Safe Driving Advice for Drivers Travelling on Motorways

Highway driving can be exciting when you first start out. You will be looking out for potential dangers and concentrating on your driving skills because your speed is high. After a few hours the drive can become boring, and concentration can begin to lower. Soon poor driving abilities begin to show themselves. It is imperative that a driver always monitor the road and traffic around them. Changes can appear quickly, which will require fast action from the driver.

Inappropriate speed for the prevailing road conditions is the biggest single cause of accidents on the motorway. At 70 mph an alert driver in a high performance car will take 20 meters to react to a hazard and then a further 50 meters to come to a stop, providing his brakes and tyres are in excellent condition. That means it will take most drivers in excess of 70 meters to come to stop in an emergency.

This distance requires that you keep a two second space between you and the car in front. It is best to use a roadside marker, counting the time it takes you to cover this distance after the car in front of you passes it. By doing this you can determine if you have the appropriate gap between you and the other car.

Unfortunately other drivers may not be as thoughtful as you. They may pass you just to fill in that gap. It can be frustrating and potentially dangerous, but it is still up to you to maintain the proper distance of vehicles in front of you.

You may also find a driver is dangerously tailgating behind you, do not be drawn into this reckless behaviour and so, as soon as it is safe to do so, pull in and let them pass by. Remember that someone who is driving that recklessly will very likely cause an accident and you want to be nowhere near them when that happens.

Traffic can change in the blink of an eye. Before you realise what is happening you can be in a traffic jam. There are ways to protect yourself against dangers when this situation occurs. By looking as far ahead as you can you will be able to see the potential issues that may arise. You can then switch on your hazard warning lights to warn other drivers.

If you have been driving on the motorway for a while it can be easy to feel quite bored and inadvertently let your mind wander, especially as very little driving input is required in terms of steering or gear changes. Ideally you need to aim to stop every two hours at a service centre to combat this fatigue and give yourself a chance to relax and refresh before continuing on your journey.

There will be instances where you may have a greater distance to go before you can pull off for a break or stop for the evening. When this occurs there are some steps you can take to fight that tired feeling. You can either open your window or turn the air conditioning to a colder setting. Other options are to turn the radio up louder or talk with your passengers. If you are using cruise control you may turn it off to ensure you are concentrating more on the road and driving.

It is very easy to become complacent when driving on the motorway in a nice warm car listening to your favourite music. However you need to maintain your concentration and observation levels throughout the journey and be ready for any potential hazards when they occur, because when accidents happened on a motorway they happen very quickly and often with fatal consequences.

To help improve a driver’s night time vision and safety on the motorway many cars now come fitted with xenon headlights as standard. For cars fitted with normal headlights a new xenon range of upgrade bulbs, like the H1 car bulbs, are designed to quickly and easily replace ordinary halogen bulbs.