8 Back-to-Basics Driving Tips

School’s restarted, and often teachers kick things off by going back to the basics. What’s the foundation of all we’ve learned, and where do we place our building blocks to ensure strong, growing knowledge?

Let’s take that same approach with driver safety. There must be at least 8 basic lessons we learned in Driver’s Ed that we should be using every day. How many of these basics do you use day-to-day?

1. Double check your seat, steering wheel, and mirror positions every time. Even if you were the last driver, your posture changes from day-to-day depending on your sleep, moods, and minor aches and pains. Make any adjustments necessary so you’ve “got a visual on the bogey” at all times.
2. Reduce and eliminate distractions. Place anything you carried into the vehicle in a spot where it won’t behave in a way that might pull your eyes from the road.
3. Speaking of potential projectiles, fasten your seatbelt. Not going to say it again.

4. Use turn signals consistently and properly. Oscar J. Simler invented them for a reason. Click left when you mean left, and right when you mean right. And for the love of ultra -lux cars, do not drive for miles in the left lane of the highway with your left turn signal on!
5. No speeding. It has been proven by science that driving the speed limit does not cause actual physical pain, so stop letting out a big “uuuggghhh” anytime you’re driving behind someone who is not speeding. Driving the speed limit also lets you earn discounts with some auto insurance companies, so maybe you can be bribed into it.
6. Keep a safe distance from other vheicles. If it takes you less than three seconds to pass the same object the car in front of you has just passed, you’re too close. Ease up. It will help prevent you from becoming a passenger in their backseat when they stop short. And speaking of keeping your distance, treat school busses like they’re molten lava. After all, that’s probably what the bus driver’s brain feels like after listening to all the TikTok videos all day long.

7. Stay calm. Some people feel a sense of empowerment when they’re behind the wheel, and they won’t hesitate to remind you by using any combination of vocal, gesturing, or honking means available. Don’t stoop to their level. Human lives are irreplaceable – even the ones with the worst driving behavior.
8. Stay alert. Alcohol, legal and illegal drugs, prescription and over-the-counter medicine, drowsiness, and mental distractions are all super easy catalysts for driving accidents. While you’re manipulating a 4,000-pound steel machine down the road, take responsibility for the lives around you by simply putting your full attention on driving.

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