Driver Care Safety List

Don't Drive "Intexticated"
August 5, 2011 was a bright and sunny day in Grey Summit, Missouri. Two busloads of high school band members were on Interstate 44, on their way to the band's annual trip to a regional amusement park. Ahead of them was a 19-year-old man driving a silver pickup truck, who was behind a truck tractor without a trailer that was slowing down because of highway construction...

When Vehicles Block Your View 
Tips on seeing around and through trucks, SUVs and sedans. Vision provides 85 to 90 percent of the information you need to be a safe driver, so having your view blocked by a large or tall vehicle is one of the biggest frustrations a driver can have. Now that there are so many more SUVs and pickup trucks on the road, it's an increasingly common problem.

Backing Up is Hard to Do
We can make light of them, but the sad fact, is that backing accidents are annoyingly common, and fatalities are not unknown. The National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHTSA) estimates there are 500,000 backing accidents in the U.S. every year, resulting in more than 50,000 injuries and nearly 200 fatalities. Even when no one’s injured, repairs can be expensive and keep you off the road.

Three Myths About Passing
What you believe may be wrong. Almost everybody knows the basic laws and safety rules of passing: watch out for oncoming traffic, don’t cross double yellow lines, and don’t cut in front of the vehicle you just passed.

How Speeding Affects Accident Impact
Researchers at Purdue University say the majority of drivers have no problem going 5, 10 or even 20 mph over the speed limit and see no risk doing so.

Know Your Stopping Distance!
What a one-second advantage can mean to you. Everybody wants the gift of more time, but how valuable could just one measly, crummy second be to you? When it comes to using your brakes on the highway, it could mean – well, a whole lot more than you might imagine.

Walkers Don't Wear Airbags
Take extra precautions for people on a stroll. Springtime brings more than flowers, singing birds and warmer weather. It also brings out more pedestrians -- walkers, joggers and kids playing outdoors – and so more occasions to challenge drivers’ safety sense.

Beyond 'Click It or Ticket'
Don’t forget the real reasons for buckling up. More people than ever are using their seatbelts, so it’s safe to say that the memorable advertising slogan “Click It or Ticket” is working. But don’t let the slogan’s success overshadow the real reasons for wearing your seatbelt.

Directions for Disaster
Using navigation systems with due caution. Global Positioning System navigation devices – “GPS” for short -- may well be one of the greatest automotive inventions since the internal combustion engine, but drivers be warned: they’re not infallible and can even contribute to a collision if you don’t use them with care.