Highways are among the safest categories of roads. They have no intersections, sharp road turns, and they are usually well-maintained. In addition, many highways today are equipped with bumpers, dividing the oncoming traffic lanes. As a result, road accidents on the highway should be very rare. Unfortunately, it’s not.
On the highways we drive much faster than on the common city streets. Plus, we relax on the highway. At the same time, many drivers forget to switch to other driving techniques associated with high speed. In order to avoid any road accidents when driving on the highway, rentalcars24h has carefully prepared the following rules…
Merge with highway traffic seamlessly
When entering the highway, use the entire length of the acceleration lane to smoothly and accurately merge with high-speed traffic. But remember: in order to safely enter the main flow of cars, you need to first gain an average speed of the traffic. For this reason, there are special acceleration lanes that smoothly merge with the major road lanes. That’s why road services try to make the accelerating rows as long as possible, so that drivers have enough time to safely enter the flow of other cars with a sufficient speed.
Don’t drive in reverse on a highway
More and more serious accidents are caused by drivers who, having passed the desired turn or exit on the highway, decided to return to the exit by driving in reverse.
But on any road, the reverse movement in opposition to the main traffic direction is the most dangerous maneuver. And don’t even think that Emergency Button of a car will help you. Therefore, after missing the turn or highway exit, continue to drive to the nearest road junction where there’s a safe turn. Remember that it’s better to lose time and fuel than to get into a car accident.
Keep your distance
Since the speed on any highway is usually much greater than on the common city road, then you must always increase the distance to other cars when traveling on the highway. Otherwise, you run the risk of colliding if you need to brake urgently due to a sudden stop of the car ahead of you.
Remember that the higher the speed, the longer the braking distance of the car. In addition, always take into consideration the current weather and the conditions of the road surface. If it’s raining, the braking distance of any car can be increased almost double. So, always check the distance in bad weather, especially when driving on a highway.
Choose the right speed depending on road conditions
The fact that on some motorways traffic regulations allows you to drive at a speed of 130 km/h doesn’t mean that you can move at such a speed throughout the highway. For example, in difficult road conditions (rain, snow, fog), the speed, of course, should be reduced. Remember that if in such conditions you get into an accident, then you can be convicted of the fact that you didn’t reduce the speed in accordance with road conditions and current weather.
Give way to emergency vehicles
While driving on the highway, it’s worth noticing that according to traffic regulations you‘ll have to give way to the cars of such operational services as ambulance, fire transport, rescue service, police cars, etc. Having seen an emergency vehicle behind your car, you need move as closely as possible to the right traffic row of the motorway.
By the way, you must leave the traffic lane even if the emergency vehicles can easily overtake you on the left or right.
Use the left traffic row for overtaking only
Many drivers can drive in the left lane for many kilometers. The worst thing is that there’re a lot of drivers who move along it at a low speed, forcing other drivers to overtake them on the right, which is unsafe.
According to traffic regulations, drivers are allowed to occupy the left lane only with intensive traffic, when all lanes are occupied by other cars, and also for overtaking. In other cases, drivers cannot go in the left traffic lane. Therefore, try to drive the left side on the high-speed highway only if you want to overtake someone.
Avoid abrupt maneuvers
Don’t turn sharply in case you approach a gas station or highway exit. Otherwise, you can provoke a major accident. Remember that because of high speeds, drivers of other cars cannot instantly reduce the speed, which can cause a collision.
Therefore, if you plan to stop at a gas station, choose the necessary lane and start slowing down in advance. Then, having approached to it, turn on the turn signal and enter a gas station.
If you brake sharply to change the traffic lane, then the vehicle behind you can crash into your car.