Posted by Fleet Safety
We understand how excited you are to go on a road trip! However, this doesn’t mean that you should be cutting corners when it comes to preparing for the adventure ahead. Remember, safe driving should always be your number one priority.
When it comes to preparing for a road trip, you’ll want to make sure that everything is in order, especially when it comes to the condition of your car. To help you out, we’ve prepared four tips on how to help you best prepare for your next summer road trip!
Check Your Tires
The first things you’ll want to check on are your tires. A flat tire or even a damaged tire can quickly ruin your trip and make things significantly harder for you. This is why you’ll want to check your tires for any bulges, cracks, or any other abnormalities that can pose serious problems for you on the road. Besides that, be sure that you also have a functioning spare tire and portable car jack in case something does go wrong.
Test Your Lights
Make sure that your lights are working properly a couple of days before you hit the road. Be sure to test your headlights, blinkers, brake lights, hazard lights, and reverse lights. The point of doing this a couple of days earlier is to give you a little wiggle room in case any repairs need to be made. If your lights are defective, we recommend putting off your trip until you get them fixed. It’s unsafe to drive with busted lights!
Test Your Brakes
Aside from checking your tires and lights, you’ll want to check on your brakes. In fact, this is something that you should be doing every time you get into a vehicle, as driving with faulty brakes can be disastrous. Checking your brakes is doubly important if you’re going on a road trip because the long drive can wear them out further. When checking your brakes, make sure to listen for unusual sounds like squealing or scraping. If there is something wrong with your brakes, get them looked at by a mechanic as soon as possible.
Take Your Car in for Shop Maintenance
If you haven’t brought in your car for maintenance recently, it would be best to do so before you go on your trip. Unless you’re a mechanic, you probably don’t have the expertise to spot critical issues and can only examine your car up to a certain point. By bringing your car to a professional, you can rest assured that complications will be kept at an absolute minimum during your road trip. We recommend taking your car in around two weeks before your trip just in case some significant repairs need to be made.
Conclusion
We hope the tips we’ve shared above prove to be useful when it comes to making sure your next road trip goes off without a hitch. Now, we understand that doing all of these things might be a little tedious. However, making the required preparations and taking necessary precautions will go a long way when it comes to preventing any unwanted occurrences that can potentially derail your entire trip!
For more safety tips, explore our driving programs at Fleet Safety International. Our courses help new drivers, commuters, corporate and commercial drivers learn the SAFER™ System of defensive driving. For a defensive driving course or in-vehicle training at our driving school in Calgary, get in touch with us today to see how we can help!