Keep yourself safe on the road

It is better to lose one minute in life… than to lose your life in a minute. When you gamble with safety, you bet your life. Broken tools can be replaced, you can’t.

Read our free ebooks My grandpa, my hero and Road Safety for a brief introduction to this topic.

“A road traffic injury is a fatal or non-fatal injury incurred as a result of a collision on a public road involving at least one moving vehicle […] Every year, nearly 1.3 million people worldwide are killed in road crashes. Road traffic injuries take an enormous toll on individuals and communities as well as on national economies,” World Health Organization.

You should consider:

• Safety Tips When Walking on the Streets. “Find a safe place to cross. Stop just before you get to the kerb. Look all around for traffic and listen. If traffic is coming, let it pass. When it is safe, go straight across the road – do not run, keep looking and listening while you cross”, Tales of the road.

  

• “Walk only on the pavement or footpath. If there is no pavement, walk on the right hand side of the road so you can see the traffic coming towards you. Avoid crossing between parked cars. If there is a zebra crossing, always use it,” Chandigarh Traffic Police.

  

• “Ride Your Bike Safely: Always wear your helmet. Make sure to buckle your chin strap. Only ride with an adult. Don’t ride on the street. Ride on bike paths, in parks, or on the sidewalk,” Chuggington Safety Program.

  

• “Buckle up your safety belt on every trip. Stay 5 giant steps away from the street when waiting for a bus. Be seen when it is dark! Wear light, bright colors and reflective markers,” Washington County.

  

1. If you drink or take drugs, don’t drive. Do you want to know the estimated peak blood alcohol concentration (EBAC)? For instance EBAC(2, 0, 80, 2) means 2 standard drinks, a man, 80 Kg, 2 hours.

   SD is the number of standard drinks. “The standard drinks measure is “a simple way for you to work out how much alcohol you are drinking. It measures the amount of pure alcohol in a drink. One standard drink equals 10 grams of pure alcohol”, HPA’s alcohol site.

   Consider: 330 ml bottle of beer = 100 ml glass of table wine = 30ml of straight spirits = 10 grams of alcohol = 1 SD. Sex (=0 men ♂, =1 women ♀). Weight: is the body weight in kilograms. Drinking is the drinking period in hours. Calculate EBAC. 

2. Keep calm, don’t speed, and don’t follow the vehicle in front of you too closely: no one likes tailgaters. Don’t slam your brakes, giving the driver behind you little or no time to react if they are following you too closely. No texting or calling is allowed while driving and stick to the speed limit!  

3. Focus on driving, avoid distractions, such as, making phone calls, , texting, checking emails, listening to loud music, smoking, eating, drinking, etc.

4. Wear your seat belt and make sure all passengers buckle up, too.

5. Don’t drive when you are too tired, rest and get some sleep!

6. Be extra careful in bad weather. If you’re driving through fog, heavy rain, a snow storm or on icy roads, be extra cautious.

     Turn on headlights, wipers, and defroster to increase visibility and reduce your speed.

7. Practice defensive driving. Be cautious and stay alert while driving through areas where children often play,  such as schools or playgrounds, near large trucks, construction zones, etc.

8. Keep your vehicle in good operating condition and safe to drive by having it properly maintained.

   A properly maintained vehicle will run better, cheaper (it will always get better fuel efficiency and help you avoid costly major repairs later on), reduce emissions, last longer, and keep you safer.