The sun is out, your moonroof is open, your socks match, and your hair is cooperating for once. Could your morning get any better? Perhaps not, but it could get worse because of a myriad of little things that you never even thought about. To reduce your chance of bruisin’ after cruisin’, take a moment to check your habits, and do some of the basic maintenance you’ve been putting off.

The Absent Sun Visor

While the Utah grid system is normally a pretty sweet setup, the direct East and West orientation can add extra pain to your rush-hour commute when you don’t have a sun visor. When the bright spring sun makes beautiful silhouettes with it’s dramatic backlighting, do a favor to those ahead and behind you by keeping a vigilant watch for brake lights.

If you’re not stylin’ enough already in your ‘92 Buick with the hood ornament, tape deck, and red velvet interior, you should add some vintage sunglasses so that your eyes don’t end up as wrinkly as your grandpa you inherited the car from.

Puppy Wuv

Everybody just loves spotting Spot the puppy running back and forth along the back seat of a car, catching the breeze from the window on the right, then the left, then the right, then the right again, tail wagging faster than windshield wipers, that is until the precocious pooch tries to catch the breeze from the driver’s side window and causes a crash.

Likewise, when your little brother needs to take his bearded dragon to the vet down the street, a pet carrier is prudent for more than one reason.

Pest Problems

Have you ever received a nice warm eight-legged hug while speeding down I-15? Once you’ve pulled over safely you can find an alternate route for the invading arachnid, and once you’ve pulled into the garage it’s worth it to vacuum the crumbs out of your carpet.

Living Out of Your Car

When the employees at Arctic Circle have your order memorized you know you’ve been going through the drive through too much. Though the steering wheel TV tray attachment isn’t likely to hit the market anytime soon there is this nifty invention called a cup holder. All you have to do is safely remove the junk that’s already in it, replace it with your beverage of choice, and voila! You’re good to go. Bonus points for not drinking that Lime Ricky while driving.

Makeup in the car can be awfully handy for fashion emergencies but can also cause roadside emergencies if you’re not careful. Keep those freshly made eyes on the road and keep the small bottles from rolling behind your brakes.

Don’t Scrap the Scraper!

One lovely morning when the air is crisp and cool, you realize all too late that the scraper brush from your passenger seat is missing in action. What was once a nuisance is now a necessity. Take a moment from your morning rush to thoroughly defrost and scrape off your car. That is unless you’re superman and can use your laser vision to heat up the glass and to see through the frost.

Bonus Expected Cause: Distracted Driving

Even when your voice command technology is so low tech that it consists of an actual human dialing the phone number, distracted driving can still happen. Before you say “Sarah, play ‘Life is a Highway” make sure you’re focused on the highway. When it comes to buttons, whether they be on your jacket, your radio, or your built in ‘90s car phone complete with a cord, practicing a little patience pays off.

No matter how good you are at avoiding distractions, you can’t guarantee everyone else on the road is at the same level you are. Should you get in an accident, Robert J. DeBry and Associates has got your back. They’ve been around since before your vintage ‘92 Buick was even manufactured.

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