This holiday season, the roads could invite a variety of risks depending on your driving style. In this guide, we will be going over the top four driving dangers you can face on the roads this winter season, and how you can avoid them.
Driving While Impaired
It’s no surprise that end-of-year celebrations involve copious amounts of alcohol. Although it’s certainly not illegal to consume these substances in your home, it is if you’re heading out on the road. Not to mention, the number of accidents due to impaired drivers are only increasing.
Getting in a car accident while under the influence could lead to injury, financial damage, and an unfortunate run-in with a personal injury lawyer hired by the person you hit. This is why it’s important to have someone else drive you home or call a cab to drive you home, instead of trying to drive impaired.
Driving with Distractions
Distractions happen everywhere, but they shouldn’t happen behind the wheel. This means you should not check your cellphone behind the wheel, or text your friends. It may seem convenient to check store hours on your phone while driving, but it will only increase your risks of a collision, which can be fatal.
Driving While Fatigued
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety performed a study and found that people who slept for roughly six hours a night are nearly twice as likely to get into an accident than those who slept for eight hours or more.
If you feel fatigued while driving, be sure to pull over to the side of the road and call for assistance getting home. You getting home safe is more important than getting to your destination on time through risky driving decisions.
Reconsider Leaving Your Vehicle Idling
It may sound smart to start up your car and warm it up before driving; in fact, it can save you a lot of time. However, you may not have assumed that someone would get in your car and steal it. National Crime Prevention warns car owners to never leave their vehicles unattended since car thieves can simply jump in their vehicle and drive away.
The Environmental Defense Foundation also warns against keeping your car idling because it makes your engine warm nearly twice as quickly than if you were driving. Instead of keeping your car idling to melt ice and snow, we suggest using an ice scraper to scrape off both ice and snow before driving.
With winter just around the corner, it’s important that you stay alert and prepared in your vehicle. Hopefully, with the help of this guide, you’re able to identify and avoid any driving risks you could be doing and inform others on how to protect themselves.