People are often looking at ways to reduce their risk of being involved in a car accident. For instance, they may drive with the lights on during the day. They may practice defensive driving and always look for mistakes that other drivers are going to make. All of this can be beneficial, and it may keep you from being injured in a crash caused by another driver.
But there’s one very simple thing that you can do to lower your crash risk: Leave the house a little early. Just give yourself a few extra minutes to get wherever you’re going.
Why does leaving early help?
The issue is that people are often in a rush. The United States has a culture that is very focused on calendars and clocks. Schedules are seen as incredibly important, and people are often very stressed when they feel like they’re going to be late for anything, even if it’s a mundane event that they don’t have to be on time for.
As one expert put it, “rushing is a form of stress.” They also noted that this stress could then lead to mistakes and errors that wouldn’t have been made otherwise. People are giving in to the pressure to try to get somewhere quicker, and that can lead to an accident.
For instance, a driver who is in a rush may be more likely to drive 10 miles over the speed limit, trying to make up time, even if they’re only going to save a couple of minutes during a short trip. Another driver who is rushing may tailgate the car ahead of them, even accidentally, simply not leaving enough space to avoid a crash if anything happens. Still another driver may aggressively change lanes, trying to find the fastest one, and increase their own odds of hitting someone else.
If you just left 10 minutes early, then you wouldn’t have all of the stress weighing on you and you could focus on driving in a safe and controlled manner. This is perhaps one of the easiest ways to reduce the chances that you’ll be in an accident because you at least ensure that you will be the safest driver you can be on every trip.
Of course, you can always be hit by someone else and you could still suffer serious injuries. If this occurs, be sure you know how to seek proper financial compensation for your medical bills and other costs.
