Driving in the Bay Area can be a bit different than driving elsewhere. The landscape in which you have to drive on when driving in the Bay Area is the biggest thing responsible for the slight differences in driving. If you are not used to driving here, it may be difficult to navigate the roads. Here are our top safety tips to know when getting behind the wheel in the Bay Area.
Keep Your Headlights On
In the Bay Area, the weather can tend to be quite gloomy and overcast. When this happens, visibility can be quite low, and it is imperative that you keep the headlights of your car on. This guarantees that even with low visibility levels, you allow yourself to be visible to those you share the road with, being other drivers, cyclists, and nearby pedestrians. Your headlights on at all times will also help you to see others. Make sure that you do not use your high beams when driving with others on the road as you may affect the vision of other drivers and temporarily blind them.
Do Not Rely on Cruise Control
While cruise control can often be a very helpful tool to use when driving at a consistent speed on a relatively flat road, it can sometimes put you and others at risk. Similar to the headlights rule, because of the weather in the area, cruise control can get risky. The Bay Area sees heavy rainfall often and this can cause problems for cruise control, as it could cause you to hydroplane. When it is raining, it is important to be very attentive when behind the wheel.
Keep a Safe Distance
This is a rule you should follow generally wherever you drive. However, again due to the weather, you definitely want to follow it when on the road in the Bay. When the roads are wet, your braking time increases. By keeping a large, safe distance you lower the risk of an accident, especially a multi car pileup, which is more common in wet weather conditions.
Pay Attention and Limit Distractions
This is another general rule of driving, but we want to just emphasize it once again for Bay Area driving. It is easy to look away or distract yourself from truly focusing on the road, and that is what causes any accident, but it especially puts you at risk when the roads are slick and visibility levels are low. Do not put yourself or others on the road at risk because of a minor distraction.
