It doesn\u2019t matter if you have a hands-free setup for phone calls on the road \u2013 having a conversation while driving is a distraction with a direct negative impact on your driving skills, and every distraction is a step towards disaster. Texting is even worse, even if you\u2019re using speech-to-text, and puts you in almost as much danger as driving under the influence.<\/p>\n 2. Misplaced Concentration<\/strong><\/p>\n Huge collisions aren\u2019t always caused by huge mistakes \u2013 sometimes, just taking your eyes off of the road for a moment can have devastating consequences, especially if you\u2019re unfamiliar with your surrounds. Glance at road signs, but keep your eyes on the road ahead at all times.<\/p>\n 3. Got Maintenance?<\/strong><\/p>\n Many drivers don\u2019t even know how to properly maintain their vehicle, and even more simply neglect their car\u2019s maintenance needs. This can cause irreversible damage to your vehicle\u2019s most important systems, but it can also lower your odds of avoiding or surviving a collision. Keeping your tires properly inflated at all times is extremely important for both of these reasons, but changing out your vehicle\u2019s oil and transmission fluid per the maintenance guidelines in your car\u2019s owner\u2019s manual are crucial to keeping your car running.<\/p>\n The best maintenance you can perform is keeping up with your car insurance, so save some money with a cheap car insurance policy from Cost-U-Less.<\/p>\n 4. Accelerating, Braking, and You<\/strong><\/p>\n Changing your most deeply-rooted driving habits is no small task, but it might help to start paying more attention to how aggressively you accelerate and brake. You\u2019re likely wasting gas by accelerating too much and using your brake more than you really need it \u2013 if you find yourself coming to sharp stops, try making a slower approach, for instance. Drive like there\u2019s an egg between your foot and the pedal to ease this bad habit away.<\/p>\n 5. Mixed Signals<\/strong><\/p>\n If you announce your intention to turn by signaling but suddenly realize you\u2019re at the wrong exit, what should you do? The experts say to take the turn anyway in case a less courteous driver attempts to overtake your car before you correct your own mistake. If you\u2019re driving through unfamiliar territory, it\u2019s always a good idea to get to know your route beforehand.<\/p>\n Not sure where to go from here? Looking for more \u201csafe driving tips\u201d to help you launch forward into 2016? Let us know in the comments section below to join the discussion, and call, click, or visit Cost-U-Less<\/a> today for everything from the basic liability insurance<\/a> to full coverage and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever had to make an auto insurance claim? All drivers dread the day that they\u2019ll need to make a claim, due in no small part to how many mistakes \u201cother drivers\u201d make. A good driver will always do what they believe is best, but even a good driver is probably making some sizable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[697,712],"tags":[264,434,533],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3677"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/iStock_000062050206_Small.jpg\")
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