Tips for Safer Driving
- Understand ABS (anti-lock braking system) operation
- Use smart driving position: hands at 9 and 3 o'clock
- Maintain speed appropriate to laws and conditions
- 3-second rule behind the vehicle in front (there should be three seconds of distance between car and the car ahead of you)
- Look as far ahead as possible
- Always fasten your seatbelt as well as your passengers'
- No impairment from alcohol, drugs, or sleep deprivation
- Free yourself from distractions like cell phones, music, passengers
- Drive a safe car
- Low center of gravity
- Good tires
- Snow tires in Northeast during the winter
- Tread depth not less than 1/16 of an inch. Hint: use a penny-if you can see Lincoln's head, you need new tires
- Tire pressures at recommended PSI
- If your wipers are on, your headlights should be, too
- Back off from road rage: always stay cool
- Keep your car inspections up-to-date
Courtesy of Safe Roads Alliance, Inc., 2007
Driver Statistics
- At least 77 percent of traffic accidents are the result of driver error
- Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death for 16-24 year olds at 48.5 percent - the next highest cause, homicide, follows at 15.2 percent
- Nationwide, 43 percent of first-year drivers and 37 percent of second-year drivers are involved in car crashes
- Advanced Driver Training has reduced that rate to 4.6 percent of first-year drivers, as determined in a four-year study
- Individuals 15 to 20 years old make up 6.7 percent of the total driving population, but are involved in 20 percent of all crashes and 14 percent of motor vehicle deaths
- Of teens involved in crashes in 2000, 58 percent were speeding at the time of the crash
- 65 percent of teen passenger deaths occur when another teenager is driving
- Nearly half of the fatal crashes involving 16-year-old drivers were single vehicle crashes
- In the last decade, over 68,000 teens have died in car crashes
Courtesy of Safe Roads Alliance, Inc., 2007
A new study conducted by the physician-led group End Needless Death on Our Roadways (END) and the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) found that Massachusetts was one of the deadliest states for teen driving. For more information, visit TheBostonChannel.com