When you’re in the car and tuned in to your local radio station it’s your time to catch up on the latest news, get the weather and hear the traffic report. You feel bad for the other commuters stuck in traffic and even worse for the motorists involved in the accident that has caused the gridlock.
As you zip along to your destination you see that just ahead of you another car has spun out of control. You slam on your breaks to avoid colliding with them, but it’s not enough. All you can do now is brace for impact and hope for the best.
Is there more we can do though? If we’re in the driver’s seat and see that an accident is unavoidable, are there things we can do to protect ourselves from sustaining a serious or life-threatening injury?
- Keep the seat properly adjusted. According to Buffalo Chiropractor, the driver’s seat should be at least 10 inches from the steering wheel. When you collide with another vehicle, tree, electricity pole, fence, etc. your airbag will deploy to lessen the severity of the impact. If you are sitting too close to the steering wheel, the airbag will cause further injury to your person because it was not able to fully deploy.
- Keep the headrest properly adjusted. The top of the driver’s seat headrest should be even with the top of the driver’s head to prevent a ricochet effect. The headrest is designed to protect your head and neck on impact if/when you’re rear-ended. When you are hit from behind, your head is thrown back, then forward. If the headrest is positioned too low, your neck will be extremely extended, causing severe injury.
- Buckle up. This should be a no-brainer, but if you’re only going to be in the car for five minutes, it’s very tempting to not buckle up. The seatbelt is designed to keep you restrained in your seat. If you hit an object with a massive amount of force, your body will be propelled, causing you to hit the vehicle’s dashboard or go crashing through the windshield. To prevent serious injury, wear a seatbelt!
- Keep the vehicle space clean, e.g. no dancing hula girl on the dashboard! Like our homes and work spaces, we want to decorate our vehicle space to show off our unique style. However, when your vehicle hits something hard on impact, those little knick-knacks on the dashboard become small missiles hitting your body. Small, unmounted objects can hit you at 30 times their weight in a traffic collision. Keep all objects locked away in the trunk of your car to avoid being hit by an errant tissue box or umbrella.
- Look for open spaces. While not all accidents can be avoided, we can do still do our best to avoid the pile up straight ahead. If you see that there is an accident ahead or someone behind you is about to collide into the back of your car, scan the area for an open space to move in to. It’s advised that motorists scan the roadways in front, to the side and at the rear every 10 to 15 seconds. By being a defensive driver, you can better avoid vehicle accidents.
Unfortunately, we can’t avoid every accident. Forbes Magazine reports that motorists are due for a vehicle collision every 17.9 years. Because a vehicle accidents are inevitable, we need car insurance to help us cover the financial hit. Contrary to popular belief, car insurance isn’t all that expensive for what it covers, especially when you compare car insurance online through policy-generator sites.
By taking preventative steps to protect ourselves in an accident, we’re doing our part to be responsible, defensive drivers.
