How To Prevent Car Accidents With Routine Maintenance

As an owner of a vehicle, you are responsible for many types of routine maintenance to ensure your vehicle is safe and road worthy. But you can also prevent certain accidents from happening with a little extra routine maintenance and preventative care. By taking some extra time before hitting the road, you could potentially spare yourself from the pain, injury, and costs associated with causing an accident.

This article will explain some of the ways you could prevent an accident by keeping up with routine maintenance on your vehicles. If you do find yourself in an accident, the attorneys at The Law Offices of Samer Habbas & Associates, PC can help you receive the compensation you deserve for your injuries. You can set up a free, no-risk confidential consultation today by calling 888-848-5084 or contacting us online.

1 – Clean Your Headlights

Many of us find ourselves routinely driving at night and using our headlights to help us see where we are going and to see what is happening around our moving vehicle. If these headlights become damaged or difficult to see out of, they can impair your vision and cause a car accident.

Car manufacturers usually apply a plastic protective film to the outside of your headlight lenses. This film helps to protect the headlights from small debris on the roadway or from getting scratched when the car is in a parking lot. As the car ages and is exposed to UV rays, this protective film may get damaged and become yellow or have a foggy appearance. Yellowing of the film may also cause your headlights to appear dimmer resulting in decreased range of vision in the evening hours.

2 – Check Your Tires

Tires can withstand a lot of wear over the years. But, if your vehicle sits for months at a time or is driven more than the average car, you will need to check your tires more frequently. The tires on your vehicle should be replaced every 65,000 to 75,000 miles driven. This may be even more important if you live in a part of the state where it snows or if you travel to areas where there may be snow-covered roads. Having proper tread on your tires can ensure your vehicle will not slip off the road in wet conditions such as rain or snow.

When checking your tires, you will want to look for cracks in the sidewall of the tire and uneven wear of the tread and gauge the tire’s pressure. If you find yourself needing to replace only one of your tires at a quicker pace than the rest of your tires, this may show a greater problem with your vehicle.

You should make sure you are getting a tire rotation every time you get an oil change, and you should take the time to check your tires’ air pressure at least once a month using a handheld tire gauge. Even if your car has a built-in tire gauge, sometimes it can be wrong and mislead you. By taking the time to check your tires, you can purchase new tires before they blow out and leave you stranded or—even worse—cause you to cause an accident.

3 – Check Your Brakes

Every time you touch the brakes while driving in the course of a normal day, you are causing friction between the brake pads of your car and the wheels. Brakes use this friction to slow the vehicle down and come to a complete halt. If your brakes are not properly maintained, you could cause an accident anytime you need to use the brakes.

There are numerous issues that could lead to brake failure. Typically an experienced car mechanic can diagnose these issues and provide you with a solution before it is too late. Worn brake pads, fluid leaks, and other issues can lead to brake failure and cause an accident. You should make sure a mechanic checks your brake pads every 50,000 – 70,000 miles and makes the proper replacements if necessary.

4 – Inspect Your Windshield And Keep It Clean

When driving, your main form of finding out what is around you is to look out the windshield of the car and see your surroundings. If your windshield is in disrepair and has numerous chips or cracks, your vision may be impaired. Your wiper blades also play a large role in your vision as well. Especially when it is raining, your wiper blades are responsible for clearing your windshield so you can see. Without a clear line of vision, you may cause an accident.

To ensure your wiper blades are ready when you need them, check them for tears, cracks, stiffness, or other signs of wear. You’ll also want to make sure your windshield is clean on both the inside and the outside.

5 – Check Your Lights

The lights on the outside of your vehicle are there to protect you and tell other drivers of your next move. In the dark, drivers can see your taillights, brake lights, and turn signals to let them know you are on the roadway in front of them.

By ensuring the lights on your vehicle are fully functional, you can easily prevent rear-end accidents and save yourself the headache of being involved in an accident.

California Car Accident Attorneys

By performing routine car maintenance and making sure your vehicle is safe to drive, you can prevent getting to accidents. But, if you happen to be in an accident with a driver who did not perform routine maintenance, our attorneys are ready to help you.

The personal injury attorneys at The Law Offices of Samer Habbas & Associates, PC, can help you file a lawsuit against the driver who caused the accident. Schedule a consultation today by calling 888-848-5084 or contacting us online.