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Texas Defensive Driving Tip

Dealing With Hazzards While Driving

Ninety percent of your driving is done with your vision and the sun can be blinding.  Wear sunglasses to protect your eyes and clear your vision.  When in fog, rain, snow, dust or smoke, use your low-beam lights.  Do not use your high beam lights.  The reflection of high beam lights in bad weather can reflect and blind the driver.

Wet weather can use your car to hydroplane.  Hydroplaning occurs during wet road conditions when a vehicle’s tires drive on top of the water on the road rather than the road surface.  This gives the vehicle limited traction and can result in accidents.

To avoid hydroplaning, you should:

1. Slow down by releasing the accelerator.  Do not slam on the brakes.
2. Slowly brake after tires hit the road surface.
3. Steer in the direction you want to go

Good tire tread and inflation also helps prevent hydroplaning.

When other hazards include other vehicles or pedestrians, you should separate the hazards as best you can to improve your own driving conditions.  The best thing you can do to deal with a hazard is to get out of its way.  This works especially well if you're being tailgated or another vehicle is changing lanes frequently and erratically.

Keeping yourself aware of hazardous conditions is an important factor to stay  alive while driving, take a driving safety class from places like Comedy Driving Inc. to learn more about safety on the roadways.