Car accidents are situations you never want to encounter no matter how small. It’s a bump on the road (pun intended) in your daily life because the reality is, “ain’t nobody got time for that”. You’re clearly driving to a location for a purpose so when you do get into a car accident, it takes time away from your errands. The worst part is that the stress doesn’t stop at the scene of the accident. It drags on to getting ahold of your car insurance company, the claim process, and repairs. Nevertheless, at Toyota of N Charlotte, we’ve got a couple of tricks up our sleeves as to how you could avoid all of this by using defensive driving skills.
Defensive Driving Tips from Toyota of N Charlotte
Tip #1 Don’t engage in distracted driving
So we’re all guilty of this one, but it doesn’t mean we should excuse ourselves for it. When you’re driving your N Charlotte Toyota, make sure you do away with ALL distractions. This means put away your phone, don’t eat or drink while driving, and ESPECIALLY don’t take your eyes off the road to make eye contact with your passengers when speaking to them. Trust us, the’ll rather be safe than be offended.
Tip #2 Don’t drive while intoxicated or tired
For obvious reasons, you are never to get behind the wheel while under the influence—no excuses. If you’re planning on going a little hard at the party, make sure you have a designated driver or call an Uber. As for driving while fatigued, believe it or not, it has the same impact as driving drunk. A couple of solutions to this are to take a nap before heading out, pull over to stop for the night, or wait till you’re less tired to drive.
Tip #3 Watch out for other drivers
Defensive driving is not necessarily about how you react hen you’re in the middle of a car accident, in fact it’s more about how you react to avoid one. With this in mind, our N Charlotte Toyota Collision experts recommend you pay special attention to the drivers around you. While you may be practicing defensive driving, they may not be, so for everyone’s sake be the better driver and scan the road around you so that you can react quickly and avoid a collision.
Tip #4 Use the four second rule
When you’re driving behind another vehicle, enforce the four second rule. This means that after the vehicle passes a landmark like a stop sign or tree, you wait four seconds before you pass that same object. In the event you pass it before the four seconds, this means you need to slow down and allow more space in between.
Tip #5 Follow the basic rules of driving
Don’t forget to implement basic driving rules as part of your defensive driving skills. Use your turn signals (they’re there for a reason!), come to a complete stop at stop signs and red lights, follow the speed limit, etc. Once every Charlotte driver implements this in their routine, everyone will be safer on the road.
Follow Toyota of N Charlotte for more tips and tricks. You can call us at (704)659-2040 or stop by 13429 Statesville Rd, just off I-77 at exit 23 in Huntersville.
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