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We all spend so much time driving around in our cars that it is easy to forget how dangerous they can be. However good a driver you are, there is always a small risk that you could get into an accident, even if it isn’t your fault.

It’s not a pleasant thing to think about, but being prepared is always better than not. And, there are a few things that you can do to prevent accidents happening or at least mitigate any damage that could occur should the worst happen.

Lots of the advice that follows will probably be obvious to you if you are already a safety-conscious driver, but you would be surprised how many of the list you might need to be reminded of. For example, how often do you take a short journey without bothering to put your seatbelt on? Have you had a drink and then got behind the wheel recently?

Avoiding these common accident causes will give you peace of mind that your driving is as good as it can be, but there is still a chance that your will be caught up in an accident that is not your fault. In this case, you will need to know what to do next. This article on how to prove fault in a car accident from Lawsuit Legal will be a great help, especially if you have been in an accident recently.

Always Wear Your Seatbelt

There are plenty of good reasons to wear a seatbelt, and it’s not only the driver who must wear theirs. Passengers can become projectiles should your vehicle crash. This means that if anyone in the car isn’t wearing a seatbelt, the force of them hitting someone else in the car could kill them. Not to mention the fact that they could easily be launched out of the windscreen or any of the windows and into the road. Not a pleasant idea.

Make sure that your children are all fastened in and use carseats for younger children to make sure they are safe too. Children under 13 are advised to ride in the back seat and use child locks to make sure that they can’t open the door accidentally as you drive. As a parent, it is your responsibility to keep your children safe so however much they complain, make sure they wear their seatbelt!

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Don’t Drink and Drive

You’ve only had a glass of wine or a bottle of beer with your meal so you should be fine to drive – right? Well, you might be under the limit but driving is still a really bad idea. Even if you feel completely fine, getting a cab or public transport is a much better plan. In 2015, 10,265 people died in alcohol-impaired crashes. This number is staggering and should really make you think twice about whether you should get behind the wheel.

If you want to have a night on the town, always plan ahead to figure out how you are going to get home safely without driving yourself or allowing a friend to drink and drive. If driving really is your only option, take it in turns to be the designated driver. To make this role more appealing, you could establish a rule that whoever drives has all their soft drinks paid for by the rest of the group.

Take Your Time

When you’re on familiar roads, or particularly wide open roads, it is easy to find your speed creeping up without you even realising. Because you feel confident on this stretch, going a bit faster doesn’t feel like an issue. Take note of any speed limits in your area and stick to them. You should also be aware of changes to the weather and slow down in high winds or rain.

Always leave plenty of time for your journeys so you can’t be tempted to speed and if you do find yourself running late, find a safe place to pull over and simply tell whoever you’re meeting your situation. Being late is annoying, causing an accident is a disaster. Add timekeeping to your list of important things to keep on top of, and all will be well.

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Ignore Your Phone!

We are so connected these days, that the thought of ignoring our phones is actually unpleasant. However,unless your car has a bluetooth connection, you shouldn’t be on your phone while you drive. There are two obvious reasons for this: if you are concentrating on your phone, you aren’t concentrating on the road and if you have a phone in your hand, you can’t use that hand to steer or change gear in an emergency.

Even with a bluetooth connection, you need to make sure that you are still giving your full attention to the road and not allowing yourself to get to drawn into the conversation you are having. It only takes a second of inattention to cause trouble so if in doubt pull over to finish your conversation in a safe place or simply call them back when you arrive at your destination. In fact, Washington State has recently put this into law so that you can no longer hold your phone, coffee or mascara as you drive.

Get Your Car Serviced Regularly

If you are a sensible driver and you have got your seatbelt on, haven’t had a drink, left in plenty of time and have even gone so far as to leave your phone in the glovebox out of reach, there is one last thing you need to make sure you do: take your car for regular service checks.

Even if you are a perfect driver, a car on its last legs isn’t going to get you far and could certainly get you into trouble. Make sure you take your car for regular checks with a trusted car mechanic to be safe. You should also keep an eye on your tyres. Bald or flat tyres will make steering more difficult and could cause you to skid if you are driving fast. You should also top up your oil and screenwash regularly.

Stay Safe and Know Your Skill

Everyone thinks that they are a good driver, but often we aren’t quite as good as we think we are. Driving safely is simply a case of being aware of what is happening around you on the road and responding to any hazards that may occur. Usually, the best thing you can do is drive at a sensible speed and be patient with other drivers and road users.

If you do feel that you aren’t as safe on the road as you once were, speak to your doctor. This is an especially good idea if you are an older driver and you are less steady on your feet or your family have expressed concern.

Most of the time you are on the road, you will be perfectly safe but the point is that you shouldn’t take this for granted. Following this advice will help to make sure that you are as safe as you can be. Continue to drive sensibly and everything should be fine.

If you are caught in a car accident, then having your seatbelt on and a fully serviced car will give you the best chance of getting out unharmed and walking away with just a few bruises. Make sure that you have full car insurance to cover any damage costs and know your rights. It may be best to contact a lawyer to advise you on how to proceed after an accident especially if the accident was not your fault.

When allegations of sexual harassment and abuse by film producer Harvey Weinstein first came out a few weeks back, they opened the floodgates. Since then, it seems like every time I switch on the news, there are fresh allegations against him. A culture of harassment that spans the entirety of Hollywood has been uncovered and more victims are coming forward every day, and they aren’t just accusing Weinstein anymore. The most recent revelation was about House of Cards lead, Kevin Spacey. He has been accused of multiple sexual assaults on young men and I wouldn’t be surprised if more surface in the next few days.

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The focus has also started to shift away from Hollywood and onto society as a whole. People in all industries are coming out with their stories about sexual harassment and abuse and frankly, it’s scary. The #metoo campaign on twitter saw thousands upon thousands of people coming out to report their experiences with sexual harassment. There are so many people that are experiencing this on a regular basis, these are not isolated incidents carried out by a small minority. There is a serious problem with the way that society as a whole views women.

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When I first saw all of this unfold, my natural reaction was that this is awful. The fact that people had been doing this for so many years, and so regularly, was shocking. But then I realized that it’s a good thing at the same time. The conversation has been forced into the media and there’s nowhere to hide. We’ll have to address the problem in a meaningful sense, won’t we? I would hope so, but the legacy of the Weinstein scandal is still yet to be seen. There are a few ways that it might play out.

One of the biggest problems that we have with combating sexual assault is victim blaming. When a woman reports an incident, the first reaction is often to question and disbelieve them. This is absurd because you wouldn’t do that with any other crime. If I walked into a police station and said that I’d been mugged, nobody would suggest that I might be lying. Unfortunately, that happens all of the time with sexual assault victims. The result of this is that so many people are afraid to come forward, the chance of justice is very small, whereas the chance that they’ll get branded a liar is pretty high. I hope that recent revelations about systemic abuse will make people realize just how common this is and start taking allegations more seriously. One thing that we can be sure about is that this whole scandal has encouraged people to come forward and speak out about the things that have happened to them.

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However, we have to be realistic about things and I’m not entirely sure that the scandal will inspire a complete upheaval of the way that society brushes these incidents under the carpet. People will say that there’s no way that people can avoid it anymore, but the thing is, people knew about this. I read accounts of inappropriate behaviour towards young interns by Kevin Spacey years before he was officially accused. Similarly, plenty of people said that they were aware that Harvey Weinstein had a reputation for this kind of thing. Nobody did anything about it then, so I can’t be sure that they will now. I hope that they do, but it’s not guaranteed. Perhaps the most worrying example I can think of is Donald Trump. In the lead up to the election, a video recording of him was released; in it, he described how he used his power and influence to sexually harass women. He is now the most powerful man in the world.

This is one of the biggest issues that we face in tackling the problem. Discussing harassment is the first step, but we need to make tangible changes to the law. The problem is a lot of those people that are responsible for making those changes have been accused of similar behaviour themselves. We’ve already discussed Donald Trump, and the British parliament is currently carrying out an investigation into members of their government that have had accusations made against them. When the people that are in charge of changing laws to fight sexual harassment have been accused themselves, how can we trust them to do the right thing?

Another huge issue that we face is that the whole scandal is being driven by the online world. That raises a couple of problems; firstly, the internet is fickle. As soon as something else comes along, there’s the chance that it will take hold of the conversation and the current debate about sexual harassment will take a back seat. There will still be plenty of people talking about it, but it won’t be publicised as much.

The other issue with the online sphere is the witch hunt atmosphere. Since allegations started coming out, a google docs list was started, where anybody can add the names of people that have harassed them. This is being passed around and more names are being added all of the time. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think that all of these people should be held accountable for their crimes, but that should happen through the relevant legal channels. Imagine this situation; a bunch of names are added to this list and these people end up being investigated. In a lot of cases, there isn’t enough evidence to prosecute, even if a crime has been committed. If these people have already publicly been named as sexual predators, it’s all too easy for people to fall back on the argument that the victim is lying and the problem that we have with victim blaming comes back stronger than ever. The whole thing will be put down to a bunch of people on the internet lying about allegations and we’re back to square one.

Those are some pretty grim predictions and I hope that we do see progress in the wake of the Weinstein scandal, but if we aren’t careful about the way that we deal with the fallout, we could end up moving backwards.