Safe Driver Resources
Road safety involves not only safe driving techniques but also proper care of your vehicle and knowledge of how to handle extraordinary circumstances involving you and your automobile.
This resource section is provided as a service by DefensiveDriving.com; it includes a number of driving and auto maintenance tips, illustrated by video clips from DefensiveDriving.com’s driver safety video, Wheels in Motion. These tips are explained by internationally recognized road safety experts, so you know you’re getting some of the best safe driving advice available when you read and watch them. For more tips and advice, you can take a defensive driving course.
Texas Defensive Driving Course
Our TDLR-Approved Texas Defensive Driving course is approved for ticket dismissal in all courts in the state of Texas. Our award-winning online course is guaranteed to dismiss your ticket or we’ll pay it. Over 2.5 million tickets dismissed since 2000.
What To Do If Your Brakes Fail
Every driver should know whether or not they have anti-lock brakes or regular brakes. If you have a logo that lights up whenever you start your car that says ABS then you have anti-lock brakes, if not, you have regular brakes.
How To Make An Emergency Lane Change
The “bump, bump, bump” technique involves only steering and doesn’t require any braking or acceleration whatsoever. This technique will move your vehicle one lane over, quickly and safely.
How To Pull Out of a Skid
Focusing on a visual target can help you recover from a skid and even a full spin earlier. When you go into a skid you should immediately pick out a distant visual target and keep your eyes focused on that target.
How To Avoid Being Hit By A Train
In the U.S. someone is hit by a train once every two hours. These crashes are almost completely avoidable. Driving over a Coke can with a car is the same as a train hitting your car.
How To Jump Start Your Car Without Blowing Up Your Battery
You want to begin by positioning the cars close enough for the booster cables to reach but without the cars touching. This will prevent any unanticipated transfer of current before…
How To Change A Flat Tire
You can find instructions for changing a tire in your owner’s manual or maybe even your trunk. When you realize you have a flat very carefully move your car as far off the main road as you can.
What To Do If Your Engine Overheats
If your car begins to overheat, first turn off your air conditioner. This will lighten the load on the engine. Then, turn on your heater so it will draw heat away from the engine.
What To Do If You Hydroplane
When a car hydroplanes the most important thing to remember is not to panic. First, do not brake or accelerate suddenly. Since hydroplaning is a loss of traction to the front tires sudden braking slows…
How To Get Rid of Your Blind Spot
When you set your side mirrors out fifteen degrees they become an extension of your rear view mirror. To set your mirror at fifteen degrees for the left side, lean your head over so that it is even with…
What is meant by defensive driving?
When we talk about defensive driving, we’re talking about ways to make you a safer driver. Defensive driving is a set of skills…
How to Know Who Gets to Go – Who Has the Right of Way When Driving
One of the most common places for a crash to happen is an intersection. Usually someone fails to yield the right of way to someone else. There are established…
How To Determine When It’s Safe To Pass
Passing in the lane of oncoming traffic is common but not always safe and must be done cautiously. It becomes a danger because we don’t judge distance every well. The problem is two fold.
How To Makes Sense of All the Signs You Encounter While Driving
Some rules have exceptions but not this one. A red light means stop period whether it is a regular stoplight, a flashing light, or a red arrow. A green light, whether it’s a regular light or a green arrow means go
How To Merge Into Traffic
It can be a high anxiety situation, you’re trying to enter the freeway, cars on the freeway are whizzing by and you’re trying to keep an eye on the cars in front of you. Drivers in the cars behind you are eager for a chance to merge.
How To Make Right, Left and U-Turns
Turning may seem basic but it is ordinary driving tasks that are so easy to do wrong. The first thing you need to do before you make a turn is to make up your mind to turn. Generally give your turn signal a full city block before your turn.
How To Safely Drive In Fog
Fog is considered the most dangerous of all driving hazards. The best advice for driving in fog is “;don’t”. It’s simply hard to see what’s around you. If you must drive then slow down and turn on your low beam headlights.
How To Drive In Ice and Snow
Ice on a roadway is not like ice in a glass of water. You don’t necessarily see it. If it’s a sunny day you can have glare on the road that makes the roadway look wet when there is actually ice on the road and it can catch you by surprise.
How To Maintain A Space Cushion Around Your Vehicle
One way to make freeway driving safer is to keep what some call a space cushion around your car. Let’s review how to maintain a space cushion. If all conditions are perfect, keep three seconds…
How To Avoid Distracted Driving
What do we see when we’re behind the wheel? What don’t we see? The answers may not be so straight forward. Research shows that what registers in our brains is what we expect to see, not necessarily what we really see.
How To Keep Your Emotions From Taking Over Your Driving
The American Automobile Association suggests some ways to help keep your emotions from taking over your driving. Keep a mature attitude. Make a conscious effort to put your emotions aside…
What To Do To Make Driving At Night Safer
From sunrise to sunset drivers have a huge advantage in the sun. Although it’s easy to take for granted, the sun makes it immensely easier for us to see. Once darkness falls driving becomes…
