Safety Begins With You road sign

Essential Defensive Driving Habits

With the New Year can come a lot of resolutions. While many people may be focused on resolutions to improve their finances or their health, another important resolution can lie in focusing on safety. In fact, if you regularly commute to and from work (or anywhere), resolving to be proactive about your safety on the road can be the key to avoiding a potentially devastating auto accident this year – and beyond.

To help you in this effort, here are some effective and essential defensive driving habits to start practicing (if you don’t already):

  1. Never drive drunk or impaired – Buzzed, drunk and drugged driving are illegal. They are also dangerous practices that can lead to serious, if not fatal, crashes. This is largely due to the fact that alcohol and/or drug impairment will negatively affect motorists’ perception, judgment, coordination and reaction times. In fact, federal officials have reported that impaired drivers at at least four times more likely to be involved in traffic crashes than sober drivers.1
  2. Avoid distractions whenever driving – Distracted driving can be as, if not more, dangerous than drunk driving, as federal data has revealed.2 The main reason for this is that, like impaired driving, distracted driving impairs drivers’ perception and reaction times, potentially causing motorists to miss seeing up to 50 percent of their surroundings and/or to be up to 20 percent slower in performing the appropriate actions (like, for instance, braking to avoid a crash).
  3. Always follow traffic laws – This should go without saying, but it is important to stress. That’s because if motorists simply obey the speed limits and other laws, they can greatly reduce their risks of getting into a wreck.
  4. Anticipate that other drivers will NOT comply with the law – Motorists who expect the drivers around them to run stop signs, cut them off or otherwise fail to abide by traffic laws tend to be more responsive – meaning they are ready to immediately take action to avoid a crash when other drivers’ negligent actions may put them at risk of a wreck.
  5. Always buckle up – Wearing a seatbelt can cut your risk of injuries, including potentially fatal injuries, in half when a crash occurs. So, always buckle up, regardless of whether you are driver or passenger in a car. It could save your life when other motorists are less than sober, responsible or careful behind the wheel.

Contact a Kingston Car Accident Attorney at Charles N. Rock, P.L.L.C.

Have you or someone you love been injured in an auto accident? If so, you can turn to Kingston Car Accident Attorney Charles N. Rock for aggressive legal advocacy and effective help obtaining the compensation to which you may be entitled.

To find out more about your best options for moving forward, contact our firm today to schedule a free, no obligations initial consultation with Attorney Charles N. Rock. You can set up this meeting by calling (845) 383-1170 or by emailing us using the contact form on this page. To ensure that you have the legal support you need now, Attorney Charles N. Rock can meet you at your home or a hospital when needed.