7 Highway Driving Tips For New Drivers
Jake Anderson is a car mechanic and author for Driversadvice. His love for cars made him pursue a career as a car mechanic, but his writing career hasn’t suffered either. In his free time, Jake loves to spend time at car races and restore old classic cars.
Driving first time on a highway is scary. That is why new drivers like to spend their beginnings on the local roads until they gain enough experience. And we cannot blame them. We all have been there. But, once when they master it, they will realize that highway is even easier to navigate. You just have to stay calm.
To make a smooth and safe transition to highways, we have gathered a list of 7 useful highway driving tips that new drivers should consider. Let’s take a look.
1. Always signal
Signals are important whether you are driving on a local road or highway. You cannot rely on your instincts to figure out what other drivers intend to do. Instead, remember to use blinkers to communicate with them, so they know what they are doing.
2. Pick the right time
If you are a beginner, you don’t want to start your highway journey during rush hours. Instead, choose a time later in the evening or on weekends, when there won’t be much traffic. This way, you will feel more comfortable and learn how to drive on the highway.Be careful about lane changes.
3. Be careful about the lane changes
If you use your signals correctly, you will not have problems with lane changes. You should keep a safe distance between your car and others and use a blinker to let others know you are about to move into the next lane. Remember to always look behind you – check your mirrors and be careful about blind spots.
4. Keep the right lane
The right lane is for slower traffic and you should keep to it until you become more secure. The left lane is designated for passing. The middle and right lanes are for driving. Later, when you become secure and ready, move into the middle lane and use the left lane to pass slower cars in front of you.
5. Pay attention to your surroundings
Make sure to pay close attention to cars in your surrounding. The highway speed and unpredictability demand you to have a broader viewpoint. You should look farther down the road and into the rear-view to see what other vehicles are doing around you. The speed is unpredictable. Remember it.
Anything can happen in short period of time on the highway. Do not look only at the car in front of you. Keep your head on a swivel, and adjust your observation point continually.
6. Think about entering and exiting
One of the scariest things is entering and exiting the highway. Yeah, we know, we all thought the same. When entering the highway you want to get up to the same speed as others, so make sure to use signals and find the right gap in which you can switch lanes and enter the highway. When exiting, also make sure to use signals and slowly low your speed.
7. Stay focused and don’t be nervous
Stay focused on the road. Do not look into your phone. Everything can wait and if you reply to that text message when you come to your desired destination, it’s not a big deal. Only life matters. Keep in mind that teens and newer drivers have the highest proportion of distraction-related fatal crashes.
Also, don’t be nervous. The highway may seem scary, but once when you master it, you will enjoy driving your lovely car on it.
Conclusion
Yes, highway may be scary, but you will eventually love it. Those tips for new drivers are something we all wish we had in front of us before we first enter the highway. Now, you have them. Read and memorize those lines. You will thank us one day, we know! Happy highway riding!
