How to drive on secondary roads
Secondary roads are more dangerous than highways because the road surfaces usually are in worse condition and can be old. Other factors are that the roads in the mountains often consist of narrow lanes and include sharp curves; they allow only poor visibility or the driver need to enter the opposite lane in order to overtake another vehicle.
In ALD Automotive we collected useful tips on how to drive on secondary roads safely:
- Drive close to the right line. This will give better visibility to other drivers and will allow you to pass more safely those coming from the opposite direction.
- Maintain the correct safety distance – the reasonable distance from the vehicles in front of ours allows us to react accordingly to sudden or unforeseen braking and facilitates the vehicles that are overtaking.
- Use well the lights during the day. This will give better visibility of your vehicle for other drivers, especially on mountain sections or roads with a lot of plants on the side of the road. In general, visibility on secondary roads is lower than on other types of roads, so it is advisable for the driver to check that the entire lighting system is working properly before starting the journey.
- Drive with caution. It will be essential that the driver is totally sure of the maneuver that he is going to perform before initiating an overtaking – carefully analyze the distance, the time and the speed.
- Look far ahead to plan maneuvers. This will allow you as a driver to understand if you have time to perform an action, as well as to slow down when a curve arrives, will alarm you on the presence of pedestrians or cyclists.
- Be careful with animals, cyclists or pedestrians. It is quite common to find secondary roads with signs indicating the presence of wild animals; so it is advisable to slow down, drive with more attention and maintain the appropriate lateral distance.
At the end, it is important to emphasize that there are certain rules, common to all types of roads, which it will be essential to comply with to ensure safety on the roads, such as not consuming alcohol or drugs, correctly using the seat belt by all occupants and traveling rested and calm.
In this way, we will increase our security when making any type of travel by car and we will avoid possible sanctions.
At ALD Automotive, we are always ready to support you in developing your corporate fleet.
Feel welcome to contact us!