Many people consider their car convenient. They have it sitting outside their door, ready to hop in and drive off at a moment’s notice. Yet that instant accessibility can come at a cost to safety.
Driving requires your full attention. Yet it takes a little time to switch attention from one task to another. If you are still thinking about whatever you were doing before you got into the car, it will distract you from what you should be doing — focusing on the road.
Here are some ways you can ensure you give the road your full attention
Many people do things after they have set off that they should have done before starting the engine:
- Know your route: Traveling somewhere new this morning? Either look up your route on the internet first. Or enter it into your GPS before you lift the handbrake. Having to check directions as you travel takes your eyes and mind off the road.
- Get comfortable: Adjusting the steering wheel, your seat, the mirrors, the stereo or the heating while driving all require you to take a hand off the wheel. The less you do so, the better.
- Clear your mind: You need to be thinking about what is happening around you when driving. If your brain is elsewhere, it increases the risk of a crash.
Not all of these things are easy. Our lives can be so busy that sometimes we are already late when we jump into our vehicles. Yet, a collision will make us even later. The road is full of people who are distracted. The more alert you are in your car, the less chance one of them injures you in a car crash.