What To Check For Before You Drive

A large part of learning to drive is learning and repeating important routines. Getting into the routine of checking your mirrors, being aware of others around you and conducting preventative maintenance is vital to staying safe on the road. Getting into the habit of checking your car over before you drive can help you spot potential faults in your car. This, in turn, can help you avoid accidents and costly repair bills. In this post, we will look at what you should check before you set out on the road.

Read More: What Are The 5 Most Important Driver Safety Checks?

Check For Leaks

A quick look under your car and under the car’s hood can reveal the presence of fluids leaking from your brakes, steering, or radiators. If you notice that there are little puddles or droplets of fluid on the ground or excess fluid on parts of your engine, it’s a good indication that something is leaking. Quickly identifying and repairing fluid leaks can stop your car from overheating or prevent your brakes or steering from failing, taking a couple of seconds it takes to check for the time well spent.

Check Your Tire Pressure

Not all tire punctures are immediately obvious; you might have picked up a slow puncture on your drive home from work and set off in the morning with a partially flat tire that could damage your wheel rim or even cause you to lose control of the car. Many modern cars come with a tire pressure sensor, which you can check, and, failing that, manually checking is a quick and easy process.

Check Your Lights Are Working

Your car’s lights are one of those things that is easy to forget. You might be driving with a broken brake light or turn signal and not even notice it. Before setting out to drive in the dark, it is always worth checking to make sure all your lights are in good working order, including your hazard lights. Checking your brake and tail lights might be a two-person job, but since driving with a missing brake light is both illegal and could potentially put you in danger, it is always worth the extra effort.

Check Your Windows And Mirrors

Visibility is hugely important to keeping safe when you’re out on the roads. Before driving, you should always check that your windows are clean, thoroughly de-iced, and defrosted. The same applies to your mirrors, and it is worth taking the extra time to ensure they are angled to eliminate any blind spots.

Check Your Gauges

Particularly in modern cars, the dashboard is set up to communicate a huge amount of information, from tire pressure to engine temperature. If you find yourself waiting for your windows to de-mist or the car to warm up, check those gauges and pay attention to what they are telling you.

Check Your Air Vents

Blocked AC vents can contribute to car overheating and, in a worst-case scenario, are a fire hazard. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to check routinely to make sure all the vents in your car are operating properly, including those in footwells and window defrosters.

Getting Into The Habit

Checking over your car only takes a few extra seconds and spending those extra seconds could help you avoid a costly repair or even save your life. So the next time you head out onto the road, spare a moment to run through the checks listed above; it’s time well spent.