Defensive Driving
The best advice anyone can give about driving is: Drive defensively.
Please start with a very important safety device in your vehicle: Buckle up.
(See ‘Safety Belts”
in
the Index.)
Defensive driving really means “be ready for anything.” On city streets, rural
roads, or freeways,
it
means “always expect the unexpected,”
Assume that pedestrians or other drivers are going to be careless and make
mistakes. Anticipate what they might
do.
Be ready for their mistakes.
Expect children to dash out from behind parked cars, often followed
by
other
children. Expect occupants in parked cars to open doors into traffic. Watch
for
movement
in
parked cars-someone may be about to open a door.
Expect other drivers to run stop signs when you are on a through street. Be
ready
to
brake
if
necessary as you go through intersections. You may not
have to use the brake, but
if
you do, you will be ready.
If
you’re driving through a shopping center parking lot where there are
well-marked lanes, directional arrows, and designated parking areas, expect
some drivers to ignore all these markings and dash straight toward one part
of the lot.
Pedestrians can be careless. Watch for them. In general, you must give way
to pedestrians even
if
you know you have the right of way.
Rear-end collisions are about the most preventable
of
accidents. Yet they are
common. Allow enough following distance. It’s the best defensive driving
maneuver, in both city and rural driving. You never know when the vehicle
in
front of you is going to brake or turn suddenly.
Here’s a final bit of information about defensive driving. The most dangerous
time for driving in the
US.
is very early on Sunday morning. In fact,
GM
Research studies show that the most and the least dangerous times for
driving, every week, fall on the same day. That day is Sunday. The most
dangerous time is Sunday
3
a,m. to
4
a.m. The safest time is Sunday from
10
a.m. to
11
a.m. Driving the same distance on a Sunday at
3
a.m. isn’t
just
a
little
more dangerous than
it
is
at
10
a.m. It’s about
134
times more
dangerous.
That leads to the next part.
4-9
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