As soon as you hit the roads, you need to have your full wits about you. Being a careful driver and exercising safety precautions, you can avoid car accidents. You have to have your eyes wide open and assume that other drivers aren't good drivers.
Many aren't as they're out on the roads without a license, with dilapidated cars and sometimes with illegal substances coursing through their veins.
Focused and alert
Before you get behind the wheel of your car, you need to have achieved your driver's license. Apart from knowing how to start a car and get it into motion, you have to have other driving skills too, such as knowing how to read road signs, understanding what the road conditions are, what the speed limit is and what gap you need to leave between you and the vehicle in front of you.
You also need to know how distracted driving and a loss of attention behind the wheel can lead to a massive accident. You can't afford to allow your mind to be wandering, you can't be filling with the radio and reaching for a pen in the glove box or cubby hole.
You need to be focused and alert to react quickly to the vehicle in front of you when it suddenly slams on brakes. You always have to be watching out for the other drivers around you,
Drinking and driving woes
It doesn't matter that the states of America have rules in place saying that you can't occupy a driver's seat of a car or motorcycle while under the influence of alcohol, and yet people do. When your blood alcohol content is 0.08% or higher, you're looked upon as a drunk driver and your driving abilities are affected.
However, even a small amount of alcohol can affect driving ability. Many people in the United States are injured and killed each year by drunken drivers and the law firm of Joe Stephens in Houston, Texas, has their hands full settling an accident lawsuit for auto accident claims.
Compensatory damages are awarded to pay for loss of income and medical bills. The law firm has vast experience dealing with insurers, judges and the courts.
No electronic device while driving
This seems so obvious by now and yet cell phone distraction rates are as alarmingly high as eve. Most states allow mobile phone usage under the hands-free mode, but without this ability, the rule is no handling of the device whatsoever.
The National Safety Council tells us that each year 1.6 million accidents occur because of cell phone usage while driving. It is believed that using a cell phone while driving can reduce the driver's concentration by 37%.
Whether it's driving drunk or driving while using a cell phone, a lot of accidents are caused because of the growing culture of reckless disregard for the law. People blindly exceed the speed limit and they deliberately ignore safety regulations.
Kid's car seats
How many parents don't leave an event in a hurry and don't bother to ensure their older kids are strapped into their car seats? Car seats for kids have different laws in each state and can become confusing.
Most parents know the rules for transporting babies and toddlers but they're uninformed when it comes to 6 and 7-year-olds. In fact, there are laws that stipulate that a child should only be out of one of these seats when they are eight years of age or 80 pounds.
These car seats and boosters are designed for the purpose of providing safety for children as passengers and to protect them should an accident occur. It is vitally important to choose the right car seat every time your child is in the car.