Holiday Driving Tips from a Traffic Violation Expert
Posted: December 20th, 2007
By: Matthew Weiss, Esq.
Category: Career Corner, Lawyer Profiles, Opinion Corner, SHOWCASE CORNER

With the Holiday Season upon us, more and more Americans will take to the road for family visits and vacations.  This article will address various safety tips that will help you get to your destination safely and avoid being pulled over by a police officer.

Traffic: You invariable will be caught up in a traffic jam.  Take a deep breath and relax.  Consider this part of the “cost” of travel.  Getting aggravated doesn’t help and can only lead to an accident.

Focus: Concentrate on your driving.  Do not text message, check emails or engage in any other distracting behavior.  Your IQ and response time diminishes dramatically the more you multi-task.

Drive in a group:  When driving on a highway, stay within a grouping of other cars.  It is easy for a police officer to isolate a sole vehicle than one within a group.

Remain attentive: Keep scanning the road ahead for areas where another vehicle can cut in front of you or where police could hide.  Also, do not forget to check your rear view mirror for tailgating motorists.  Keep a constant look out for traffic signs or markings which apply to you.

Vehicle condition:  A vehicle with, for instance, a broken head light presents a danger to you and other motorists (and also is an open invitation for police attention).  Make sure you care is in proper working order before embarking on a trip.

Police Stop:  If you are stopped, be courteous.  Abrasive behavior is a sure way to “earn” a traffic ticket.  Also, do not volunteer too much information.  When the officer asks you “Do you know why I stopped you?” simply state “No” or “No, but I am sorry to have troubled you”.

Armed with this information, you should be able to make it to any destination without many problems.

Matthew Weiss, Esq. is the senior member of Weiss & Associates, P.C.  His firm dubbed 888 RED LIGHT defends 1,000s of motorists from traffic tickets issued throughout New York State. See http://www.nytrafficticket.com.

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Comments
I personally hate traffic as do most of the people I know. Before i used to always get angry when i was caught up in it, but recently, I've started taking the train to work. It is so much easier and surprisingly quicker.
Comment By: Brian Fran - December 24, 2007

I once was text messaging while driving and almost got into an accident. Since then I promised myself i would never do it again and i have never gotten myself into such a situation again.
Comment By: Larry G. - December 24, 2007

In response to Larry's comments, I too underwent a similar ordeal. I almost crashed into a semi while trying to text my now ex-girlfriend back. Never made the same mistake again.
Comment By: Peter Z. - December 24, 2007

I thought it was always better to tell the cop that you know you've been speeding or such?
Comment By: Ioana Flemming - December 24, 2007

You have to remember that a police officer might not know everything that you have done wrong. Thus by saying it yourself, he could give you a ticket on it. Fell for that trick once.
Comment By: Mary B. - December 24, 2007

The driving in a group one is true. I once was able to drive at 10 miles over the speed limit because i was surrounded by a group of 7 cars. We even passed right by a cop car. Of course we slowed down a little bit, but there was no way he didn't notice the speed we were going at. He although just let us pass by.
Comment By: Fray G. - December 24, 2007

Everybody should always check their head lights before going anywhere. It could easily cause and accident if you are not careful. It almost happened to me and since then I've always been extra careful.
Comment By: Tidman S. - December 24, 2007

In response to Larry, you should also be careful with it comes to making phone calls. Even though you still keep your eye on the road you could still also get a ticket for it. I nearly got one, but the police officer was having a nice day so he let me off with just a warning.
Comment By: Drew N, - December 24, 2007