Public roads are said to be more dangerous and difficult than running on the circuit. On public roads, other than the gaps between driver`s level, there are lots of dangerous things to be careful of when in situations such as, going through other cars and intersections, and stopping at traffic signals.
In this article, we will introduce you the tips on how to handle such situations, so that you can drive through them smoothly.
Tips on Turning Right / Left
There are many intersections in public roads, so there are times that we need to make a turn. Therefore, accidents at an intersection is pretty frequent.
In order to avoid such accidents, let us overcome the weak consciousness when making turns, and make ourselves able to cope in those situations. The tips that we are giving are for left-sided traffic.
Right Turn
There are quite a lot of drivers who are struggling at turning right, especially at the intersection.
The reason is that when you have to turn right, other than incoming opposite cars,you also need to watch out for pedestrian and bicycles as well.
- Turn on the turn signal / winker earlier
- Make the car parallel to the center line
- Check the direction of when turning right in the order of: pedestrian, bicycle, incoming vehicles
- Turn right inside the center of the intersection
- And most importantly, do not rush or panic
By turning on the turn signal and notifying the cars behind earlier, you can avoid rear-end collision.
Putting the car parallel to the center line is also one way to avoid collision with the car behind.
In some cases, there are drivers who want to take a quick turn, so they set their cars diagonally in the intersection.
When this happens, rear part of the car will block out a part of the lane in which other cars are running on.
As a result, if there is a collision between your car and another car on the lane, your car will jump out to the opposite lane and there is a possibility for you to hit the incoming opposite car, thus creating a big accident.
Another thing to check is the crossing path for pedestrians.
As you are going to cross both cars and pedestrians, you have to prioritize the pedestrians since they are the most vulnerable to accidents. Do not intervene their paths and make sure there is no risk of accident when you are passing through.
Speeding up and making shortcuts so that you could cross in between pedestrians are very dangerous things to do. There is a chance of collision with other cars standing by on the traffic lights, and when you over speed the car, you will not be able to react to pedestrians that rush into the crossing.
Turning right inside the center of the intersection will make you do a long detour, but by doing so, you will be able to advance smoothly with no problem. You need to check many things when you make a right turn, so calm down and don`t panic when you do so.
Left Turn
Turning left in a left-hand traffic sounds much easier since you don`t have to think about the incoming opposite cars.
However, you also need to pay attention to the bikes or bicycles that are running on the left side of the road.
If you turn left without checking your left side, it could cause a life-threatening accident.
- Turn on the turn signal / winker earlier.
- Check the left side mirror for passing bikes or bicycles
- Keep to the left until the bikes and bicycles stop passing through
- Turn the steering wheel to the left when your shoulder aligns with the corner
By turning on the turn signal on earlier, the bikes or bicycles will notice that you are going to turn, so it will reduce the chances of accident to happen.
Next step would be checking your left side mirror for incoming bikes or bicycles.
As soon as there is no one left on the left side, keep your car to the left side of the lane until it is not possible for the bikes or bicycles to pass through. The distance between your car and the left side of the road should be around 50 cm.
If you are able to do the previous steps, now you can turn left when your shoulder aligns with the corner of the road and don`t forget to check for crossing pedestrians. The mentioned turn timing is for normal sedan car, so let`s check your own timing if you have a different car.
Tips on Bend Driving
Bend road is a road that is composed of continuous left and right turns, and usually it is found in residential areas and mountains. This type of road tends to be difficult to pass through if the driver is still a beginner.
- First positioning is important
- Turn the steering wheel all at once
- Pay attention to the speed
We will explain thoroughly in steps, and these steps only applicable for normal sedan cars.
- At first, bring the car to the left side of the road and make a space on the right side.
- Adjust the speed of the car at about 5 km/h or slightly higher. If the speed is too fast, it will be too late to turn the steering wheel and you might hit some off-road obstacles. Let`s pay more attention to the speed.
- Turn the steering wheel all the way to the right when the right corner is next to your body. Note that unless you turn the steering wheel more than enough, you will not be able to turn at the right angle. So turn it as much as possible until your car follows the lane.
- Turn back the steering wheel to normal after you pass the first bend.
- The next bend will be to the left, so bring the car body to the right side of the road and make a space on the left side.
- Repeat step 1 to 5, but this time the other way around.
Tips on Lane Change
Lane change has always been every driver`s hard moment while driving since it is difficult to grasp the timing and sometimes we predicted wrongly on where the car next to us is.
Here is our list of tips for better lane change:
Utilizing the Mirrors
To change lane, it is better to make the best use of the side and other mirrors of the car.
There are some situations that you need to use your own eyes to check the back, but it is better to use just the mirrors since it is dangerous to face the back while driving.
An easy way to know the distance between your car and the car that is running on your objective lane is to use the room mirror or the rear-view mirror. If you can see half or more of the car, that means you have enough distance to make a lane change.
Next, check the car running on your objective lane using the side mirrors. As the final check, look directly at the direction that you are going to and check the blind spots. If there is no car nearby, then you can start to change the car`s lane.
Never Slow Down
Drivers tend to slow down their cars unconsciously while they are checking the mirrors.
It is true that it is safe to slow down, but it could do the opposite instead. If you don`t drive according to the flow and do a sudden brake, it could cause a collision with the car behind.
And also, as you slow down, the flow of the lane that you are currently in becomes slower than the lane that you want to go to, hence you won`t be able to do a lane change anymore.
Let`s keep the speed constant at all times.
Lane Change Timing
When we are changing lanes, we always think of going into the lane before the next car passes you.
But in fact, for a smoother lane change, it is better to think of going into the lane after the next car passes you, since it will not cost you too much speed.
