While taking a road trip can be a fun experience with you enjoy on your own or with a group of loved ones, it can also be an experience rife with accidents, delays, bad weather, emergencies, or just plain bad luck. But with the right preparation, you can hopefully avoid a lot of these issues during your time spent on the road.
To show you just how this can be done, here are three tips for staying safe during a long road trip.
Make Sure Your Car’s In Good Working Order
Before you set off on your whirlwind adventure, one of the very first and most important things you need to do is ensure that the vehicle you’ll be taking is in good working order. Forgetting or neglecting to do this could put you in danger of some major mechanical mishaps or even cause you to get in an accident while on the road.
According to Monica Bernstein and Ingela Ratledge, contributors to Parents.com, some of the most important areas of your car to get checked out before starting your road trip include your tires, battery, belts, air conditioner, and all your fluid levels. If you don’t know how to double check on these things by yourself, make sure you get your car into a professional mechanic for a good once-over prior to your trip starting.
Keep Distractions To A Minimum
While it’s good to feel comfortable behind the wheel of your car, what you don’t want is for this comfortability to translate into you allowing yourself to take your attention off the road. And with all the technology that’s available in our modern cars, distractions can be everywhere.
To combat this, Chip Wade, a contributor to Yahoo! and MentalFloss.com, advises that you make sure everything you might need throughout your trip is all set up before you take your car out of park. This should include things like your music, navigation systems, sunglasses, snacks, and anything your passengers might need from you. Once you get on the road, if something comes up that you need to address, pull over before attempting to do so.
Be Smart About Taking Breaks
When you’re behind the wheel of a car for extended periods of time, it’s only natural to get in a type of trance while you’re driving. But just because this is a natural thing that happens doesn’t mean that it’s something that should be allowed to happen.
Because of this, it’s important that you take regular breaks in order to keep yourself awake and alert. Brigitt Earley, a contributor to Women’s Day, recommends that you take a break about every two hours.
If you’ve got a big road trip coming up, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you stay safe out there.
My name is Sadio and welcome to Bare-foot my personal travel blog