These risks exist even when we are safe drivers -- we can’t control what other drivers are doing on the roads around us, whether they are drinking, speeding, driving recklessly or playing on their smartphones. We can, however, take ownership of the mistakes that we make and make smarter, safer decisions to minimize driving risks.
Among those potentially fatal driving mistakes we make on a daily basis:
Failing to Buckle Up
Not wearing your seatbelt increases the risk of death. You never know when an accident will strike -- and tempting as it may be to skip the belt when driving a few short blocks, statistics show that accidents are most likely to happen close to home.
Driving While Distracted
Driving a car, for those of us with years of experience, becomes so routine, and our daily commutes so monotonous that “we could do it in our sleep,” right? And drive time is wasted time -- time that many people use to multi-task…dangerously. Whether you’re applying makeup, shaving, talking on the phone, emailing, texting, eating your breakfast, or reviewing the slides for your morning presentation, there are many tempting distractions on the road, and these are just the ones we bring on ourselves. Technology has increased our need to be connected 24/7, making these distractions even more serious as drivers side by side on the road split their attention between the task at hand and the smartphones in their hands.