27 Mistakes You're Making While Driving

These Amateur Mistakes Can Impact Your Safety on the Road

Think you’re a good driver? Even if you have a squeaky clean record and take pride in your dent- and ding-free car, the chances are high that you’ve picked up a few bad habits along the way.

Studies have consistently shown that most people think their driving skills are above average, which, by definition, cannot be true. If everyone’s driving skills were as good as they think they are, crashes wouldn’t be so common.

So, how do you think you fare in terms of driving expertise? Take a look at these common driving mistakes and see if any seem familiar.

27) Cutting Someone Off

Whether or not your intent is malicious, cutting off another motorist is bad manners at best and downright dangerous at worst. You want to be predictable when you’re driving. Forcing others to change paths to avoid you can cause a chain reaction of people swerving all over the place. Wait for a safe opening in traffic before proceeding.

26) Stalling a Manual

Maybe you’re out of practice, or your clutch is really worn down, or you got stuck waiting at a light on a steep hill. Whatever your excuse may be, it’s pretty embarrassing to stall at takeoff, but it happens. Shift to neutral, turn the ignition off and back on, and try again. Just don’t get so flustered that you stall out a second time.

25) Missing Gears While Shifting

If you drive a car with a manual transmission, occasionally missing shifts or grinding gears isn’t the worst thing in the world. Worst case scenario, the people in the car next to you (or your buddy in the passenger seat) will hear the telltale sound of metal-on-metal and laugh.

However, you don’t want this to become a habit. If you grind gears on a regular basis, you’re causing premature wear and tear on your transmission. Driving a car with a manual transmission may be a dying art, but it’s easier than you think. Just be a bit more careful.

24) Sitting at a Green Light

When you pull up to a red light, you know you have a minute or two, at most, before it’s time to go again. That means you need to pay attention and don’t be the person who backs up an entire intersection. You should never be surprised when a light turns green because that’s the normal order of things. Wasting time at a green left turn arrow is even worse, because those are usually too short to begin with.

23) Trying to Take Off Before the Car in Front of You

When you’re stopped at a light, it’s easy to become hyper-focused on the moment it turns green (which is not much better than zoning out). But unless you’re the first one on the line, you can’t take off like you’re at the drag strip; you need to wait for the intersection to clear and for the car in front of you to get moving so you don’t cause a rear-end crash.

22) Not Checking Your Blind Spot

As more cars come equipped with electronic blind spot monitors as part of their active safety systems, fewer drivers may check the old-fashioned way. Properly positioning your car’s mirrors can help to significantly reduce blind spots, but even if you’ve taken the time to adjust everything and you’ve paid extra for advanced safety technology, you still need to check before changing lanes. Just turn your head and look before making the move.

21) Forgetting to Remove the Gas Nozzle From Your Car

No matter how late you’re running or how anxious those other drivers look as they’re waiting to advance to the gas pump you’re occupying, take a few seconds before driving away to make sure everything is in order. Double-check that you’ve put your credit card away, and triple-check that you’ve returned the gas nozzle to the pump and closed your gas flap.

To those in New Jersey and Oregon, you probably don’t have to worry about this one.

20) Forgetting Which Side Your Gas Tank is On

You have probably seen the person who pulls into a gas station, looks confused, hops back in the car, and pulls around to the other side. You may have even been that person, especially if you often drive a car that’s different than your regular car (like a rental car or another car in your household).

Next time you get in your car, look at your fuel gauge. There should be an arrow on one side of the gas tank icon. That’s the side your gas tank is on.

19) Running Out of Gas

Some drivers seem to take pride in squeezing every last drop out of a gas tank, but what is the point? Get in the habit of filling up before the low fuel warning light comes on and you should be fine. It’s also unhealthy for your engine and fuel pump if you continuously run your car with low fuel. The fuel acts like a sort of coolant and helps the pump to not wear prematurely.

18) Not Slowing Down When it Starts to Rain

Roads are most slippery during the first few minutes of rainfall. That’s because oils that accumulate on the road are brought up to the surface by the fresh rain, creating a slick layer that interferes with your tires’ traction. It’s important to slow down to keep control.

As the rain continues to fall, these oils will get washed off to the side, but it’s still a good idea to give yourself extra reaction time due to poor visibility.

17) Mashing the Pedals

If you’re the type of driver who slams the accelerator to take off, slams the brake to slow down, and repeats the cycle for the duration of your trip, you’re wasting a ton of fuel, destroying your brake pads, and annoying everyone around you, and to what end? It’s not like you’re getting there any faster. Practice driving more smoothly, with gradual pressure on the pedals.

16) Signaling a Turn Too Late

Hitting the turn signal too late (as in, while you’re turning) is just barely better than forgetting to signal altogether. Give the drivers around you enough time to slow down, especially if you need to wait for an opening in traffic before you can complete your turn.

15) Signaling a Turn Too Early

More notice isn’t always better. Some drivers are guilty of signaling too early. If you hit the turn signal in anticipation of a turn that is several blocks away and you’re passing by other turns in the meantime, other motorists might assume you turned on your signal by accident and won’t be prepared when your turn actually arrives.

The goal, again, is to be predictable and let others know what you plan to do. Signaling too early just confuses everyone.

14) Forgetting to Turn Off Your Turn Signal

Have you ever been stuck behind a car that cruised happily along with its turn signal going? You keep expecting the car to slow down and prepare for a turn that never comes, and you wonder how the driver could be oblivious to both the dashboard indicator and the clicking.

Don’t be that person. Get in the habit of flipping your turn signal stalk back to neutral after completing a turn or changing lanes.

13) Neglecting Basic Maintenance

This may be more of a “car ownership” mistake than a “driving” mistake, but the effect is the same. If you forget to take care of your car – replacing worn parts, checking and changing fluids, and making sure it’s generally roadworthy – you’re putting yourself and others at unnecessary risk. Granted, even with perfect maintenance habits, your car might still break down, but at least you can head off most disaster scenarios at the pass.

12) Forgetting to Make Adjustments (Seat, Steering Wheel, Mirrors, etc.)

Make sure you are comfortable in your car. Not so comfortable you’re at risk of dozing off, but comfortable enough that you can focus on the task at hand without being distracted by poor posture, poor visibility, or being forced to hold your arms at weird angles. Too many drivers don’t take advantage of the fact that seats, mirrors, and most steering wheels are adjustable. You shouldn’t have to be fighting against your car for proper positioning.

11) Paying Too Much Attention to Your Phone (Even if You’re Hands-Free)

Smartphone integration has come a long way in the last few years, and many new vehicles offer voice recognition that lets you talk and text while complying with hands-free laws. Still, if you find yourself getting distracted by your call, it’s time to hang up. You might feel perfectly safe just because you have two hands on the wheel, but if you’re focused more on your conversation, your reaction time will suffer, which could lead to a crash.

10) Rushing

If you aren’t familiar with your destination or your route, make sure to give yourself extra time for your trip so you can deal with any problems that might come up (like getting lost). Driving while you’re in a hurry will make you prone to tons of bad choices that can lead to a crash.

9) Getting Dehydrated

Take a bottle of water with you on hot days or on long trips. You may not realize it until it’s too late, but letting yourself get dehydrated quickly impacts your concentration, which can lead to dangerous errors on the road.

8) Not Being Aware of One-Way Streets

If you charge the wrong way down a one-way street, you’d better hope there isn’t a car coming. Always look for a “One Way” or “Do Not Enter” sign before making a turn, particularly when you’re in an unfamiliar area. It’ll save you from the humiliation of hastily turning around and may even prevent a head-on collision.

7) Using the Parking Brake After Hard Driving

If you have been driving at high speeds or engaging in heavy braking, you should not engage the parking brake when you stop. The pressure of the parking brake on your brake rotors can cause the rotors to warp. If your car has a manual transmission, park it in gear instead.

6) Poor Parallel Parking Skills

It feels great to nail the perfect parking job on the first try. It feels ridiculous to make multiple attempts, especially if you are holding up traffic or have a bunch of bystanders watching you.

If you frequently find yourself failing at parallel parking, it might be time to find a quiet side street and practice. Even though parking assistance systems are becoming more common on new vehicles, there’s always the chance you might find yourself in a situation (like with a rental car) in which you have no choice but to park on your own.

5) Forgetting to Turn On Your Headlights

It’s easy to forget to flip on the headlight switch, particularly when a sunny late afternoon slips to dusk without any fanfare. Our eyes gradually adjust to the change and we don’t even realize we’re driving around without our headlights until other drivers start flashing at us. That’s understandable.

However, your headlights really should be on whenever there is not adequate daylight, including during rainy and foggy conditions. That’s not just so you can see other drivers; it’s so other drivers can see you.

4) Forgetting to Turn Off Your High Beams

Most people use their high beams way more often than they need to. You should really only use them if you’re in a rural area or on an empty stretch of highway and there are no cars in front of you.

Make sure to be hyper vigilant when you have your high beams on, because they can blind or disorient other drivers and you need to be prepared to turn them off. As soon as you notice another vehicle sharing the road, switch back to low beams.

3) Merging Too Early

Early merging might be perceived as the polite thing to do, but it’s also extremely inefficient. The best way to merge is called “zipper merging,” in which both lanes of traffic proceed to the point at which they must merge, and then take turns.

The states of Washington and Minnesota have officially endorsed zipper merging as the preferred method. Not only is it faster, they say, but it’s also safer. Congestion is reduced up to 40 percent and drivers aren’t forced to be aggressive to take their place within the flow of traffic.

2) Not Yielding to Pedestrians

Laws regarding pedestrians vary from state to state, but most states, at the very least, require motorists to yield to pedestrians in marked crosswalks. In some states, motorists are required to stop completely. Be aware of your state’s laws, scan your path for pedestrians, and be prepared to stop.

The few seconds you save by swerving around a pedestrian are not worth the risk to someone’s life. Also, if you are approaching a busy intersection, keep in mind that the cars in front of you may need to stop for pedestrians that you can’t see.

1) Not Yielding to Emergency Vehicles

How you respond to emergency vehicles depends on where you are and what you’re doing, but still, you have to respond. In general, you want to signal a move to the side of the road, but keep in mind that others are doing the same thing. Watch for pedestrians, cyclists, and other cars before moving over.

It’s fine if you move slowly, but still, you have to move. Panicking, forgetting the rules, or being oblivious to their presence can put lives in danger.

More Shopping Tools From U.S. News & World Report

For more driving and safety advice, check out our advice page. If you are shopping for your next car, use our U.S. News Best Price Program to find the best prices at a dealership near you. Shoppers who use the program save an average of $3,106 off their new car purchase.