Most Common Road Accidents and How to Prevent Them
Let’s face it – road accidents are increasingly common on UK roads. Although some happen a lot more often than others, so knowing how to avoid them could prevent future potential injury and, hopefully, save you some time and money.
Putting forward road traffic accident claims can be a frustrating process and the same can be said for costly repairs. Here are the most common road accidents and how you can prevent them from happening to you.
Rear-End Collisions
Whether you’re the driver doing the colliding or being collided into, rear-end collisions make up a big portion of car insurance claims. This is when a forward-moving driver collides with the vehicle in front of them. Typically, these occur when traffic is at its highest, at traffic lights and on motorways.
How to Avoid: Keeping the right distance between you and the car in front is usually a good way to avoid rear-end collisions. The UK Highway Code advises that you leave a two-second between vehicles when moving through faster-moving traffic and increase this on wet and icy roads.
Parking
For many drivers, parking is a particular cause of anxiety. A study showed that parallel parking made 45% of participants feel stressed, while 41% relied on the help of a stranger to get them into a parking spot. This lack of confidence leads to accidents that damage other cars and your own.
How to Avoid: Picking parking spaces that are away from heavy traffic will decrease the likelihood of parking accidents. Always try to park your car in the centre of the spot and don’t be afraid to reposition your vehicle if it’s too close to a parking line or another vehicle.
Single-Vehicle Accidents
Not all car collisions involve another driver. Single-vehicle accidents involve one vehicle colliding with road barriers, debris or animals. This can cause significant vehicle damage, but luckily this type of collision is easily avoidable.
How to Avoid: Controlling your speed so you can stay aware of your surroundings is a good strategy to prevent single-vehicle accidents. You never know when road conditions might change but paying attention means you can adapt to changes quickly.
Driving Tired
Astonishingly, driver fatigue is estimated to have contributed to between 10% and 20% of all road crashes worldwide. Tired drivers have slower reaction times, reduced awareness and can even fall asleep behind the wheel and lose complete of their vehicle. This endangers everybody on the road and can even result in death in serious collisions.
How to Avoid: The best way to avoid driver fatigue is to get enough quality sleep before getting behind the wheel. Recognising the signs of drowsiness and fatigue can save someone’s life so pull over where safe if you start to feel tired.