Driving Safe: 6 Steps To Lower Car Insurance Rates
It’s a no-brainer. The more crashes and collisions on your driving record, the higher the premium every car insurance company will quote you.
As the vaudeville comedians told it: “I went to my doctor. ‘Doctor’, I said, ‘My elbow hurts when I do this’. He told me, ‘Stop doing it’.”
How will you “stop doing it” – where “it” means crashing your car? Build yourself some safer driving habits. Here are six easy steps.
1. Look ahead. Look way ahead.
• Don’t stare at the car just ahead of you. Look farther down the road.
• If you see brake lights starting to flash way down the road, you will probably need to slow down soon. Start now and beat the rush.
• This also helps if something moves into your lane – like when two cars are heading towards you and then one starts to pass. Hit your brakes or see if you can use the shoulder to avoid a head-on crash.
2. When trying to avoid trouble, look where you want to go.
• You will instinctively steer toward where you’re looking.
• So don’t stare at the oncoming car or the tree that’s in your way. Look for a safe gap.
3. Make sure your windshield and windows are clean with no obstructions or distractions.
• Especially in those states where winter means snow and frost: clear all the glass.
• Don’t leave mud or dust on your windshield: they can become blinding at sunset.
• Some states have fines just for dangling fuzzy dice from your rear-view mirror.
4. Watch out for everything that shares your road. Hitting anything affects your driving record.
• Pedestrians – especially children – do things you may not expect, like crossing the street just as you expected to turn a corner.
• Bicycles are like pedestrians, but quicker.
• Things that don’t move – traffic pylons, dumpsters, parked emergency vehicles – can cause damage if you hit them fast enough. Look ahead, slow down, and steer around without hitting other moving vehicles.
5. Leave enough room that you can hit the brakes before hitting whatever is in front of you.
• The 2-second rule is easy: Make sure it takes two seconds to reach the car ahead of you.
• How? When the car ahead of you passes a landmark – a tree or a post – start counting “one one-thousand, two one-thousand…”. If you said that much before passing the landmark, you’ve got those two seconds.
• Wikipedia recommends the phrase, “Only a fool breaks the two-second rule” as the timer.
6. Only drive while un-impaired.
• You already know about drunk driving and DUI. Don’t.
• Sleepy driving is a lot like drunk driving. You don’t realize how bad it is unless you survive a near miss.
• Pay attention to your driving. Distractions include serious conversations (cell phones, texting), working with your GPS unit, working with the stereo, and daydreaming.
Following these tips can help you stay alive long enough for your driving record to improve.
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