Atlanta has millions of people living in and around it. It’s a major metropolitan area. Many of them have cars and licenses to legally operate motor vehicles.
Atlanta saw over 28K car wrecks in 2023, which shows that it’s dangerous for motorists. However, you should understand that certain factors impact these accidents.
We’ll discuss some of them now. If you find you sometimes engage in some of the activities we’re mentioning in this article, you must change your ways to keep yourself and other drivers safe.
Speeding
If you keep to the speed limit, you’ll never get in trouble with the cops, at least not for that reason. You also make it likelier that you can keep control of your vehicle in various road and highway situations.
When you speed, whether that’s on one of the highways in the Atlanta area or on local roads, you make it easier to lose control of the vehicle. Maybe you tend to speed because you often leave the house at the last minute.
If that’s true, then you need to practice setting your alarm and getting on the road earlier. That way, you won’t feel you have to rush in order to get where you’re going on time.
You also shouldn’t speed just because you want to test how fast your car can go. Just because the speedometer says that your vehicle can go up to 160 miles per hour, that doesn’t mean you should do it.
Consuming Alcohol Before Driving
Just about every individual in the Atlanta area who becomes a licensed driver knows that you’re not supposed to drink alcohol before you drive. You probably learned about that in driving school, and likely you’re seen commercials on TV that warn against it as well.
However, if you’re drinking at a bar or a friend’s house, and you know that you’re not far from home, you might feel like you can make it back, even if you’re over the legal limit. Maybe you think that since you’re a good driver, you can just take things nice and slow, and you’ll get back home without incident.
It might work out that way, but it may not. Even if you exercise caution while driving drunk, you might still make a mistake that you wouldn’t if you hadn’t consumed any alcohol.
If you drink, then see if you can get a friend to give you a lift home. If no one can, then call for an Uber instead. You can come back and retrieve your car later.
Driving While Fatigued
You might also cause an accident in the Atlanta area if you drive when you’re feeling fatigued. Maybe you’re putting in a lot of hours at work these days. Perhaps you have a new baby in the family, and you’re missing some sleep because they keep waking up during the night.
No matter what you have going on, you need to try to avoid driving when you’re practically asleep on your feet. Sometimes, you have no choice but to drive. If you do so when you’re feeling fatigue, though, you can at least do what you can to wake yourself up.
You can drive with the window open so that some fresh air gets into the car. You might drink a cup of coffee or chug an energy drink before you get behind the wheel.
You may also put on some up-tempo music that you know will stimulate you. If you feel like you’re in danger of falling asleep at the wheel, do whatever you can to make sure you’re fully awake and focusing on the road ahead and the other drivers and pedestrians around you.
Road Rage Incidents
Some individuals in and around the Atlanta area cause accidents due to road rage. You have probably seen this kind of behavior before from your fellow drivers at some point.
Maybe you have a driver who’s speeding and aggressively changing lanes on the highway. If they’re behind a slower driver in the fast lane, maybe they start honking their horn or flashing their lights at them.
You never know why a person might act this way. Maybe their boss just fired them or they had an argument with a family member. Perhaps there’s something else going on that put them in a destructive mental state.
If you feel upset about something, though, don’t ever take it out on the road with you. Take some cleansing breaths before you start the engine.
If you need to, start meditating. You can download free meditation apps on your smartphone. By doing some deep breathing for just a few minutes each day, you should notice your blood pressure go down. You can drive defensively and not worry about causing an accident due to your aggressive driving behavior.
Tailgating
Tailgating sometimes belongs in the aggressive driving category, but not necessarily. If you see someone doing this in Atlanta, you will know they could cause a crash at any moment.
Tailgating, if you’re unfamiliar, means you’re driving right behind someone and riding their rear bumper. Normally, you should keep at least three car lengths between your vehicle and the one ahead of you. That way, if the other driver has to stop suddenly, you can press down on the brakes in plenty of time, and you won’t hit them.
If you tailgate, though, the driver ahead of you might brake check you. That means they will press down on the brakes suddenly. That’s ill advised, since you might hit them, but some people do this if they have someone tailgating them and they don’t like the behavior.
If you see an accident in or around the Atlanta area, it’s likely someone engaged in one of these activities, or more than one. It’s up to every driver to monitor their own behavior while they’re behind the wheel. By driving defensively and obeying traffic laws, you usually ensure that you’ll get home safely.
