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Steps
Be prepared
Wear your seat belt. Wearing your seatbelt is one of the most important things you can do to survive a car crash. Make sure that your lap belt sits low on your hip bones and that the shoulder belt goes across the centre of your chest. Children should be seated in proper child restraints until they are large enough to properly wear a lap and shoulder belt.

Drive a safe car which is fitted with seat belts and other safety features. Do not sit in a seat which has no head support. Older cars, which may just have lap belts and almost never have any additional safety features, are generally less safe than large vehicles. SUVs tend to be more prone to rollover accidents than cars. Try to drive the safest car that suits your needs and budget. The Insurance Institute for highway safety maintains extensive crash test ratings and lists of safe vehicles of different sizes and styles.

Store objects such that they will not hit you if the car gets hit. If an object could become a projectile during a crash, either remove it from the car, or stow it in the trunk, or, in the case of a minivan, in the well behind the seat.

Make sure the safety systems on your car are serviced regularly. Airbags and seat-belts significantly reduce injury and death in automobile accidents.
Make sure your car’s engine, brakes, transmissions, suspension and tyres are in good condition. The safest accident is the one you don’t get in; having your car in top running condition can help you avoid an accident or minimise harm in case you get in an accident.

Use good driving practices
Obey traffic laws and be conscious of current conditions. Adjust your driving if in heavy traffic or inclement weather. Sixty miles per hour maybe safe when it’s dry, but if a sudden rain falls, wetting the roadway and raising oil off the ground, it will probably be safer to drive at a lower speed.

Focus on what you are doing. While driving, avoid using cell phones, reading maps, eating and other distracting activities. If you are a passenger, sit up straight with your seat-belt fastened. Don’t lean your seat too far back, don’t put your feet up on the dashboard, and definitely do not distract the driver. Do not place objects on top of the air bag enclosure.

Anticipate potential problems. Observe the road looking for things that could end up causing an accident.
Look ahead for cars or pedestrians that may move into your car’s path.
Keeping a safe distance behind other vehicles (following the “two second rule”) can help you have enough time to react when a vehicle in front of you makes an unexpected move.
Stay away from distracted drivers (e.g. the guy on his way to work using an electric razor), tailgaters and other drivers engaging in risky behaviours.
Keep an eye on parked cars. They may pull out in front of you; people may exit from them or move from between them without much warning.

Avoid or minimise an accident
Stay calm. If an accident appears imminent, you need to respond quickly but smoothly. Vehicles of all types respond better to smooth steering and braking inputs.
Choose your course of action. You need to decide what combination of steering, braking and accelerating will best serve to avoid or minimise the harm from an accident.

Brake with control. Braking practices vary depending upon whether your vehicle has antilock brakes.
No antilock brakes — If your car lacks antilock brakes, you need to pump the brakes to keep the car under control. If you slam on the brakes, your car will start to skid and you will lose control. You cannot steer a vehicle when the brakes are locked. Press firmly, then release. If you feel the tyres start to skid release the brakes before steering.

Antilock brakes — Do not pump antilock brakes. Your car’s ABS computer will pulse them much faster than you can (you will feel the pedal vibrate a bit when this occurs). Just hold the brakes firmly and steer normally.

Steer smoothly.  Very jerky motions of the steering wheel, especially with heavy vehicles or those with light rear ends (e.g. pickup trucks) are likely to lead to skids.
Accelerate if needed. Although it seems counter-intuitive, sometimes the best way to avoid an accident is to speed up and get out of the way.
Take steps to recover if you start to skid or lose control. If your car starts to skid or if a tyre blows, follow these steps to control the car.

• Don’t hit the brakes. This will only make things worse.

• Keep a firm grip on the wheel.

• Steer in the direction of the skid. If the back of your car is sliding to the driver’s left, turn the wheels to the left.

• Wait for your tyres to regain traction before braking or pressing the accelerator.

• If a crash is unavoidable, try to minimise damage.

• Avoid head-on collisions into other vehicles or front-end collisions into immovable objects like large trees or concrete barriers.

• Do as much as you can to control your car’s speed. The faster the impactt the more damage it will cause.

• Avoid side impacts. Serious injury is likely to result if another car strikes your car on the side where it is much weaker structurally.

• Call emergency services after a crash. Apply first aid if needed. Do not attempt to remove injured people from a vehicle. Explosions are very unlikely, and you could aggravate any neck spinal injuries, even if the victim feels uninjured.

Tips
Be sure to exchange information with others involved in the accident and get information from eyewitnesses.
If you aren’t the one driving, in most, if not all cases, the middle back seat is the safest place to be (that is, with seatbelts. Without a seatbelt can send you shooting through the windshield in a front-on collision)
Warning
Do not bend over or cover your head. In the event of a roll over, any force significant enough to warp in the roof and bend or break the A-beams might hit your head, and possibly knock you unconscious. It is unlikely to do nearly as much damage as that caused to your neck from having your head in front of the air bags when they deploy.

• Ralph Magunje can be contacted at [email protected]