Ways to improve your driving performance and road safety include:
- Drive at a safe speed: Speeding is a major contributing factor in serious and fatal crashes.
- Do not drive faster than the speed limit.
- Reduce your speed when road and weather conditions deteriorate, and while driving in heavy traffic.
- If you see emergency services, incident response or a broken down vehicle at the roadside, move over and slow down to provide a safe space.
- Avoid driving when tired: Fatigue and sleepiness increase the risk of incidents and affect driver performance and judgment.
- Plan your journey.
- Take a 15-minute break every 2 hours and avoid driving for long distances after a full day of work.
- Wear a seatbelt: Drivers and passengers are around 9 times more likely to be killed in a road crash if they are not wearing a seatbelt. The driver of a vehicle is responsible for the proper restraint of all passengers.
- Avoid distractions: Driver distraction and inattention are major causes of crashes.
- A safe driver concentrates only on driving and stay alert when behind the wheel.
- Resist the temptation to focus on technological and other distractions both inside and outside the vehicle such as mobile phone use, wearing headphones, adjusting the car stereo, eating while driving or attention-grabbing distractions external to the vehicle (e.g. roadside advertising signage or a roadside vehicle incident).
- Maintain the vehicle: A well-maintained vehicle is safer and reduces whole-of-life operating costs.
- Complete the vehicle maintenance requirements as per the vehicle owner's handbook.
- Service the vehicle on time and make sure vehicle repairs are completed as soon as possible.
- Being familiar with the vehicle: An unfamiliar vehicle may pose a safety risk.
- Take time to familiarise yourself with the vehicle’s features prior to driving rather than during the journey.
- Consult the vehicle owner's handbook or request vehicle induction training.
- Park and reverse safely: Drivers should take care and look for obstacles when parking and reversing.
- Before reversing out of a parking space, as you approach the vehicle, walk around it and check for obstacles.
- While reversing, check the vehicle’s reversing cameras and listen to the vehicle’s audible warnings when reversing. If you have a passenger with you, ask the passenger to act as a 'spotter' to guide you during parking and reversing manoeuvres.
- Maintain a safe following distance: Nose-to-tail crashes often occur as a result of driver distraction, or not allowing enough stopping distance between your vehicle and the vehicle in front.
- Be aware of the distance required to safely stop your vehicle and maintain a safe following distance.
- Increase your safety gap if conditions deteriorate.
- Leave a following distance of at least 2–4 seconds between you and the vehicle in front. Driving safely also optimises a vehicle’s environmental performance
- Avoid road rage: Road rage is an increasing issue, particularly as roads become congested with more traffic.
- Be aware of the influence of your emotions on your driving, be courteous to other drivers and accept drivers make mistakes.
- Manage your emotions at all times while driving and avoid retaliation.
- Health and wellbeing: Consider your health and wellbeing and determine if you are fit to drive as part of your journey planning. There are a range of factors that may impact upon your health and wellbeing to drive. These can include medication, sleep quality and tiredness, emotion and stress, and alcohol consumption. If you are unfit to drive, don’t drive.