1) While you are driving - Pay attention to the responsibility of driving, accidents result when one or more drivers are not paying attention. Driving is an important responsibility, as you are controlling a machine that weighs thousands of pounds. In the wrong hands, an automobile becomes a deadly weapon. Accidents are more like to occur close to home because drivers are familiar with their environments and feel comfortable enough to allow distractions while driving, such as talking on the phone, adjusting the radio, looking in the mirror or looking through a purse rather than paying attention to the traffic around them. Don’t let your mind get distracted.
2) While driving, anticipate how other drivers may make mistakes and give your self the room to avoid a collision when they do make those errors. You never know what frame of mind the other driver is in while you are sharing the road with them.
3) Driving is not the time to spar with another driver. Gaining the upper hand on a driver is a shallow victory and puts innocent people at risk for losing their lives or being seriously injured. Losing an innocent life is a price that is way too high just for the sake of cutting someone off to appease your ego. Stay calm.
4) Drive at the speed limit. If you are driving below the speed limit, stay in the right-hand lane as the law requires. The law of physics is precise and unyielding. The higher speed that you are driving, the longer your reaction time and greater distance you cover while braking to a stop. At night your visibility is reduced. The weight and the speed of the vehicle will determine the amount of force at impact.
5) Do not drive impaired. Alcohol, drugs, fatigue, medication, and extreme anxiety are some examples of conditions that impair drivers. You don’t want to injure someone or inflict the worst grief a family can experience-by killing someone, just because you didn’t adjust your social life, wait to drive or get someone else to drive for you.
6) Wear your seat belts and place your child in the proper child safety system for their size. The reasons have been outlined in the above paragraphs.
7) Remember, large and sharp objects should be placed in the trunk of a vehicle to reduce the likelihood of injuring the people in the vehicle if there is an accident.
8) Make sure your brakes, tires, shocks, seat belts and air bags are in working order and well-maintained.
9) Do not run red lights and be cautious through yellow lights. To prevent serious accidents, pay attention at intersections, you may assume that someone will run a red light at any time.
10) Pay attention to the rules of traffic signs. Every driver deserves to be driving with other drivers that adhere to traffic signs. Predictable driving behavior reduces accidents.
11) Pay attention to what is happening more than eight seconds down the road. Scan the road ahead to observe for merging traffic, construction sites, cars and people stranded on the road, a stray animal or road obstructions and debris. Your peripheral vision helps you if you keep your eyes looking at the entire field of view on the road.
12) Leave enough space between you and the vehicle ahead of you. If someone is tailgating you, move to the right to allow them to pass, a cars’ length between you and the car in front of you is not good enough at regular speeds. You should allow enough reaction time and braking distance. The higher the speed – the longer the distance that is needed to stop. Keep adequate distance between you and the car in front and in back of you. Do not allow yourself to get boxed in.
13) Use your turn signals and keep your lights in working order. Use your car horn, when necessary, to alert a driver that you are nearby if they aren’t paying attention.
14) Be predictable in your driving behavior. Don’t stop in the middle of the lane if you are not sure where to turn. If you miss your turn, do not cut someone off or brake in front of someone suddenly.
15) Try to know when someone is in your blind spot. Adjust your mirrors and seat to the correct position prior to driving. Be aware.
16) Exercise extreme caution while backing out of a parking spot. If you know that children may be in the area – confirm that no one is behind you before you back up. Get out of the car and look, if you didn’t look before you got in the car.
17) Be very cautious at intersections. Eighty percent of injurious or fatal accidents on the road occur at intersections. And the risk of an accident is greatest within four seconds of a light change. If you are at a stop light, confirm that drivers appear to be braking for their red light before you accelerate into the intersection.
18) If you are stranded or can’t drive due to poor visibility, pull off the road to the farthest right possible. If you are at the side of the road, do not leave your car lights on. Someone that doesn’t realized you are stopped, may be coming up behind you and may be intending to follow you because they cannot see the road well either.
19) We don’t drive nearly as much during night hours - approximately 25% of our drive time is in the dark on average. But 50% of the fatal accidents occur at night. Do not smoke at night in the car while driving. Tobacco products contain ingredients that temporarily diminish our ability to see well in the dark.
20) When it is raining or snowing, slow down! If it is raining reduce your speed by one third of the normal driving speed. If it is snowing, reduce your speed to half until the roads are adequately cleared. Hydroplaning may occur at speeds about 35 mph. Do not tap your brakes if you think you are hydroplaning, just take your foot off of the gas peddle to slow down smoothly. Make sure your tires have adequate treads. Insert a penny into your tread in various areas of your tires; if Lincoln’s head is fully visible to you, you need new tires. Newer brands of tires have “wear-bands”. Ask the retailer to show you the wear-bands. Keep your tires properly inflated. If you drive with under-inflated tires your steering and braking ability are worse. Under-inflation also wears tires out much faster. Cold weather causes tires to become under-inflated faster than hot weather.
21) Take care of your car by keeping the car fluids at correct levels. Keeping your car road-worthy is important. It is safer for you and safer for your precious cargo, like your children, friends and loved-ones. When your car makes abnormal noises get it repaired as soon as possible. This will reduce the cost of repairs in many cases.
22) Head-on collisions are not as likely to happen as other types of accidents. If someone is heading right towards you, veer off to your right. Because the other driver might try to correct back into his lane as he is approaching you. In this situation, you may get hit because you went to your left instead of your right. Also, if you veer to the right and hit something on the far right-side of the road, along the side of your vehicle, it is less likely to cause severe injury or death than a head-on collision. So if your choices are to continue head-on, versus hit something on the right side of the road, veer to the right. Hitting an immobile object on the side of the road at 45 mph will have less impact then getting into a head-on collision. If both drivers are traveling at 45 mph towards each other, the impact will be 90 mph. And if the vehicle coming towards you is a semi-truck, the sheer weight of the truck will make your survival practically impossible. Hit a sign along the side of the road, you will be more likely to survive.
23) If your car gets stranded on train tracks, get out of the car. If a train is coming, get out of the car and run off to the side of the tracks, towards the train. The reason for running towards the train, along the side of the tracks, is when the train hits the car; it will shove large automotive debris in the direction it is traveling. If you are running in the same direction, you may not survive getting hit by car parts that are flying towards you.
24) If you notice that you are coming up on a car that appears to be slowing down, be cautious, it may be braking for something in front of it and you can’t see it. So don’t speed around a braking car. Instead, slow down until you confirm there is nothing in front of it before you pass.
25) Slow down where animals may cross the road unexpectedly. Don’t swerve, but brake smoothly to the best of your ability without turning your steering wheel too much. You don’t want to roll your care over or inadvertently swerve into oncoming traffic.
26) If the car driving towards you has glaring head-lights that are affecting your vision, adjust your gaze slightly downward and to the right until the car passes.
27) Make a habit of driving the correct way and following the rules, even when no one is watching or around you - Good driving habits will be in your motor-memory.
The Keane Law Firm and You
The Keane Law Firm has the experience and resources to handle a variety of childhood injury cases. While Christopher Keane and The Keane Law Firm specialize in cases from San Francisco and the State of California, they may also accept worthy cases from other states. If your child or the child of somebody you know has been the victim of a serious injury, we can work with you hold the responsible parties accountable for their negligence.
No matter where your child’s injury occurred, please don’t hesitate to contact us for a no-cost evaluation of your case. And remember, if you are a professional referring a case to us, 25% of our fee will be donated to the charity of your choice. Contact Christopher Keane and The Keane Law Firm today, and we can help you seek justice for the injury done to your child.
California child injury lawyers are available to help if you know a child who has been injured. The Keane Law Firm has been recognized as having an AV rating - the highest legal ability and ethics rating available, and Christopher Keane has been rated as one of the leading plaintiff's lawyers in America as a "tireless advocate for injured children". Contact him today to see if he can help your child.
The Keane Law Firm
530 Jackson Street, 2nd Floor
San Francisco, California 94133
Phone: (415) 398-2777
Toll free: (888) 592-KIDS (5437)
Fax: (415) 520-2282
E-mail: [email protected]
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