January 15, 2010

What Is Taught In Defensive Driving Courses That Helps Bring Insurance Premiums Down

Accidents happen. That is just a fact of life. Usually, when an accident occurs, we chalk it up as a lesson learned, hoping we don’t make the same mistake twice. However, when an accident involves two tons of moving metal, we may not get the opportunity to correct the mistake. This is one of the primary reasons we have auto insurance coverage. According to Wikipedia, there are approximately 251 million registered vehicles in the U.S. today, which approximates to over 502 billion pounds of moving metal. According to our mothers, that is just an accident waiting to happen.

And our mothers are right. Every time we step into a vehicle, there is the chance that we will encounter or be involved in an accident. But, the best part about that is that we can learn to avoid them by beefing up on our driving skills. There are hundreds of defensive driving courses offered around the U.S. today – and you don’t even have to get a traffic ticket to attend – though sometimes getting a citation will make attending mandatory. Commonly known defensive driving courses are those offered by AARP. These courses are offered at a low price and will teach you many tips that will keep you and others safe on the road. By simply learning the ins and out of driving defensively, you will be a better driver, a safer driver and perhaps have some extra pennies in your pocket, too. Yes, you heard me correctly. There are companies out there that will give you an auto insurance discount for just completing a defensive driving course.

What you learn in the course is far more than just good braking and exceptional following distances. These courses also teach what to expect from certain weather conditions, the reactions of other drivers and even how to avoid a car-jacking situation. A lot of these are skills that do not take gobs and gobs of talent. For most people, it just means re-learning a little bit of common road sense and good direction. Teens and new drivers are especially urged to take this course, as a very high percentage of accidents involve this class of drivers. Imagine if everybody was urged to take this course. Not only would our auto insurance quotes possibly go down, but so would our stress levels, ergo possibly changing the tide of lower health care costs, too, and so on and so on.

The name of the game is to just keep on moving, with all four tires on the road. Taking a defensive driving course will not only help you do that, but will also save you money on auto insurance.