Car Crash | Personal Injury AttorneysWhen you’re worried about just keeping a roof overhead and food on the table (hopefully, clothing on your back, too), an expensive and inconvenient car accident is the last thing you want to add to your plate. On average, car accidents cost each American $1000 per year. That’s a lot of headaches, stress, and "I-don’t-know-how-I’m-gonna-pay-for-that" you’d probably rather avoid.

So to help you keep that hard-earned money where it belongs, here are five driving tips to avoid costly accidents (other than really common sense tips like "don’t text or talk on your cell while you’re driving, you idiot!"):

1. Scan Ahead – You can spend countless hours in traffic each year staring at the car in front of you, their menagerie of sun-faded stuffed animals in the back window, or their array of idiocy-revealing bumper stickers. But rather than get caught up in their rear end, you can use your peepers to watch the road ahead. By scanning a few cars ahead you can buy yourself extra time to react and steer out of harm’s way.

2. Keep both hands on the wheel – Okay, so it doesn’t nearly as pimpin to drive with two hands on the wheel, one at 9 o’ clock and one at 3 o’ clock. It also doesn’t look so pimpin when your ride is crushed up and mangled like a discarded can of Rock Star. By having both hands on the wheel, you can react faster to sudden hazards and leave your  pimped out ride free to cruise all the way to the club. Or to Taco Bell…

3. Avoid the Crap-mobile – Cars are prone to a little ding here and little dent there, but if you pull up alongside someone who looks like they just pulled out of a demolition derby, trust your first instinct: RUN! There is a good chance their car looks like crap because they are bad drivers. Look out! They’re out to convert you.

4. Stay in at night – Driving at night, although convenient, is also inherently more dangerous than driving in the daytime. Vision is impaired. Hazards are less visible. Drunk drivers are out. People are tired and irate. Lower your chances of being involved in an accident by staying in at night.

5. Take care of your ride – If you’ve ever had the experience of pulling out into speeding traffic with a less-than-trustworthy vehicle, you know what I’m talking about. You can know that your car will perform when it counts by keeping it maintained. Budget some money to keep your car up on its manufacturers maintenance schedule. When it’s time to pull out in front of a semi at 60 miles per hour, you’ll be glad you did.

So, save some money this year- don’t crash. Any other driving tips you have to share? Don’t be stingy.