Resolutions For 2021: Bad Driving Habits To Leave Behind In 2020

Bad habits are hard to die. Whereas, bad driving habits make your car die.

When it comes to driving on the Indian roads, you can’t just go by the rulebook. As incredible as our country is, so are the roads. You need to be on the top of your game when driving through the Indian roads.

Although it seems all adrenaline-filled and adventurous, it actually isn’t. While some of it might help you in some awry and unforeseen events, we suggest to not make it a habit.

Some of these habits can actually harm you and your car, others actually go against the basic road sense and etiquette. With 2020 going away, let’s bid adieu to some bad driving habits as well.

Without beating around the bush much, let’s figure out some bad driving habits that can be harmful and dangerous for you as well as others on road.

Also Read: 10 Annoying and Bad Driving Habits of Indian Car Drivers

1. Riding The Clutch
   

   

   Let’s not lie. Most of us are guilty of this, either accidentally or purposefully. While manual cars tend to be more efficient and easier to maintain, than their automatic counterparts. Riding the clutch and pressing the accelerator might just hamper your car’s clutch plate faster than you realise.

   Always ensure that your feet aren’t on the clutch pedal while you are driving your vehicle. Let’s bid adieu to wear and tear of our clutch plate this year.

2. Riding The Brakes
   

   

   While riding your clutch is definitely not recommended, riding the brake is another big no. Riding your brakes and pressing them unnecessarily can cause the brake pads to heat up, aggravating the process of wear and tear.

   Pressing the brake pedal unnecessarily generates some unwanted friction, which in turn generates heat. As soon as the brakes tend to get hot, they heat up the brake fluid. Once the brake fluid heats up, it is no longer able to apply hydraulic pressure to bring the vehicle to a stop.

   So, in order to avoid some costly maintenance and repairs, that’s one habit you should surely give up on.

   Suggested For You: 8 Car Damaging Habits that are Unintentionally Ruining Your Car!

3. Resting Your Hands on The Gear Lever
   

   

   Resting your hands on the gear lever may cause your car a lot of unrest in the near future.

   Every time you change your gear, a selector fork gets active and selects the gear in the rotating parts, to select the desired gear. Resting your hand on the gear lever, every time you change gears makes you put pressure against the selector fork and the internal machinery.

4. Improper Hazard Light Use
   

   

   Yes, that red button on your dashboard, turns on the hazard lights. Hazard lights are used in case there’s a breakdown. A hazard light is used to alert the drivers nearby that your car has broken down.

5. Hi, Beam
   

   

   Don’t say hi to the high beam. How many times have you actually wanted to curse the person, coming from the opposite side, with his high-beams on?

   Using your high-beams in actual cases can be beneficial. However, incessantly using your headlight’s high beam can turn out to be dangerous for others on the road.

6. Overtaking From The Left
   

   

   This is not recommended at all. Overtaking from the left can lead to some serious accidents. However, in cases where the car in front has taken up the right lane and driving slower than ever, you might go for it.

   Although before you do so, make sure you maintain some gap from the vehicle in front of you, get a clear view of the scenario ahead, indicate and move on.

7. Lugging On Higher Gears
   

   

   Lugging on higher gears refers to when you tend to be on a gear higher than what’s required. So, in case you are driving at say, 40 kmph on 5th gear, your engine will most probably lug.

   When you lug your engine, you are somewhat forcing it work harder than it should. While low RPMs do make sense when you are cruising down the highway, but when you try to accelerate, your engine is making more efforts than it has to. This will increase the engine temperature of your car.

8. Procrastinating On Car Service
   

   

   Postponing your car servicing is something one can only do to their oldest enemies.

   You may think that it is going to save you some bucks in the short run, but be ready to shell out the extra money in the longer run. Delaying your car’s servicing can lead your car to age faster and hence impairing its ability to perform efficiently.

   What’s the reason behind postponing your car service? Got no time? Takes an entire day?

   Well, not with GoMechanic. Enjoy hassle-free car servicing and free pick up and drop facility at your nearest GoMechanic workshop. Visit the GoMechanic app today to know more.

   

9. Honk and Honk and…
   

   

   This might even be the most annoying habits of all that you’d want to bid a farewell too. Honking unnecessarily on the roads doesn’t give you the extra attention and neither does it make you look cool.

   So, in case you are one of those heavy honkers, we sincerely hope the case isn’t the same in 2021.

10. One Hand Steer
    

    

    There’s a simple reason that the world follows the ‘hands on 9 and 3’ configuration on the steering wheel- it gives you the extra control.

    Using one hand while steering your vehicle does portray your expertise, granted. But, it isn’t the best thing to do when you need the best handling and control of the car.

Conclusion | Bad Driving Habits

With the year 2020 coming to an end, we hope that so are the bad driving habits. Let’s hope that the year 2021, brings us some safer and joyful roads with sensible drivers. (No offence).

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