Millions of individuals commute on a daily basis in order to go to work and return home at the end of the day. With so many people living outside of the area where they work, means of transport are the only way most people can get to and from work.
Many people choose to commute on a daily basis by using public transport, which can be cheaper and more environmentally friendly. However, millions of people still opt to drive their own car to commute every day.
There are many benefits to having your own vehicle and being able to drive it to work. This gives you time to be alone during some time, which you can use to listen to some quiet music and reflect on your day and forget about work as you drive, and allows you to stick to your own schedule without having to wait around for usually irregular buses or trains. In this article, we will discuss a few things you need to know, if you are commuting on a daily basis.
You Must Plan Your Journey
The majority of drivers fail to understand the importance of planning your journey ahead of time, especially if they are on their daily commute, which they do so often and they are so familiar with. However, there are many possible changes that can occur to your daily commute, and if you do not plan beforehand, you will not be prepared to manage these. For example, if you are required to change your route completely, this may mean that you need to take a longer road to get to work and being in a hurry usually makes drivers stressed and prone to driving much faster than the speed limits and less aware of their surroundings. This can be prevented if you plan your course and give yourself additional time, so that you know you will not be late.
You Must Adhere to Traffic Laws
Commuting on a daily basis means that people are often very familiar with their journeys, particularly if they take the exact same route every single day. As drivers become comfortable and experienced, they often tend to ignore traffic laws in place. For example, if there is a specific road with a speed limit, but that you know that is not officially monitored by a speed camera or local police, you may take advantage by going above the speed restriction. These careless actions can significantly increase the probability of accidents on the road, putting yourself and others in danger. For this reason, no matter how comfortable you get with your commute, stick to the traffic regulations and laws in place.
Your Car Requires Maintenance
If you commute on a regular basis by driving your car, it is important to know that your car will, evidently, require regular maintenance. Neglected cars can become liabilities on the road and cause accidents. Some issues will make themselves known by making one of the lights in your dashboard, and must not ignore these and get them checked as soon as possible. There are some daily checks that you should complete prior to your commute, and for further checks you must take your vehicle to a garage so it can be reviewed by an expert professional.
Financial Costs Add up
Choosing to drive in order to commute on a daily basis has its benefits, as briefly mentioned above. However, there also are some disadvantages. A major one is that it can be very costly to keep up with your car. As the previous paragraph mentions, you may require regular car maintenance which will cost money, and on top of that you will need enough money for fuel and potentially parking as well for when you arrive at work. All of this can be very expensive, although depending on where you live, public transport can be as costly.
Regular Driving and Driving Record
Everything you do as a driver will have an impact on your driving licence and even on your car insurance. Not everyone is aware that all driving violations are kept on official records and an accumulation of these can result in a revocation of your licence. You can find one of the private agencies that store these records that you can obtain at https://www.dmvrecords.us.org/. Not only can you use this system to check yourself out, you can also check someone else’s driving record, should you have sincere worries about their driving posing a potential risk of harm to others.
Impacts of Frequent Driving on Your Health
Commuting on a daily basis via car can have some effects on your health, specifically your emotional wellbeing, and not many individuals actually think about these. Most people endure long traffic queues which can cause high amounts of stress and exhaustion. We are all aware of the serious impacts of stress on physical health, as it can lead to heart problems and blood pressure issues. Car seats are not usually the most comfortable and will have you in the same position for a considerable amount of time, causing you back and knee problems. You can avoid this by having accessories, such as orthopedic cushions on your seat, that support your back.
Impacts of Driving on Environment
The constant use of vehicles not only will have an impact on you directly, it will also have serious impacts on the environment overall. The huge amount of cars on the roads every day contributes to the increase in air pollution and is one of the main causes of global warming. This is because cars emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, resulting in temperatures to rise globally. This also has detrimental effects on your health and of that of every living creature on the planet. There are safer ways to use your car to decrease this such as investing in an electric car or even carpooling with colleagues to reduce the number of cars on the road.
Commuting on a daily basis is a necessity for most of us, who do not live close to where we work. If you are a daily commuter, use some of the advice discussed above in order to remain a responsible driver and reduce negative effects of your daily commute on your health and driving record.