Be a Good Passenger!

Do you know someone who is a “bad passenger?”  You might want to forward this article to them!  And for those of us who are not always in the driver’s seat, here is a nice refresher course on back seat etiquette:

Be a good co-pilot

“Basically, help drive the car,” Kendall says. “Be the eyes and ears when the driver is pulling out onto a highway or making a turn. Turn your head and lean back if the driver’s trying to see if anything's on the right, or look yourself and inform the driver. Don’t make the driver ask you to put your seatbelt on. And If you're a on a journey to somewhere you've both never been and you have no Nav system, be the navigator.“

Hang up

“When a passenger talks on the phone, they are zoning—not paying attention,” Kendall said. “It’s hard for the driver to have to listen to that because you can't walk away from it or plug your ears. Try to keep your voice down and keep it brief, or stay off the phone altogether.”

Contain your vocal reactions in tight spots

“When you yell, you’re actually helping the driver to hit something,” Kendall said. “You need everything you’ve got to get through an emergency situation, and yelling, gasping or exclaiming is a huge distraction that pulls the driver away from concentrating.”

He suggests having a talk with passengers beforehand if they’re nervous.

“People get in the car with me sometimes and they think I’m going to drive like we’re on the race track. But I’m incredibly self-centered and I don’t want to get hurt any more than they do. I just tell them, ‘”I’m not going to do anything to hurt you.’”

Pay closer attention when the car is packed with people.

“Almost without exception when there are people in the car,” Kendall says, “The car slows down, drifts into other lanes and passengers can take the driver’s attention away from the road. The more people in the car, the more everyone has to defer to the driver, which can mean lowering your voices, keeping the music at a reasonable level, and being aware of what’s going on outside the vehicle.”

 

Check out the whole article with even more tips here: http://autos.aol.com/article/good-passenger/