A lot of us take joy in long drives outside the city but at the same time, driving within the cities can be quite daunting. 

Thanks to the careless drivers who have made it their life’s mission to ruin everyone’s day with their reckless driving. 

But before we start cursing such drivers for their irresponsible behavior, we need to question and hold ourselves accountable for our own bad habits. 

Let’s have a look at the 5 common bad driving practices that we all need to drop.

Parking in No Parking Zone

We have all been in situations where we were either running late or feeling too tired to walk some distance after parking and ended up parking our vehicle in the no parking zone. 

Let’s face it, no matter how tempted you are to park your vehicle, if there is a board that says no parking then there is probably a good reason for it. 

Leaving your vehicle attended or unattended in such an area could cause serious traffic flow problems. 

So, until we get a futuristic portable vehicle that can pack itself and fit into our pocket with the click of a button, find the right parking space even if it is for “quick five minutes”. 

Speeding Through Yellow Light

We all hate stopping at that red light hanging above the intersections but it’s better to stop and stare at it than have it circling on the ambulance with you in it. 

Yellow light can be deceiving and can turn to red at any moment so you might think that you can make it but in reality it can prove out to be a death trap. 

If you’re late, you’re late, speeding through signals is not only going to endanger your life but you could seriously harm someone innocent on the road in your haste.

Turning Without Indicating 

When you’re driving on a highway, your basic instinct is to go straight which makes sense, until the vehicle in front of you suddenly decides that he or she needs to jump lanes and they do so without giving any indication. 

This is a common mistake, which can and has caused many accidents.

 The cars behind you are running at their own pace and any sudden turns or jumping lanes without indication can cause the vehicle behind you to crash into you. 

Zigzagging 

We all love a good action sequence in the movies and a car chase is its soul, but don’t let that get your head. 

The stunts that you see on screen are performed in controlled environments and are far from practical in real life. 

You might think that you are in full control of your vehicle sitting behind the wheel but that’s not the case and there are a thousand things, which could possibly go wrong when you are zooming through traffic on a busy road. 

So, unless you are a professional stunt driver hired to do a fast car chase sequence, stay in your lane and go easy on the paddle.

Using Cell Phone While Driving 

From opening YouTube for music, to texting your family and friends telling, you are on your way, there is never a good excuse to use cell phone while driving. According to an estimate, texting while driving causes 1,600,000 accidents worldwide each year and the risk of crashing while texting is about 6 times more than driving intoxicated. If it’s really important to attend a call or send a text, find a safe spot to stop your vehicle instead of doing it in the middle of the road at a highway speed. 

Your life is a gift and at Continental tyres Iraq, we care about you and your loved ones, which is why we strongly advise everyone to ensure their vehicle is fit for road and they are focused while driving.