Part of being safe on the highways means paying attention to which roads are the most dangerous and trying to avoid them when possible. If you happen to live in Dallas County, I 635 is one of the most dangerous roads in your immediate vicinity. Other roads can be equally dangerous, however. Depending upon the drivers around you, their state of mind and the driving conditions themselves, any driving route can be particularly dangerous.
Heavy Traffic
The single most dangerous road in Texas, I 45 in Harris County, is dangerous specifically because of the tremendous amount of traffic that passes over it every day. When you’re driving around Dallas, they are obviously times and days when traffic tends to be extremely heavy. In the morning, when people are commuting to work, there are a great many vehicles on the road and many of them are being driven by people who are in far too much of a rush for their own good, or for the good of anyone around them, for that matter.
Driving too fast in heavy traffic is one of the most dangerous driving situations imaginable. Do not be afraid to slow down when traffic becomes thick. Remember that the speed limits are determined by calculating the safest possible speed for the route in question. When traffic is very thick, however, the safest possible speed for any route may decrease significantly. Be aware of when there is a situation that requires you to slow down and take it easy on the speed.
Dusk and Dawn
The danger with driving at dusk and dawn comes from two major factors. First, the sun tends to be low in the sky, which means that many drivers are driving with compromised vision. Second, the light tends to change faster than people’s eyes adapt to it. In fact, when people actually want to maximize their night vision, they usually have to sit still for at least a half an hour to allow their eyes to fully adjust. Around dusk and dawn, the lighting conditions are variable enough that many people are simply not seeing as well as they should.
Be aware of when you are in a dangerous driving situation and take appropriate actions to keep yourself safe. The best kind of actions are those that give you more time to react to a hazard and that allow you to more easily identify hazards on the road before you reach them.
