As a new driver, you’re probably eager and excited to get out on the road.
If so, congratulations.
Learning how to drive, and getting access to your first vehicle, is truly a huge step on the road to having your own freedom and independence.
With that being said, there are also a few things that you’ll need to keep in mind as you learn how to drive and start operating your own vehicle.
This is true regardless of whether you’re going to simply drive on your own, or if you’re going to start a ride-share gig like Uber or Lyft.
It can be a lot of fun to operate a car.
It can also obviously be convenient and open up the opportunity for a lot of fun experiences.
You may want to get a job, commute to classes on your own, ride around with friends, and even travel a little bit!
However, it’s also important to remember that operating a motor vehicle is pretty much like driving a huge, heavy, gasoline-filled cruise missile.
It has the potential to do a lot of damage—both to you and to other cars and people.
Therefore, it really pays to be smart and safe while learning to drive.
It also pays to watch out for how safe other people are driving as well—as other unsafe drivers can also cause you issues and put you in danger.
So with that being said—in this blog post, we’re going to discuss 5 smart driving tips that new drivers can use to deploy safety while operating a vehicle.
Let’s dive into it.
1. Pay Attention
You always want to pay attention when you’re driving.
In other words, don’t make the mistake of trying to text on your phone, check messages, play with the radio, etc.
Texting is especially dangerous, as it causes drivers to take their eyes off the road for an average of 5 seconds—which is plenty more than enough time for disaster to strike.
Do these things either before you leave or after you arrive.
Pay attention to the road and nothing else while you’re operating the vehicle.
2. Don’t Take Risks
While driving, you’ll quickly learn that there’s potential to take a lot of risks.
For example:
While driving to work, you may almost miss your turn—and realize that you can either continue to go straight and circle back around safely, or slam on your brakes, crank the wheel, and potentially put yourself and other people at risk in an effort to make your turn at the last second.
These snap decisions are going to come up often while you’re driving—and it’s always in your best interest to err on the side of caution.
4. Practice Situational Awareness
Whenever you’re operating a vehicle, it’s going to be in your best interest to make sure that you’re paying attention to what other drivers are doing on the road.
You can’t control what other drivers do.
However, you can maintain situational awareness to try to maneuver out of harm’s way if someone else makes a driving error.
Paying attention to other vehicles like this really pays off.
Your safety is worth it.
4. Park Smart
Nothing sucks as bad as getting a parking ticket and/or getting your car hit by another vehicle because it wasn’t parked appropriately.
This can be a very discouraging, troublesome, and expensive experience!
So always pay attention to the parking instructions. Feed the meter, make sure that your front tires are turned in the appropriate direction, and always make sure that your vehicle is safely within the painted ‘parking’ lines to avoid trouble.
5. Get A Lawyer
This is especially true if you either plan to do rideshare driving, or even if you don’t do any rideshare driving yourself, but are operating a vehicle and may get hit by someone who’s doing rideshare work.
Finding a local lawyer who can represent you and defend you legally in such cases is extremely important.
For example—in Los Angeles, you’ll want to find an uber accident lawyer Los Angeles phone number and keep it with you at all times.
Then, if you get into any kind of an accident, don’t hesitate to make the call and get immediate advice on what to do next.
Conclusion
Now you know how to stay safe by driving smart as you hit the open road.
As a new driver, a whole world is opening up to you!
Just make sure to be smart and explore safely.
Good luck out there! We’ll see you on the open road.