safe, respectable distance. If you develop a car too closely, and they make a sudden movement, your chances of being able to react in time to form an effective car manoeuvre significantly decrease.

Prevent this from happening to you by following other cars at a safe distance. Use the “two-second” rule, and make sure that you’re allowing at least two seconds of time to pass for when you and the car in front of you give the same landmark.