Edmunds, one of the leading companies in evaluating cars, offers a number of less-often-hear tips to avoid car accidents:
1) Keep your eyes moving. Scanning the road well ahead of you allows you to anticipate any possible problems and allows you to react more quickly in an accident. Scanning the road a few cars ahead allows you to avoid sudden rear-end collisions with the car in front of you.
2) Stay away from the left lane on multilane routes. Statistically, more highway accidents occur in the left lane. The “fast lane,” as it is often called, has fewer escape options than the right or middle lanes, so that if you need to get out of the way quickly to avoid an accident you might be stuck. You are also more likely to get a speeding ticket in the left lane, where highway patrol officers tend to check first.
3) Take a look at the shape of cars around you. If a car is in bad shape or has obvious problems, such as body damage, that could indicate a driver who pays as little attention to the road as he or she does to his car. Give yourself extra room. Also, be on the alert for drivers who are drifting in a lane. These drivers might be exhausted, talking on a cell phone, or drunk. They are more likely to cause accidents because they are not paying attention to their driving for some reason. Stay well back of such cars.
4) Get a good grip on the wheel. Hold your steering wheel at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock, as this will give you the best control of your steering wheel if you need to make a sudden maneuver to avoid a collision. As well, make sure that your seat is correctly adjusted to give you good control of the wheel. A good rule of thumb is to have the seat adjusted so that when you sit back in the seat with your arm extended, your wrist first perfectly on the top of the wheel.
5) Get to know and care for your car. Know how long it takes you to stop in various conditions and how much grip your tires have. Get to know how quickly your car accelerates and responds and whether it leans in any particular direction. Knowing such little details can help you respond more appropriately to avoid a car accident and personal injury. Once you get to know your car, you’ll also become better at evaluating when you car needs maintenance. You might notice, for example, that your car’s tires don’t have great grip, you might want to invest in a better set of tires to keep safe.