Driving Tips: 5 Ways to Avoid Driving Distracted
Driving distracted is one of the most common road hazards. Examples of distracted driving are using a cell phone, eating, or multitasking. Worse yet, when you are driving distracted, it’s difficult to notice the signs of other drivers on the road who are not paying attention.
Fortunately, avoiding distracted driving is easy and can help you to keep yourself and all your passengers safe. We will show you the best driving tips for keeping yourself alert and focused on the road.
What is Distracted Driving?
Distracted driving is driving while dividing your attention between the road and anything else. It can be setting your music to the right tune or answering a phone call. Driving distracted can be texting, eating while on the road, or even trying to carry on a conversation with your passengers.
Anything that pulls your attention away from the road limits your ability to react to potential dangers. Keeping your mind focused on the road and your surroundings is vital to driving safely. There are a lot of ways that you can help yourself focus on the road and avoid distracted driving.
Know the Law
First, if you do not know the laws regarding cell phone usage or what qualifies as distracted driving in your area, you should familiarize yourself with them. The laws vary from state to state; some states consider any use of a cell phone to be distracted driving and a punishable offense. Other states limit it to texting while behind the wheel. Look into your local laws to understand what qualifies as distracted driving.
How to Avoid Driving Distracted
Below, we will show you some of the best driving tips for keeping yourself focused on the road and avoiding driving distracted.
Only Use Your Cell Phone for Emergencies
The number one tip for staying focused on the road is to limit cell phone usage to emergencies only. To do this, you will need to get yourself set up before you leave. Get your GPS or Maps ready before you leave the driveway, connect your Bluetooth, and set up your playlist on Spotify or any music player or radio station.
Most phones now have a “car mode” to help reduce distracted driving. By turning this feature on, you can reduce how much you can interact with your phone while on the go. This setting also silences text notifications, which is a wonderful way to eliminate the temptation to check for updates on social media or texts.
If You Get Drowsy, Take a Break
Another critical piece of advice is to take a break if you get drowsy. Driving drowsy is incredibly dangerous and falling asleep at the wheel endangers not only you but everyone in your vehicle and anyone on the road with you.
When driving at night, it is a good idea just to pull off and get a room for the night.
If you find yourself struggling to stay awake while on the road, pull over. During the day, you can stop at a rest area and take a walk to get your blood pumping. Alternatively, getting a snack at a gas station can give you something to chew on, which can help you to stay awake without being distracted.
Don’t Eat and Drive
Snacking on peanuts, chips, or candy while driving can help you to keep alert, but you should not try to eat and drive regularly. If you are going to go through a drive-through, wait until you get to your destination to eat or find a spot to pull over and eat before getting back on the road.
Even a burger or sandwich you can hold in one hand is distracting enough that you should avoid driving while eating it. If something were to cause it to fall in your lap it can pull your attention away from the road and having both hands on the wheel is the safest way to ensure you have time to react to other drivers, animals, and debris on the roadway.
Limit Passengers
Another big cause of distractions while driving is having too many passengers or too much noise in the vehicle. Sometimes this is unavoidable, especially if you have young children. However, if you are traveling with friends, it is easy to get distracted by conversation and stop paying attention to the road. Limit the number of passengers in your vehicle to lower the risk of distractions.
No Multitasking
It can be tempting, especially in our fast-paced world, to try and multitask while driving. This is especially true if you are running late; however, it is incredibly dangerous to multitask while driving. The following things are examples of common tasks that should be avoided while driving:
For all of these activities, just wait until you arrive at your destination. It is safer, and it will be faster than trying to do any of these while driving.
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