The obvious approach to stop getting right into a DUI accident is to be sure to haven’t been ingesting while you get behind the wheel. However that doesn’t imply you’re secure in case you’re a sober driver.
You possibly can nonetheless get into an accident as a result of another person’s careless driving habits. In 2020, 2,114 folks had been injured and 963 folks had been killed in DUI accidents in Laredo, Texas alone.
Listed below are 5 methods to cut back your probabilities of getting right into a DUI accident while you’re sharing the highway with others who’ve probably had an excessive amount of to drink.
Get Dwelling Earlier than Midnight
The outdated saying “Nothing good occurs after midnight” undoubtedly applies to drunk driving. The best variety of deadly crashes occur between midnight and three a.m. Attempt to get dwelling earlier than midnight every time doable to cut back your probabilities of getting right into a deadly automobile accident.
It’s additionally true that fewer deadly accidents occur throughout daylight in comparison with after darkish. In case you’re operating errands or in any other case have to be out and about, it’s safer to get the whole lot completed earlier than the solar goes down every time doable.
Know the Most Harmful Days For Drunk Drivers
Not solely are there instances when driving is extra harmful, however there are additionally days when driving is extra harmful too.
Friday and Saturday nights have extra drunk drivers, however holidays are particularly harmful with reference to drunk driving. Essentially the most harmful embody:
- The time between Christmas and New 12 months’s Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Memorial Day weekend
- Labor Day weekend
- The week of the Fourth of July
The summer season is a harmful time to drive too. Labeled because the “100 deadliest days of summer season,” the time between Memorial Day and Labor Day has extra deadly crashes than different instances through the 12 months. That’s as a result of teenagers are on the highway, however the hotter climate additionally coaxes extra folks out of the home, and all these actions are sometimes accompanied by alcohol.
That doesn’t imply it’s important to keep away from driving altogether. It simply means you may wish to train a bit of bit extra warning if you end up on the highway when there’s prone to be extra drunk drivers behind the wheel.
Maintain Your Distance From Different Automobiles on the Highway
It’s a good suggestion to observe the 3-second-rule while you’re on the highway, however in case you’re driving late at evening, in case you’re driving on a weekend, or in case you’re on the highway on a vacation, it’s a good suggestion to extend your distance much more.
Holding your distance means driving additional behind different drivers, however it could additionally imply getting round them. If somebody is driving extraordinarily slowly, or if they’ll’t appear to remain of their lane, chances are you’ll wish to cross them as rapidly and safely as doable. The extra distance you place between you and them, the safer you’ll be.
Train Excessive Warning When Driving By way of Intersections
Drunk drivers are dangerous drivers, regardless of the place you come across them on the highway, however they’re particularly dangerous on the subject of intersections. It’s regular for drunk drivers to run a purple mild or exit of flip at a cease signal.
Be further cautious when driving via intersections in case you’re driving when drunk drivers are prone to be on the highway. Don’t assume the opposite driver will observe the principles. It’s significantly better to decelerate, look each methods, and transfer via intersections cautiously, even you probably have a inexperienced mild, than it’s to finish up getting t-boned by a drunk driver.
Name In Suspicious Driving Conduct
Chances are you’ll be fortunate sufficient to make it dwelling after you will have shared the highway with a drunk driver, however another person will not be. Don’t be afraid to name in one other driver if they’re driving suspiciously on the highway.
Drunk driving behaviors that must be reported embody automobiles that:
- Swerve, drive on the traces, or drift towards the aspect of the highway
- Are driving manner beneath or above the velocity restrict
- Have bother stopping at cease indicators and cease lights
- Drive suspiciously, like driving with their headlights off and utilizing the inaccurate flip sign
Simply be sure to pull over to the aspect of the highway earlier than you make the decision. It’s not your job to observe the opposite automobile. You don’t wish to trigger an accident of your individual by attempting to make use of your telephone whereas driving.
You recognize to not drive drunk, however that doesn’t imply everybody else does. Observe the tips about this record and you may cut back your probabilities of getting right into a DUI accident, even when it’s important to share the highway with a drunk driver.
