Every driver should know rules of the road perfectly, but it is not so. They are required by the driver’s license test, but the rules are barely revised by drivers from time to time as they are supposed to be. When a driver has to renew the license, nobody checks the rules again, thinking that the experience allows everybody to remember the rules perfectly. However, from time to time they should be reminded about simple rules which could have saved a lot of lives if drivers followed them always.
Here is a list of most important safety rules and the mistakes, done by drivers:
1. Keep right, allowing the vehicles from the opposite direction to pass. It is definitely easier to go in the middle of the road than on its edge, besides, if the road has not been fixed in a while, the middle part is not going to surprise the driver with holes as the edge does. This problem is very common on the little country roads where nobody expects heavy traffic or high speed. However, breaking this rule and hoping that there will always be time to move over is the reason for many head-on collisions.
Although many drivers are self-confident and believe this will never happen to them, the accidents occur with everybody. If one fails to notice an upcoming vehicle or one of the vehicles goes too fast, which is a widespread problem too, the collision is unavoidable.
2. Give way to all traffic on your right, especially at road junctions and round abouts. This rule is called “right-of-way” rule. It is interesting that sometimes one can come across an “extremely” polite driver, who gives way even though it is their turn to go, but in the majority of cases it is the opposite way. People want to go first, so they are not only rude on the road, but they break the rule. If everybody knew just this one rule and followed it, 50% of all contentions and congestions on the roads would have been eliminated.
The common mistakes with this rule are that drivers do not know that the vehicle to their right always has the right of way and that only few of the drivers know how to act at round abouts. Sadly, most of them do not even think they must go around, not across them.
3. While turning right or left, wait for the vehicles going straight. Although the traffic lights with turning arrows usually give way to vehicles first, if there are no arrows or they were turned off, the turning autos should wait to give the right of way to straight-going vehicles. Unfortunately, some drivers try to turn before anybody else starts the vehicle becoming a hazard on the roads.
4. While turning left, keep to the left side of the road and turn close to the left side of the road entered. This rule is applied to turns from a two-way street to a two-way street. Some drivers prefer to make huge wide turns from the right lane of their street to the right lane of the other one, but all the driving books warn against this because right lanes are used by oncoming vehicles turning right. It is recommended to turn into a left lane and move over to right gradually.
5. Slow down and signal about the intentions at road junctions, intersections, pedestrian crossings, school zones or any other pedestrian areas. Although this rule seems obvious, some people think they are gods of the road and do not care where they are: they turn where they want to turn without signals, they speed if they are in a hurry, and they honk at pedestrians when they have to yield. This is a part of the right-of-way rule and many drivers should read it over and over to understand all the mistakes they make.