Do you often drive through residential areas? Even if your daily commute is mostly urban streets or crowded highways, Halloween is coming up, which means you might find yourself navigating suburban streets. Toyota of N Charlotte is here with safe driving tips for residential areas to help you get to your final destination safe and stress-free, so take a closer look!
Adjust your safe driving habits in residential areas
The thing to remember about residential areas is that there’s a lot of foot traffic and speed limits are typically lower than what you might be used to. This requires that you adjust your safe driving habits, so check out our top N Charlotte Toyota tips for doing just that:
Slow down. You should always observe the speed limit in a residential neighborhood; it’s set for a reason. Like we said, there’s more foot traffic, joggers, pets, and kids around, and they may not necessarily follow pedestrian safety rules. Traveling at the speed dictated will help ensure you have enough reaction time to come to a sudden stop if need be.
Pay attention to road signs. There are more stop signs in residential areas, as well as other signs (like school zones, yield to pedestrian signs, etc.) that you’ll need to heed when you’re behind the wheel of your car. Our N Charlotte Toyota dealership recommends brushing up on what road signs mean, and then keeping your eyes peeled for them as you traverse the area so you can adjust your driving habits accordingly.
Stop with the distractions. This means no texting, eating, grooming, playing with your phone or the radio, or engaging in any other type of behavior that takes your eyes off the road and your hands off the wheel. Put your phone out of sight, and if you need to make a phone call use the Bluetooth technology found in so many of our new Toyota cars near Charlotte. Distracted driving ups your chances of a collision or accident in a big, big way!
Toyota of N Charlotte has tips for defensive driving
Use your defensive driving skills. This element of N Charlotte Toyota road safety means being ready for anything, and anticipating things before they happen! It requires that you pay attention to the road so you can act instead of react and hopefully avoid a catastrophe. Leave enough distance between you and other cars, go the speed limit, keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel, and always come to a complete stop and check the crosswalks at stop signs before proceeding!
A few more tips? Be sure to use your headlights at night, use your turn signals to indicate your movements, and always yield to pedestrians, even if you don’t think they have the right of way!
Want more safe driving tips from our N Charlotte Toyota team? Give us a call today – we’re ready and waiting for you at (888) 883-3797!
