Safe Cars and Safe Habits
When it comes avoiding an accident, you may feel the odds are stacked against you being in a big city like Atlanta. And well its true, half of all accidents in Georgia occur in Atlanta. At Walker Smith Body Shop in Snellville we would like to help you by sharing the safest car models on the market and some tips for safe driving. If you are in the market for a new car, we encourage you to read further!
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety the Safest Model Picks for 2014 are:
Small Cars:
Chevrolet Volt
Dodge Dart
Ford C Max Hybrid
Ford Focus
Moderate Sized Cars:
Cherolet Malibu
Chrysler 200
Dodge Avenger
Small SUVS:
Mazda CX 5
Mitsibushi Outlander
Nissan Rogue
Minivan:
Honda Odyssey (now with optional front crash protection)
Toyota Sienna (now with optional front crash protection)
The most deaths per 1 million models in 2011 was the Kia Rio, Nissan Versa Sedan, Hyundai Accent, Chevrolet Aveo, In fact a few weeks ago the NHTSA issued a statement that a new recall that affects certain model year 2012-2014 Ford Fiestas, all model year 2013 Ford Fusions and Lincoln MKZs, and certain model year 2014 Ford Fusions and Lincoln MKZs. The issue is that while driving a door latch could open unexpectedly.
The easiest way to insure a safe car choice would be to choose a highly rated safest model car from the IIHS list above. You may be asking what is the IIHS exactly, “The IIHS stands for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) is an independent, nonprofit scientific and educational organization dedicated to reducing the losses — deaths, injuries and property damage — from crashes on the nation’s roads.”
Another way to have a safe trip would be to practice safe driving and always drive defensively. According to the NHTSA, “there are more than 1,700 fatalities and 840,000 injuries yearly due to vehicle crashes off public highways”.
Safe driving is an attitude, an awareness of your behavior but even more importantly an awareness of other drivers. First is to be aware of distractions on your end. Cell phones are the biggest game out there. And be aware of other drivers obviously under the influence of their “smart phone”. They can be easy to spot, weaving or going slower than posted speeds. If you see this slow down or get away from them, because if everyone suddenly has to react to a dangerous situation the nearby cell distracted driver’s response time is dramatically reduced.
Another safe driving habit can be avoiding blind spots of other drivers. Big trucks have blind spots, but so do Toyota Corollas. The key is to be aware if you are hanging out in a blind area for an extended period of time, which honestly can be easy to do on 1-285.
A final safe driving habit is to give plenty of space. We get it, you are at a stoplight, and you just want to make it through the light. Following distance is important! How to correctly ascertain the proper distance first pick a non-moving marker, like a speed limit sign and then count off after the car in front of you passes it, one one thousand, two one thousand. You should be at least 3 full seconds behind the car in front you. That is a safe distance between cars on the road.
We hope these tips have helped because we love our customers and want them and their families to have a long and healthy life! Of course though, accidents happen and if they do give us a call for body shop repairs.