Is It Better To Drive Safely Or Obey The Law
As a learner driver, you may be wondering if it’s better to drive safely or to obey the law. In most cases, these things are one and the same – requirements for doing things like wearing your seat belt and not “tailgating” the vehicle in front of you are laid out in the NSW road rules, and also are good ways to enhance your safety.
But are there situations where it’s okay to break road rules to stay safe on the road? Read on, and find out.
Driving Safely & Obeying The Law Are Usually The Same Thing
First, we’ll say that in 99.9% of situations, driving safely and obeying the law are the exact same thing. It’s rare for there to be a situation where you need to break the law to drive safely.
Road rules are designed specifically to keep you safe, after all – that’s why speed limits, turn signal requirements, and other such laws and rules are created in the first place.
In Some Cases, Driving Safely May Take Priority Over The Rules Of The Road
While this is relatively rare, there are sometimes situations where driving safely requires you to break or bend the rules of the road in some way.
Usually, this kind of situation only happens when your own life or vehicle would be at risk if you followed the road rules. A few examples of this could include:
- Driving through a yellow light during bad weather, when you don’t have time to slow down or stop due to poor road conditions.
Typically, traffic laws instruct you to slow and stop at a yellow light, but during bad road conditions, this could lead to you being stuck in the middle of the interaction if you cannot get enough grip on your tyres to stop in time. - Driving below speed limits on the highway during foggy road conditions. Usually, you can be penalised for driving “excessively slowly” – say, up to 20 km/h below the speed limit on a highway.
But there is an exception for bad weather conditions, of course. If other drivers are also driving slowly, you should follow their example, keeping up with the flow of traffic to ensure the safety of other road users. - Speeding to avoid a runaway truck with faulty brakes that’s coming up behind you. If you need to accelerate above speed limits to keep ahead of the truck and then pull over to the side of the road and slow down, this should be your priority above following speed limits.
As you can see, these cases are quite rare. In just about every other case, you should obey traffic laws and rules of the road to stay safe on the road.
Learn More About Defensive Driving From LTrent Driving School Now!
Defensive driving is all about making the right decisions to stay safe while you drive. If you’d like to learn more about driving safely and when it may be acceptable to break a traffic law to avoid an accident or dangerous situation, LTrent Driving School is here to help.
Our Safer Drivers Course in NSW will teach you everything you need to know. WIth the help of a professional driving instructor, you’ll learn important defensive driving techniques, learn how to drive more safely, and be better prepared for your driving test in NSW.
You also get 20 log book hours, so book your spot now, and get the professional instruction you need to become a better driver.