We are all guilty of having a few bad driving habits, but some of us have more than others. We’d like to share the Top Worst Driving Habits with you. How many are you guilty of?
Parking in Illegal Areas:
Even though most parking areas are monitored closely, drivers continue to park where they shouldn’t. This includes the handicap parking spaces, red zones, along curbs outside of clearly marked legal parking hours, and so on. Having your car towed can be expensive, so even you have gotten away with it before, you should resist the urge to park “just for five minutes” in any restricted areas.
Accelerating Through a Yellow Light:
It might be exhilarating to speed up in order to make it through a light, but often you do not quite make it and you end up holding up other drivers who actually have the green light. This bad habit could lead to major collisions. Some lights are longer than others so you may think that you have time to make it when you really don’t. Be responsible and slow down when the light turns yellow if you have time to stop.
Ignoring Traffic Signs:
Do you blow through stop signs or fail to yield when it’s required of you? Those signs are there for a reason and even if no one is around, you should obey them. You never know when a car or pedestrian might come out of nowhere, or even a cop.
Not Checking Your Blind Spots:
Blind spots are dangerous, but not trying to check them is more dangerous. Drivers who do not look tend to start moving over into other lanes and may collide with other cars, which can cause anxiety and distraction and at most a serious car accident. Be sure to not only check the appropriate mirror when switching lanes, but also glance over your shoulder to make sure the coast is clear.
Merging Improperly:
How many times have you been on the Kennedy onramp and found yourself behind someone who doesn’t understand how to merge? They let car after car zoom past them, thinking they are being polite when in reality they are holding up the flow of traffic. At the same time there are motorists who don’t how to be patient. They think that racing to the front of the line of cars getting on the expressway, when they know that the lane merges, is acceptable behavior. This is wrong too and shouldn’t be put into practice.
Not Using Turn Signals:
If you don’t tell other people where you are going, how can you expect them to know? Changing lanes or turning without signaling throws others off and it could put in harm’s way. The worst is when drivers slow down to turn without putting their blinker on and this could catch the cars behind them off guard and the offending individual could get rear-ended.
Cutting Others Off:
When we are in a hurry it always seems that traffic is the worst. Weaving between the lanes without regard for others is hazardous. You run the risk of being hit from behind if the driver you are cutting off isn’t paying attention and if you are going too fast and squeezing between two cars, you could end up slamming into the car ahead of you. Please don’t put yourself in this kind of situation.
Tailgating:
Tailgating is maddening for both parties involved. The driver in front is annoyed because the person behind them won’t stay off their bumper and the driver in the back of them is annoyed that he can’t go any faster. Why create the tension? Tailgating can lead to car accidents, and it can lead to intentional vindictive actions, like brake checking. If you want to go faster, pass the car ahead of you in another lane if it is safe to do, but keep a safe distance if it is not. Remember the two-second rule.
Speeding:
Ok, so we all do this occasionally, but that doesn’t make it ok. Driving above the speed limit is one of the biggest reasons car accidents happen and it leads to many of the other behaviors on the list. Just think about how many bad incidents would be prevented if we all adhered to the speed limits.
Using Your Cell While Driving:
This bad habit is unfortunately the most common among most drivers out there. While talking on your cell phone may be legal in some places under certain circumstances, it is still a bad habit to have. Yes it can be tempting when your phone rings while you are driving, but it is better to resist the urge to answer. Talking while your driving is distracting and distracted driving is dangerous driving: it puts you and others at risk. Texting while driving is even worse, so please don’t do that either.
How did you do? Do have any of these bad habits? You can make the small changes you need to be safer while driving.
Call R.C. Keller & Company for an auto quote today!
R.C. Keller & Company is a fourth-generation family-owned independent insurance agency, that has been serving the residents of Schaumburg and the surrounding suburbs since 1910. Our knowledgeable agents will do the shopping for the protection you and your family need on your auto insurance, home insurance and business insurance. Give 847-907-4520 a call today. We gotcha covered.