Nobody likes getting into accidents. They’re messy, they can result in injury or the loss of life, they make your insurance premiums skyrocket, and you’ll miss the 7:40 showing of Saw VII. So do whatever is in your power to avoid them.

Keep Your Car Visible

In addition to using both your mirrors and your direct line of vision to check for other vehicles, be sure also not to linger in another driver’s blind spot. If you can’t see the head of another driver, drop back or pass him so that nothing unfortunate occurs. Either he won’t be able to see you, or he is a headless specter out for the blood of Ichabod Crane. Either way, it would be a good idea to distance yourself from him.

Consider the Road Conditions

Just because a speed limit is posted, that doesn’t mean that you should necessarily be driving that fast. It is a limit, after all. When driving in unfavorable weather conditions or over bumpy roads, slow it down and take it easy. If nothing else, it will feel better on your hemorrhoids.

Curves

We’re sure you’ve all seen the numerous clips of movie footage where some car goes off the edge of a mountain road and flips over several times on its way down, ultimately exploding and bursting into flames. (At this point, someone usually walks away from the accident entirely unscathed. Ah, Hollywood.)

Curvy roads, especially those without rails and on the sides of large hills or mountains, can be dangerous places. Aside from the issue with heights, there are also ferocious billy goats on the prowl. Or so we’ve been told.

Take them seriously, and approach them with the utmost caution, reducing your speed accordingly. This is one place where we really don’t mind if you drive as slowly as your grandmother.

Heavy Traffic

You will necessarily be driving more slowly in heavy traffic, but don’t let that give you a false sense of security; it can often be even more dangerous. Vehicles are much closer to you than usual, and they start and stop often. It’s also easier to lose your focus and fall asleep, especially if you’ve popped in an Enya CD.

Although it should go without saying, reduce your speed and proceed with caution any time there is bumper-to-bumper traffic, or when you are traveling through crowded parking lots. Also be careful on narrow bridges, in tunnels, and anywhere else where you may not have much room on either side of you, such as in a toll plaza or inside the belly of a whale.

Traffic Speeds

You should always be driving the same speed as the rest of traffic. Unless, of course, you take a wrong turn in Daytona during the Daytona 500, in which case you may want to find a good place to pull over.

Source

Even if you are in a hurry, speeding generally only saves you a couple of minutes for every hour of driving time, so it really isn’t worth it. You’d need to be driving from Earth to Jupiter for the time you’re saving to amount to anything substantial. Come to think of it, you’d be negotiating with significantly less traffic on that trip. Maybe it is time for an interplanetary road trip.

Some drivers prefer to be overly cautious and therefore drive well under the speed limit, but this can sometimes be even worse than speeding. Drivers who are traveling at the recommended speed may have to swerve or change lanes quickly to avoid hitting you, and you are at a greater risk of being rear-ended. And your rear end really isn’t built to withstand much.