VIDEO: Rear-End Crash Prevention

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation offers this safety advice to help drivers maintain a safe distance from other vehicles and decrease the chances of being involved in a rear-end crash:

• Keep a steady speed and signal in advance when you’re about to turn.

• Try to find a safe place out of traffic if you need to stop to pick up or let off passengers.

• If you want to parallel park and there’s traffic coming behind you, put on your turn signal, pull next to the space, and allow vehicles behind you to pass before you park.

• If you’re driving more slowly than other traffic on a multi-lane road, drive in the right-most travel lane.

• When you have to drive so slowly that you slow down other vehicles, pull to the side of the road when safe to do so and let them pass. There are turnout areas on some two-lane roads you can use. Other two-lane roads sometimes have passing lanes.

• Every now and then you may find yourself being followed too closely or being tailgated by another driver. If you are being followed too closely and there’s a right lane, move over to the right. If there’s no right lane, wait until the road ahead is clear and passing is legal, and then slowly reduce speed. This will encourage the tailgater to drive around you.

• Never slow down quickly to discourage a tailgater. All that does is increase your risk of being hit from behind.

To watch a video providing much more advice on the subject, click on the photo or link below the headline.