Safe Driving on the Highway

The following are recommendations to be a safe highway driver:

  1. Drive at or below posted speed limits. Rhode Island law sets speed limits as follows: 25 miles per hour (mph) in residential areas and 50-65 mph on most highways.
  2. Don’t tailgate. The easiest way to tell if you are a safe distance from the vehicle ahead of you is the three second-following-distance rule. If the roadway is wet or slippery, you will need additional distance (seconds). If you are being tailgated, to avoid the risk of aggressive driving or road rage, get out of the aggressive driver's way. Change lanes or allow the driver to pass you. Never speed up because the tailgater may continue to tailgate you at the higher speed. Never slam on your brakes. Don’t aggravate an aggressive driver. Stay calm and ignore potential aggressive road rage incidents.
  3. Don’t drive at the same speed for a long time. Change your speed occasionally on long trips. 
  4. Look behind you now and then in your rear/side mirrors. Never pass a vehicle until you are sure no one is coming up behind you in the passing lane.
  5. Always signal before changing lanes. Do this soon enough to let other drivers know what you are going to do, within 100 feet.
  6. Never stop in the traffic lane. Stop on a highway only if you must. Move as far off the traffic lane as you can. If you need help, raise the hood of your vehicle, tie a white cloth on the door handle and stay in your locked vehicle.
  7. Drive in the right lane unless otherwise posted or if you are passing another vehicle. Making frequent lane changes are unsafe. Slow traffic must always keep to the right.
  8. Stop and rest when drowsy. Driving when drowsy is a major cause of serious motor vehicle collisions.
  9. Slow down and drive with care in bad weather. Wet, icy, and snow-covered highways can be very dangerous.
  10. If you miss your exit ramp, go on to the next exit. Never stop and back up to the missed exit.
  11. Keep your eyes moving, looking at other vehicles. Always be aware of what is going on around you.
  12. At all times, give emergency vehicles the right-of-way. If an emergency vehicle is approaching, pull over to the right, stop and wait for it to pass. Before re-entering the flow of traffic, activate your turn signal, glance over your shoulder to ensure another emergency vehicle is not coming, then proceed.
  13. Always drive 500 feet behind emergency vehicles.
  14. Be especially careful when buses stop. Passengers may be entering or leaving buses.
  15. Never take the right-of-way for granted. The law grants right-of-way, but the other driver may not. Yield to the other driver in these cases; it may save a life.
  16. Move Over Law. If you are driving on an interstate or roadway with multiple lanes of travel in the same direction, you must move over by changing lanes away from the designated vehicle as soon as it is safe to do so. If you are not able to safely move over, you must slow down.

The Basic Speed Law in Rhode Island requires motorists to drive only as fast as the road conditions dictate. Be it snow, rain, sleet, ice, or road construction, motorists must realize the speed limit sign is the maximum speed for ideal conditions and therefore, they must adjust their speed to the conditions. The Basic Speed Law promotes driving at a speed which is safe for pedestrians, road conditions, and other traffic.

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