subject: 3 Tips For Big City Driving [print this page] Being an insurance professional in Houston, Tx I see lots of cars and lots of accidents. In the insurance world that means lots of claims and higher premiums. I'm a consumer first because I have to drive on the same roads that everyone else does on the way to my office, so I decided it is a good idea to give out a few tips on driving in a big city like Houston even if you are in a smaller one. Let's face it none of us like dealing with claims. I don't care if you have the greatest agent at the greatest insurance company in the world, it's going to be inconvenient to some extent. Some stuff we just can't avoid, but for the things we control, let's do a good job at controlling them. Trust me I have had my share of speeding tickets....before I became an agent of course...I would never speed now....right? Anyway, seeing that I have had speeding tickets and have many clients who have their share as well as accidents I have a few observations to offer.
Smart Cell Phone Usage. In this day and age it is not realistic to ask people not to use their cell phones while driving. So instead of me doing that I will offer smart cell phone tips. If you must speak to someone while driving attempt to always use a hands-free headset. You are alot more likely to stay alert to whats going on around you if you don't have the phone pinned to your ear with your head cocked to the side. Also you are more likely to be aware of your speed while talking hands free. We all have seen and been extremely irritated by that person poking 35 mph in the fast lane on the freeway, and when you finally get around them you see that they probably don't have a good handle on driving without the phone up their ear but of course that's what they are doing. Talking on the cell phone with that scared/concentrated unsure look on their face while successfully impeding the flow of traffic. Don't be that person please. And unless you have Siri on your iPhone 4s like I do.....ABSOLUTELY NO TEXTING! I can say the same story as before about someone looking at their phone and driving while impeding the flow of traffic, but I'll give you a story that flows a little deeper. Just last year in this exact month of July I was on my way home from a family reunion. Me and my pregnant wife stopped to get gas at the Shell station for trip and as I'm pumping my gas....SMASH. Right in front of us their was a couple stopped with their blinker on attempting to turn into the gas station when a young guy in a big pickup truck smashes them and pushed them at least 30 feet forward into a small ditch. When I say smash I mean SMASH. The kid never slowed down at all. He instantly hops out of his truck...you guessed it cell phone in hand. We run over to attempt to get the people out of the vehicle but the car is so mangled that we had no such luck on the drivers side. Unfortunately as soon as I got to the drivers side it was obvious to me that the woman driving was already deceased anyway. We were able to get her husband out of the passenger side although he was very badly injured as well. I'm not sure if the guy died or not later but I know that kid wherever he is today really wishes he would have been looking at the road instead of his phone that day. It's a really sad story, but I just really wanted to stress the seriousness of the matter.
Drive For Others. Okay many people might wonder exactly what that statement means. I will explain it to you right now. ASSUME that all the people around you are idiots and have no idea how to operate a motor vehicle. Now I'll explain a little deeper. We are taught how to merge when we learn how to drive...assume the other guy forgot how. We know just as I spoke about in the paragraph above we should pay attention to the road instead of texting....assume the other guy is texting anyway. We know women should pay attention to the road instead of apply their makeup....assume she woke up really late and she had to just this one time today. Basically to sum up what I mean, Stay very alert and be ready for anything while driving in a big city.
Give Yourself Time. This tip is simple enough and is something that I myself had to take note of. For some reason I just used to always feel rushed while on the road. Driving here in Houston if you don't give yourself time you will always feel rushed. Their is traffic and traffic and...you get it. So many people with so many different driving styles will warrant traffic every time. Whether it be due to an accident or just someone deciding they wanna take a Sunday drive on Wednesday. When you feel rushed you are more likely to make risky decisions while driving. Risky decisions can be bad decisions in the wrong situation. Also if you feel rushed and their is no traffic you will almost always speed. Speeding can lead to tickets, which lead to higher insurance premiums, which lead to unhappy pockets. Also speeding can give the probability of you have an accident a boost.
