Breaking Driving Rules Endangers Lives
Even a cursory reading of the police blotter section of any daily newspaper reveals that drivers regularly break every rule in the book, and someviolatetwo, three or more regulations in a single traffic incident. It's as if today's drivers believe in the old adage: "Rules are made to be broken." Unfortunately, breaking some of the more imperative driving rules can lead to serious accidents involving expensive damage to vehicles and injury or death to drivers and passengers. Five of the more serious breaches of lawful driving behavior include speeding, tailgating, ignoring stop lights, failing to signal and driving while impaired.
Speeding: State and local traffic authorities post different speed limits on Interstate highways, secondary roads and urban streets for a good reason. Safe driving for each of these thoroughfares will vary with the amount of traffic, road conditions and pedestrian levels. In many cases, the speed limits on a given roadway will change as road or driving conditions change.
Drivers who ignore speed limit signs and travel at excessive and prohibited speeds risk several dangers: loss ofcontrol, inability to stop expeditiously, unexpected vehicle failure due to speed (tire blowout, for instance), or collision with other vehicles on crowded city streets.
Tailgating: Impatient drivers who tailgate, (i.e.: drive too close to the vehicle in front) commit a very serious and unnecessary infraction of traffic regulations. Tailgating can prove dangerous in several ways.
Driving too close to the vehicle in front may lead to a collision if the driver of the leading vehicle suddenly applies the brakes. Tailgating may restrict the offender's field of view, making road or traffic hazards ahead invisible. The driver of the vehicle ahead may become nervous and unintentionally execute a hazardous driving maneuver.
Ignoring stop lights. Speeding, tailgating or just plain inattention can result in a driver running a red light at an intersection. Some drivers, however, seem to ignore stop lights as a matter of course. This tactic puts the lives of everyone negotiating the intersection, drivers, passengers and pedestrians alike, in danger.
The driver who consistently ignores stop lights, and survives, does so not by luck or driving proficiency, but through the vigilance and skill of other drivers in avoiding a collision.
Failing to signal: Signaling an intention to turn has two main purposes: courtesy toward other drivers and highway safety.
Signaling well in advance of a planned turn, right or left, provides other drivers with the information needed to make correct driving decisions. For instance, a driver may safely turn right onto a cross street if the signaling driver intends to exit that street at that intersection.
Drivers who signal a turn help maintain an even flow of traffic. This increases the safety factor for all concerned.
Driving while impaired: Highway patrol officers and city police maintain a proactive watchfulness for erratic driving that may indicate a driver under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
A driver operating a vehicle while drunk or drugged constitutes a real and present danger on the road. Diminished vision, sluggish awareness and slow reaction time - all effects of heavy drinking or drug abuse - make for extremely unsafe driving.
A combination of speeding, tailgating, running red lights, failing to signal and impaired driving produces a time-bomb destined to explode in a dreadful accident.
