Safe Driving Tips the Police Use

This article is a nice summary of safe driving tips recommended to police officers which are VERY applicable to the average non-police driver. Some are common sense, some are not so much.

Airbags save lives, but many a police officer has been unnecessarily injured because their hands were over the airbag when it went off. At the school for law enforcement driving instructors I recently attended, the story was told of an officer who was driving with his wrist draped over the top of the steering wheel. His attention was diverted by the in-car computer and he smashed into a car that suddenly pulled in front of him: the deploying airbag broke his lower arm and caused his own hand to break out his front teeth. While driving straight, police instructors say that your hands should be at 3 and 9 o'clock on the steering wheel.

Another tip offered is to always drive with your windows all the up, or all the way down. They say that many accidents become lethal when a partially-opened window hits the drivers head sideways and cuts deep into the skull.