The majority of accidents on motorways can be avoided very easily by adopting good driving practices. Congestion on the motorway suggests danger. Motorways are some of the roads in Britain. However if an accident does occur then it can be very serious due to the high speeds. All drivers on the motorway can do their bit to help avoid accidents:
- When joining the motorway use the acceleration lane to match the speed of the vehicles already driving on the motorway. If cars in the left hand lane are moving at 70 miles per hour then you should be aiming to do the same. This will allow you to join the flow of traffic without causing a disruption.
- Drive in the left lane unless you wish to overtake. Don’t be a “Middle Lane Cruiser” If there is no one in the left lane then you should drive in that lane. It only takes one person who hogs the middle lane and refuses to move back to the left lane to cause the traffic to slow. Especially if that vehicle is traveling slower than everybody else. Very often the driver is oblivious to the problems they are causing.
- Every time the vehicle in front passes a fixed point say to yourself “Only A Fool Breaks The 2 Second Rule”. Tail gating causes a great number of accidents. You may feel that you all the fancy gizmos in your car but one thing that hasn’t changed for thousands of years is human reaction time. So keep your distance. In the wet double that time and snow or ice 10 times longer.
- Drive at a steady speed. Try to avoid fast acceleration then sudden braking. This can cause a chain reaction behind you where all the other cars follow suit and brake as well. This can cause the whole motorway to come to a standstill eventually. Not only that, driving at a steady speed will save you fuel.
- If you need to change lanes check your mirrors and have a side ways glance too before signaling. When you do change lanes do so slowly and keep glancing in your mirrors as you do so. It’s easy to miss something in other lanes. Especially if you’re moving from the left lane to the middle, a car from the right lane may also be moving to the middle lane from your blind spot area. By changing lanes slowly and always giving a signal, then at least you give the other driver a chance to react if you have missed something.
- Don’t sit alongside lorries for a long period of time. You don’t want to end up in their blind spots and find that they pull out on you. This is especially true of foreign lorries which may be left hand drive. Also high winds can easily blow a lorry of course into other lanes.
- If you see traffic ahead coming to a crawl or a standstill, it’s best to gently brake in plenty of time. That way not only does it make it easier for you to stop but your brake lights act a signal to other drivers to start braking in plenty of time. Doing so can prevent a pile up. Another thing to do is to put your hazard lights on as you slow to act as a warning.
- When you leave the motorway try avoid braking until you are well on the slip road. That way you will avoid causing the traffic behind, you still on the motorway, to slow down.
- You can often second guess what another driver is going to do next. If you see them gaining fast on another vehicle ahead of them they will probably change lanes. So that maybe the time not to carry out any manoeuvre yourself.
- If you see other drivers drifting or changing lanes with signaling that may be because they are on their mobile phone. Even though it is illegal to do so there is still a large number of drivers who talk on their mobile phones whilst driving. Give them a wide berth. If they are in the left lane and you need to over take them do so in the right lane to give them an even wider berth.