The Big Peach is a nightmare from Halloween night through to the days following New Year’s. That means that you have nearly two and a half months full of heavy traffic, angry drivers, and even drunk drivers. The accidents and injuries that happen during these times can affect families and people individually for the entirety of the year. Don’t worry, these tips for handling holiday traffic can help you make safer choices for you and your family. Hopefully, you’ll get through the holiday season unscathed! However, if you do get into an accident this holiday season, make sure to call an Atlanta car crash attorney right away.
Have Your Car Checked for Everything
One of the best ways to avoid accidents of any kind is to head over to a mechanic. Get an oil change and have them check your car for any possible issues. Of course, you should always choose a mechanic you trust. But it’s important that you focus on much more than just what other people are doing on the road.
Your car could cause trouble for you while you’re driving. You don’t want to deal with a troublesome repair roadside in the winter.
Check Your Routes First
Apps like Waze can help you anticipate traffic before you leave. But they also allow you to look at your options for taking different routes as you’re going. Checking your route before you leave will allow you to drive proactively and intentionally. Meaning that if you know there were accidents on the road when you left, you might have a bit more caution through that area.
Practice Common Courtesy – Even When They Don’t Deserve It
Things like waving someone on, moving over to another lane, or waving a thank-you to someone who feels that they did a whole lot by letting you go. These are all common courtesy, but so many forget that the purpose is to express thanks.
Now, doing this in the midst of traffic can clear up some feelings that you and the other driver next to you might have. Is this passive driving? Yes, it’s passive driving at its finest. But aggressive drivers are at their most dangerous when traffic is heavy.
When cars aren’t moving, aggressive drivers get anxious. If you’re typically an assertive driver, then use this opportunity to relax, and let someone else go ahead. It’s not something that assertive drivers often do, so it’s completely reasonable to take advantage of traffic to allow someone else to move when you’re going to be stuck there anyways.
Allow for “Zipper” Issues
Zippering is something that every driver should know, but in trying times, people forget or ignore the concept. When you’re near an onramp or lane that merges over, give some allowance. If someone pulls forward and refuses to “zipper” properly, take a breath instead of laying into your horn.
It’s likely that the person that forged ahead to cut you off knows exactly what they did. So your laying into the horn won’t do anything. Also, when you take revenge against the driver who was in the wrong, you’re in the perfect position to absorb all the fault for a crash. Hitting someone from behind is exceptionally difficult to negotiate. Sometimes you just need to let the zipper issues go.
Pull Over
You have places to go and things to do, but there’s nothing you can do when Atlanta is in a gridlock. In fact, sometimes it’s best to just get out of the traffic. That may not always seem ideal, but if you’re not moving anywhere, then you’re not really losing much time. Pullover and grab a coffee or snack. This tip works exceptionally well with kids that can get antsy sitting in the same spot for too long.
Give it a chance, and if you believe that traffic could possibly be bad, account for a stop in your timing. Plan out the possibility of having to pull over for twenty minutes to wait out the worst of the traffic.
Contact an Atlanta Car Crash Attorney
Not only can an Atlanta car crash attorney help you close up an open insurance claim quickly, but they’ll help you fight for the compensation that you deserve. Too often, insurance companies get away with not having to pay out what you need. Don’t let it happen this year. Contact one of the top-rated injury firms in Georgia and start pushing for full compensation.
After a crash, particularly during the holidays, it can seem like accepting a settlement quickly is more important than getting everything you deserve. You need someone to cover the damages and your medical bills. Don’t let medical bills be the first thing to greet you in the New Year.
