Happy days driving around on a golden Summer afternoon, or touring quaint villages, maybe driving town to town on a meandering route. School’s out and it’s vacation time! Chances are pretty good you’ll be using your car, or a rental car to enjoy your holidays.
You’ll want to bring an extra degree of caution to your Summer vacation driving experience. First, you’ll be in a holiday mood. It’s natural that your usual driving vigilance might be relaxed. So your first challenge when you’re driving on vacation is to keep your driving mindset sharp and focused.
Your extra focus is going to come in handy with the other vacation drivers on the road too. Many of those drivers may be as fuzzy in their holiday driving modes as you…before you sharpened your focus.
Other drivers are looking at the sights, distracted by backseat or front seat passengers, or maybe just trying to figure out how to turn left into that parking lot for the Gift Shop. Your extra care and attention is going to come in handy to avoid mishaps that could be caused by other distracted vacation drivers. And, be especially careful while driving through parking lots. The distractions are probably at their highest point when a driver is quickly backing a car out of a parking spot and another driver is zipping through the parking lot. Bang.
You’ll want to sharpen your vacation mind for the protection of your valuables in the car too. How often do you pull your car into a beachside parking lot or a scenic overlook highway stop off, then jump out of your car and forget to lock it behind you? Probably quite often. After all, you’re on vacation.
Your cares and worries were left at home. But your valuables are still sitting on the front seat or in the trunk of your car. And a thief only needs a quick moment or two to open an unlocked door, rummage around and grab and run away with your valuables.
Last but not least, be extra careful with your rental car while away on vacation. When you pick up the car, temper your eagerness to zip away to enjoy the kick off of your holiday. While the Rental Car Attendant is inspecting the condition of the car before transferring possession, grab your smartphone and snap photos of the exterior of the car.
Make a note of your mileage to be sure it matches the rental paperwork, and check the gas gauge too. Double check that doors and trunks lock properly and that any remote locking or alarm systems actually work.
This may sound like a lot of work to do while you’re on a vacation. But a few minutes of careful attention and a sense of normal driving focus will actually help you to have an even better vacation experience.
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