Beat the streets: avoid common driving errors

  • Published
  • By Courtesy of the Air Force Safety Center
SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  With the holidays coming up, many folks will travel to see loved ones during these festive times. It also means more people on the roads and holiday parties.

Remember that alcohol and driving do not mix, and if you drink don't drive. Wear a seatbelt at all times and do not drive while tired or fatigued.

Drive defensively as if your life depends on it, because it does. Always use personal risk management.

Besides drunk driving and not buckling up the 10 most common driving errors, in order of frequency, are:

- Improper lookout such as pulling into a street from an intersecting alley, street or driveway without looking carefully for oncoming traffic.

- Pulling out to pass without checking for traffic in the passing lane.

- Pulling out of a parking space without looking back for oncoming cars.

- Excessive speed.

- Inattention.

- Improper evasive action such as no attempt to steer around an impending crash or an attempt to steer that was unsuccessful because brakes were slammed and the front wheels locked.

- Internal distractions such as a crying baby, fighting children, adjusting the radio, CD or DVD player.

- Inadequate defensive driving techniques. Sometimes following the rules of the road aren't enough.

- Unjustified assumptions such as turning across two lanes of oncoming traffic assuming traffic is not coming in one lane when a driver makes way in the other; assuming an oncoming vehicle with turn signals on will turn at the next side road, building access, stoplight, etc; assuming another vehicle is required to stop or yield at an intersection when it is not; assuming another driver will stop or yield at an intersection when it is not; assuming another driver will stop or yield even though he or she does not have a sign.

- Improper maneuvering or driving the wrong way on a one-way street; turning from the wrong lane or proceeding straight in a turn lane and overcompensating, accelerating, braking too fast, or turning too quickly.