Keep Car Insurance Low with Summer Safe Driving Tips

Summer and the summer driving season officially kicked off this week. With more hours of daylight and warm weather, it seems counterintuitive that summer not dark, dreary winter is the deadliest driving season. Even more surprising, the Fourth of July, not New Year’s Eve, almost always tops the holiday fatal car crash list. Perhaps not as surprising, alcohol has been involved in nearly 51% of all fatal July 4^th auto accidents for the past 25 years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Since any car accident can drive up your auto insurance premiums, here are some summer safe driving tips for the Fourth of July weekend that can help keep you alive and keep your car insurance costs low.

• You know you’re not supposed to drink and drive, but take care not to be the passenger of a drunk driver, either. If your ride has been over-served, find another, safer way home.
• If you see a drunk driver on the road, call the cops. Your car insurance rates are affected by every driver’s behavior, so get that drunk off the road before he or she does any damage.
• Wear your seat belt and make sure everyone else in your vehicle does, too.
• Drive with your lights on, even during daylight hours. It will help make you more visible to distracted drivers.
• Before heading out for a long road trip, have your car checked out for battery power, brakes, functioning head, tail and turn indicator lights, horn, hoses, wiper blades and fluid levels. Plenty of car accidents happen to people who are pulled off the road with a mal-functioning vehicle.
• Plan your route before you leave so you can focus on driving instead of navigation.
• Don’t speed. No brainer, but the police are out in force during the July Fourth weekend and a speeding ticket is a sure-fire way to lose your cheap car insurance to excess points.
• Make sure your car insurance policy is up to date and carry your proof of insurance card. Almost every state requires that you produce this if you are pulled over.
• Take extra care on rural roads. Believe it or not, six out of every 10 automobile fatalities happen on rural roadways, according to the University of Minnesota’s Center for Excellence in Rural Safety.

Don’t forget these summer safe driving tips and happy driving. Shop for auto insurance quotes online from top rated insurance companies.