As the year winds down our thoughts are turning to Christmas celebrations, Boxing Day sales, and New Year’s parties. With that in mind, we thought it important to highlight some of the ways to stay safe these holidays.
It goes without saying that speeding is one of the biggest factors in road accidents. It might be tempting to speed, especially if you’re running late for a party or celebration, but the data is clear that speeding is one of the leading causes of road accidents.
According to the NSW Centre for Road safety, speeding increases the time needed to react and avoid a crash. It also increases the distance required to stop safely. It also increases the severity of impacts. It also increases the likelihood of death or serious injury.
Arriving a few minutes late is a much better alternative to having a serious accident.
If you’re up late at a party or need to get up early to drive to a family, there’s a chance you could driving while fatigued. Fatigue is another major factor in road related accidents, ranging from 20-30% across Australian states.
What’s worse, most people aren’t aware of how fatigue can impact their driving ability. After being awake for 17 hours, you will be just as impaired as someone who had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05.
Don’t ignore the warning signs. Give yourself the time to rest, take a power nap, or share driving responsibility with others.
Christmas and New Year’s festivities often involve generous servings of alcohol. If you’re going to drive, it’s important to remember your limits. Both New Zealand and Australia have a BAC of .05, with even stricter restrictions for younger drivers. It’s important to know your limit, and if you think you might be over, catch an Uber or let someone else drive.
Christmas is often a time for shiny new gadgets. But while it may be tempting to play with the new smartwatch or tablet while driving, it isn’t worth the risk. This is because your ability react to dangerous situations decreases when your attention is split between driving and your new device.
Using a mobile phone while driving can be as dangerous as drink driving. Recent data suggests this number is even higher for smartwatches. One thing to keep in mind is that when travelling at 60km/h, you’ll travel 33 meters if you take your eyes of the road for just two seconds. If you're driving, make sure you put your new devices away; any messages or alerts can wait until you're safely at your destination. And if the message is urgent, find a safe place to pull over so you can safely divert your attention away from the road.
While our attention is turning towards the holidays, it’s also important to prepare for 2023. In these last few weeks, don’t forget to take care of your fleet. The last you want is to have to deal with flat batteries when you return to work in the new year. Check out what you can do to prepare your fleet for the summer holidays and ensure that everything is ready when you come back in 2023. Check it out here:
At the end of the day, we all want to get to where we’re going safely. Especially after the chaos of the past two years, celebrating these holidays with family and friends is going to be even more special. From the entire Smartrak team, we hope you stay safe on the roads. We’ll see you in 2023.
