Use Your Horn, Fool

By sarajean on 6/21/09 10:44pm
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June is Drive Safe Month, and while we all like to think that we’re great drivers, the truth is that somebody out there has to be a crappy driver. Otherwise, how would we have over 41,000 people dead last year alone from drunk driving?

Here are just a few stats and facts for you:

  • One person dies in a motor vehicle accident every 13 seconds in the United States—a total of 115 people daily.
  • In 2005 alone, there were about  6,420,000 car accidents in the U.S.
  • The leading cause of death for teenagers is motor vehicle accidents.
  • The cost of a year of car crashes in the U.S. is about $230 billion.
  • 16-year-olds have a higher crash rate than any other age.
  • More than half of young drivers use cell phones while they drive.

These facts aren’t meant to scare you; they are meant to empower you and help you become aware of just why it’s important to be a defensive driver. Here are some tips to do just that:

Use your horn—when you need to alert other drivers. An SUV is coming at you in your lane? Yeah, use your horn! An old man drives too slowly for your taste and pisses you off? Skip the horn, but feel free to mutter under your breath.

Use the seatbelt. It’s such an easy thing to do, I know; but as long as you’re not doing it, I’m going to include it!

Be alert and attentive. This means not pimping out while you drive, slinking back in your seat like you’re hot and barely using two fingers to drive.

Use your eyes at all times. This means NOT texting while you drive. And leave the novels in the backseat while you drive, for crying out loud! You can wait until you get there to find out who kills Dumbledore.

Control road rage.  It doesn’t help anybody, and it doesn’t make you get there faster. Calm down while you drive. Try counting to ten, listening to some peaceful music, or using an affirmation like “I am patient with other drivers.”

Keep your car safe. Maintain safety inspections, tune-ups, oil changes, new tires, the works. And if your amateur “mechanic” best friend or significant other wants to do it but you know he or she really can’t, go ahead and get it professionally done. Better to hurt his or her feelings a little than be a pancake.

For more tips, click here.

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