Familiar roads are fraught with peril

A compact ran a red light, an SUV failed to yield at an uncontrolled intersection, a Buick drove nearly twice the posted speed, a Kia tried to run over a pedestrian (me) in a crosswalk, a delivery truck changed lanes forcing a car to the shoulder, a Cadillac turned right from the left lane, and many drivers did battle where the road narrows. Those were all driving errors I witnessed near my home recently. Fortunately, they didn’t all happen on the same day, but they did occur within the same week.

Statistically, I may have been adversely involved with some of these drivers if I fell prey to a “switching off” syndrome, which drivers often experience due to the familiarity with their comfort zone near home. Becoming too comfy with your normal driving paths leads to inattention and driving mistakes.

R.G. just admitted to me that she was rattled by a driving miscue borne of false assumption. She is acutely aware that when a vehicle is stopped in the roadway that it may be for a crossing pedestrian. This day on her familiar route, however, she passed by a stopped vehicle “where no one ever crosses,” only to skim past a mother pushing a stroller in front of the stopped car. Talk about a heart-stopper! The point is that her prior knowledge of her familiar route was at the root of a near catastrophe.

Insurers’ statistics are quite telling; to say that many auto accidents happen close to home is an understatement! In fact, accident reports from both the United States and Europe show that about one-third of all accidents happen within 1 mile of the home, and that another one-third take place within 5 miles. State Farm concluded that 80 percent of wrecks take place within 20 minutes from where the drivers live. People simply pay less attention on local roads, and drive lazily as they near home.

For a long journey, drivers tend to get a good sleep, and check their vehicles for safety. Most think nothing, though, of working a 40-plus-hour week, then heading home in Friday’s traffic.

Since accidents are more likely near home, it stands to reason that it may not be that safe at the home either. Here are some problems that are likely to occur at or very near home:

•Backing into parked cars

•Collisions with neighbors while parking outside of home

•Catching wing mirrors on residential street

•Scraping side of car on garage

So, first and foremost, please be aware of the “complacency effect” that familiarity with your home turf breeds. Next, avoid the common driving errors we are prone to:

•Excessive speed

•Lane changes without head turning and mirror checks

•Pulling out to pass without checking for traffic in the opposing lane

•Pulling away from the curb without looking back for approaching cars

•Pulling into a street from an intersecting street, alley, or driveway without looking properly for oncoming traffic

•Inattention

•Distraction inside the vehicle, such as radio tuning, tending to children, eating, or talking on the phone

•”Freezing,” or otherwise failing to avoid an accident, such as no attempt to steer around an impending crash, or an attempt to avoid that failed because the brakes were jabbed and the front wheels locked. That’s why anti-lock brakes are becoming the norm

•Inadequate defensive driving skills — sometimes following the rules of the road is not enough

•Unjustified assumption, such as: turning across two lanes of oncoming traffic, and assuming traffic is not coming in one lane when a driver makes way for you in another; assuming an oncoming vehicle with turn signals on will turn before it gets to you; assuming another vehicle is required to stop or yield at an intersection when it is not; assuming another driver will stop or yield at an intersection when they won’t

•Improper maneuvering, such as: traveling the wrong way on a one-way street; turning from the wrong lane; going too fast when turning and overcompensating; accelerating or braking too fast; or turning too quickly

If we’re creative, we can probably even make more mistakes than those listed above — but let’s not. Instead, let’s not fall victim to the phenomenon that makes us less alert near home we can overcome the tendency, and improve everyone’s safety on that perilous road home.

Look at it this way — everywhere that you drive is local for someone, so you are always mingling with drivers subject to the daze even when you’re away from home. And when you’re driving around your home turf with other local drivers — well someone had better pay attention.