There are techniques to lower your chance of an accident, even if winter driving might be unpleasant. The easiest way to achieve it is to maintain alertness.
In the winter, glare is frequently dangerous. This might impair your ability to see the road before you and raise your risk of an accident.
1. Go slowly
Winter months provide particular dangers from solar glare. Seeing other motorists, pedestrians, and even your own car is challenging.
Slowing down and using caution are the most significant ways to keep safe on the road. You’ll be able to prevent accidents and save lives as a result.
Using a pair of polarized glasses is a terrific approach to protecting and preserving your eyes’ health. Driving will be more pleasurable thanks to these glasses’ glare reduction.
Maintain a vast space between your car and other moving objects to help reduce glare. By doing this, you’ll be able to avoid being struck or rear-ended by a driver suffering from sun blindness.
Moreover, this is a good time to activate your headlights, increasing your visibility to other motorists. This can make it easier for you to stop or slow down quickly, lowering the likelihood that you’ll cause an accident.
2. Give other vehicles plenty of space between you and them.
So that you can see what’s going on around them, it’s crucial to keep enough space between you and other cars. You can avoid accidents or other risks on the road by doing this.
When driving, giving yourself at least three seconds of space from the vehicle in front of you is a good idea. By counting backward until you reach a fixed item, you may determine this number (such as a tree, signpost, or fire hydrant).
Increase the gap between your car and the vehicle in front of you if you see someone following too closely. You will have more time to respond if they suddenly stop or change lanes.
Also, giving heavy trucks, buses, RVs, and other oversized vehicles plenty of room while passing them is a good idea. They might move erratically and obstruct your vision of the road.
3. Switch on your headlights
Winter is when many drivers forget to turn on their headlights, but it can help keep you safer. While driving on slippery or snowy roads, this may significantly improve your vision, and it also makes you more visible to other drivers.
Your visibility will be substantially improved by turning on your headlights, even if you have daytime running lights. According to tests, headlights enable drivers to see vehicles from a distance that is more than twice as great as without them.
This is particularly true in the low winter sun, which may make driving and other road users challenging to see. Drivers may not move quickly enough to prevent a collision if they cannot detect pedestrians or other cars.
4. Don’t stare at things directly in front of you
Avoiding staring at things directly ahead is one of the most crucial pieces of driving safety advice. This might seem obvious, yet it’s frequently the one that gets the least attention.
To acquire a clear view of the road in front of you, you should be gazing at something 10 to 15 seconds in the future. This is important since it lets you quickly identify risks and prevent a potential accident.
It also lets you see how far you can pull out of the next lane if you need to make an emergency stop and where the next road is located.
Using your mirrors to view what is behind you is a helpful additional driving safety tip. You can prevent the dreaded rear-end crash by doing this. Also, it’s a good idea to be aware of how traffic merges at crossings and crossroads so that you can plan appropriately.