2007-08-06 04:19:11 · 11 answers · asked by Dolphin-Bird Lover8-88 7 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Safety
Be aware how vehicles other than cars drive on the road.
1)Trucks
They are not normally out to delay your journey for the fun of it.
They need the width of the road to drive safely,often with the bigger ones,they will actually straddle white lines to force cars to keep their distance and prevent themselves from rubbing kerbs etc.
Stopping distance is huge on a laden truck especially in the wet/ice.
If your behind,and cannot see their wing mirrors....this means they cannot see you at all.
Blind spots,depending if they are left or right hand drive...they have blind spots on the opposite side....dont cuddle up to the side of a truck.
Roundabouts and corners often require a truck to swing out across a few lanes....and take up a few lanes when approaching the turn.
2)Motorbikes
Motorbikes can accelerate at a blinding speed.
Motorbikes can stop far faster than a car in good weather conditions.
Motorbikes do not aqua-plane..cars do,so dont tailgate a motorbike in the wet.
Bikes will weave around a road,as they need to avoid stuff that car drivers do not even notice....diesel spills...drains...banding...potholes.etc.
The ARE legally allowed to filter through traffic in Britain,if you intentionally obstruct a motorcycle filtering and cause him to crash,you have committed an offence of dangerous driving in the least.( obviously some muppet driving his bike at 90mph past stationary traffic is an idiot...but thats for the police to decide and not you)
Through experience most riders appear to ride aggressively ..lights on..lots of revs..up near to a car..this is because most have found out that riding polite,tends to get you ignored and you get sideswiped by a day dreaming driver.....their just letting you know they are there.
Heavy Plant..Cranes.
Hundreds of different types and sizes from van sized up to 32 wheeled monsters.
These machines are slow to travel,BUT they can stop and start surprisingly fast for something their size.
They often need to take up two lanes of traffic,and take up a lot of room approaching/exiting and traveling around corners and roundabouts.
A lot of machines have all wheel steering,they appear to almost " slide " into corners and the back ends swing out....these machines can actually do a complete u-turn on a mini-roundabout by engaging counter steering.
DONT scoot in front of these machines at the traffic lights or in traffic jams...some of the big-uns can weigh 120 tonne or so and if they hit you,you will not walk away from that accident....most drivers i know will NOT endanger other road users by trying to swerve several hundred tonnes of metal to avoid an idiot queue jumping in front of them.
2007-08-06 05:20:48 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
1. Patience is your greatest asset while driving.
2. Always drive defensively.
3. Never insist on the right of the way.
4. Always assume that the other driver will do the wrong thing.
5. Never do anything you're not sure of like overtaking at a bend or a hill, underestimating the speed of the other vehicle.
6. Make a habit of checking your car on regular basis even when you don't expect to find anything wrong.
7. Consider everything on or by the road as a potential danger.
8. Don't rely on luck.
2007-08-06 04:42:45 · answer #2 · answered by dankaduna 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I've only been driving for a year, so all I can really tell you is that as a new driver I'm just not able to drive properly while fiddling with the radio, talking on a cell phone, or trying to adjust the AC. I wait until I'm stopped at a light to do those things.
2007-08-06 04:28:45 · answer #3 · answered by Ambivalence 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Car saftey expert on tv once said that the saftest solution wuol be so that all cars had a 10 inch needle pointing right at your head from the dashboard. Everyone would drive so riduclously safely and slowly nobody would ever get hurt.
Probalem today is that cars come with so many safety featuers (ABS, traction control, airbags etc etc) people think their cars are invincable....until they crash them
2007-08-06 04:24:44 · answer #4 · answered by Marky 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely!! Treat eveyone else on the road as idiots. Not that they are idiots in real life but they are idiots at driving. You just never know when someone is gonna pull out from a side road in front of you. Don't expect they've seen you cos they might not have, so take it slow and keep your eye on them. People pulling out from side roads in front of me has happened twice now and they said they didn't see me (but were not blind) so they just weren't paying attention.
Another problem area is at roundabouts. If you're approaching a roundabout and the coast is clear on the roundabout don't assume that the person in front of you has also checked this out too, cos I know of quite a few accidents that have occurred as the person in front has stopped to check out the traffic on the roundabout yet the person behind has assumed they've already looked and knew it was clear so didn't slow down and stop behind them but just intended to go straight across therefore bumping into the back of the over cautious driver.
Also do not take for granted what peoples indicators say. For example you might be at T- junction and wanting to turn right onto the main road, yet the car coming along the main road is indicating left (to go down the road you're on). Do not be fooled into thinking that they're definitely gonna turn left cos 1) they could have left their indicator on from a previous turning by mistake or 2) they could decide at last moment that they don't want to turn left and carry straight on main road in front of you. I know of accidents where the person has taken it for granted that the indicator meant that they were turning but the person didn't turn and they pulled out in front of them and got smashed into.
Please be careful 'A Good Driver, is a Careful Driver'
Good Luck.
2007-08-06 04:35:11 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Drive defensively.
Drive to arrive.
Any other of these great little sayings...But in reality remember you are responsible to your passengers, other road users and yourself. You are not immortal...and neither is anyone else.
My nephew said to me once "you don't need to use a seat belt in a car that has airbags". As a serving Fireman I had the opportunity to show him some photographs. He now wears a belt all the time.
2007-08-06 05:17:09 · answer #6 · answered by martdfrogman 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
take care while reversing the car. i bumped into 2 cars while i ws learning to drive and always adjust ur mirror to the rite angle
2007-08-06 04:23:35 · answer #7 · answered by Mysterio 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just imagine that all other road users are complete and utter idiots and drive accordingly. If you do this then you wont go far wrong.
2007-08-06 04:29:53 · answer #8 · answered by focus 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
1) Good observation and awareness
2) No sudden moves.
If you apply 1., then 2 will naturally follow
2007-08-06 06:19:10 · answer #9 · answered by dadseimaj 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
keep your wits about you and your eyes open. be prepared for the unexpected there are so many idiots on the road these days
2007-08-06 04:30:57 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋