While road traffic accidents are not as common as they once were, they remain an ever-present danger for anyone driving on public roads. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to limit your risk, especially when you consider that much of this risk stems from just a few common kinds of road accidents.

So what are those common accidents, and how can they be avoided?

Failure to Look Properly

If you don’t look properly when pulling out at a junction, then you might miss an oncoming vehicle. The busier the junction, the greater the risk – but it’s easy to fall into bad habits when you’re approaching a quiet junction, or one with which you’re very familiar. If you pull up to the same roundabout a thousand times without incident, it’s easy to discount the possibility that a cyclist will emerge from your blind spot at exactly the wrong time.

As such, it’s worth putting conscious emphasis on easily missed vehicles, like bicycles, mopeds, and motorcycles. If you take every precaution, you’ll reduce the likelihood of a collision – and for those rare accidents that do occur, you’ll be in a better position to make a road accident claim.

Rear-End Collisions

Read-end collisions occur when a car fails to slow down in time, and collides with the back of the vehicle in front. They tend to occur at traffic lights, or when congestion occurs unexpectedly. Make sure that you maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front. Installing a dash-cam will allow you to demonstrate the cause of a rear-end collision, which can be very useful should legal action be taken.

Of course, avoiding distraction is also pivotal if you’re going to apply the brakes in time. Keep your mobile phone out of sight and out of mind.

Loss of Control in Adverse Conditions

When the road surface has been made slippery by rain, ice, and snow, you might find that your traction suffers, and your stopping distance increases. The faster you’re travelling, the greater the increase in stopping distance. As such, the solution here is fairly obvious: slow down when the weather is bad.

You might also check your tyres regularly to ensure that they are adequately inflated and that the tread depth is well above the legal minimum of 1.6 mm. Knowing what to do when you do lose control of the vehicle might also help you to recover safely.

Careless, Reckless, or Impatient Driving

It’s easy to become emotional when you’re behind the wheel of a car. Sometimes, the pleasure of driving can compel us to take risks. In other cases, it’s a sense of injustice at the behaviour of another driver.

You can often avoid the wrong kinds of driving behaviour by making yourself aware of the emotions as they occur, and making a conscious effort to distance yourself from them. Taking a deep breath and counting to ten is a popular, and often effective, method for dealing with road rage!