How To Become A Much Better Driver

Being a great driver is not something you are born with, although so many talk about talent. Every single person in the world can become a very good driver with enough practice and attention to details. And we have some great tips to help you get started right now.

Look Further Ahead

When you drive and are focused just on the car in front of you, it is easy to miss what happens beyond that point. You should scan the road by up to twelve seconds ahead to have a lot of extra time available so you could react to and anticipate dangers. This also helps out a lot in eliminating the possibility of rear-ending the driver in front of you.

You should also know that looking further ahead will help save fuel and reduce wear and tear normally appearing on breaks. This is because you can adjust speed so much earlier than when you have to react in a split second.

Leave Larger Gaps

When you drive way too close to the vehicle in front of you, the action is called tailgating. It has some really big disadvantages that should show you why the practice has to be avoided:

• It is much more likely you will hit the vehicle in front when it needs to brake fast since you have a lower reaction time.
• You use your brake and accelerator more frequently since you want to maintain a shorter distance.
• You will not be able to see too much ahead of you since the vehicle will block more of your vision.
• When other vehicles need to move into the lane you drive in, dangers are higher since gaps between vehicles are shortened even more.

Use The Appropriate Driving Speed

Even if you do not break speed limits, you still might end up going way too fast. Unfortunately, in several cases, the official speed limit is just way too fast for what you experience, like when driving in heavy rain, snow, or on gravel surfaces. Even with some tight turns you might drive way too fast if you respect the limits.

Make sure you learn all the road signs so that you can easily read everything further ahead. This allows you to choose appropriate speeds.

When you go over the speed limit, you can be fined. And the truth is there is no real reason why you should anyway. For most of your trims, you gain some time speeding but it becomes completely negligible due to traffic lights, intersections, and the other traffic. This means you most likely gain a couple of minutes. But, at the same time, you end up using more fuel and might be fined.

Stop Weaving Between Lanes

Traffic will move slowly from time to time. If you are an impatient driver, you will try to gain an edge. This means you might jump between lanes. The problem with this is that during traffic, lanes tend to move at around the same speed.

If all the drivers would stay in the lanes and would not try to weave between them, traffic would actually be quicker. The reason for this is that when drivers change lanes, they cause those behind them to brake. This creates a chain reaction. The gap that a driver left will be filled by others. You feel that others go faster but, in reality, traffic is still slow.

Match Speed With The Traffic Around You

Whenever you join the motorway, you need to match the speed you drive at with the speed of what is already present. This stops you from causing other drivers to need to brake or even unnecessarily change their lanes. Basically, you need to learn how to merge your vehicle and the easiest way to do this is to match the speed as you join the motorway.

Properly Adjust Your Mirrors

When you can see your car in the mirrors, unnecessary blind spots are created. The only situation in which you should see the car in the mirror is when you tilt and turn your head. This practically means that the mirror covers a large part of the lane next to the vehicle. Adjust the rear-view mirror in a way that the vehicle’s rear window stays centered.

After you adjust the mirrors, it is not enough. You also need to frequently check them. Basically, as you drive, you need to get in the habit of glancing in the mirrors every ten seconds. You adjust how many times you do this by taking into account how much traffic is present, when you change lanes, and similar situations.

Do Not Drive When Sleepy

So many car accidents are caused by fatigue. The start of the problem is the delay that appears in your reactions. Then, you end up microsleeping, which is when your brain will shut off just temporarily. The end of the process is the huge crash caused by falling asleep.

The very simple rule of thumb is to pull over when you feel tired. You need at least a break of around 15 minutes or a good powernap. Just never drive when you are sleepy.

Properly Hold The Car’s Steering Wheel

When you learn how to drive, the instructor tells you to keep your hands on the steering wheel at the 10 and 2 positions. In reality, you have much more control when your hands are placed at the quarter-to-three position. Also, as an advanced trick to help you control the steering wheel more, you should never wrap thumbs around it.

Be As Smooth As Possible With Driving Inputs

When you drive the next time, have someone with you. Ask that person to stay attentive and look at how you use your accelerator and your brakes. The accelerator needs to be constant, unless deliberately slowing down or speeding up. When you often pump the accelerator pedal, you usually just travel very close to the traffic in front of you (and you also do not look far ahead).

Then, you have to analyze how smoothly you stop the vehicle. And how smoothly you steer the car. When you are smooth, the vehicle is affected by less wear and tear. Other drivers will also be able to better judge your actions and react in the event that something goes wrong.