Now-a-days the navigational apps are causing us to lose our sense of direction. The reliance on these devices is destroying the ability to use maps and a compass. What if your GPS fails you? This over-reliance dulls your senses. In addition, the devices are often inaccurate and without a sense of direction you may have an inability to look at your surroundings and use addresses to find what you are looking for.

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When traveling, especially with strangers in an Uber, while hitchhiking, or using Lift, always watch where you are going. Memorize the route back to where you know you will be safe. You are completely under their control and need to be aware of where you actually are.

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People will blindly follow their GPS without checking the route first. I'm guilty of this myself. After a vacation where I didn't want to travel highways, I forgot to turn the feature on my app off. I had an appointment and blindly followed the GPS. If I would have  sat down and planned first, I knew exactly where I was going. However, the GPS rerouted me from the highway and I zigzagged all the way there. I ended up being late for my appointment because of this reliance and lack of planning.

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In an emergency situation, it is essential to have a knowledge of navigation and pre-planned direction.

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Being situationally aware on the road saves lives and prevents accidents. Cell phones, and distracted driving can make for very dangerous situations. You should be constantly scanning the areas around your vehicle. Brian Duff, from Mind 4 Survival, gave me a fun exercise to increase awareness. He advised that while driving, try to count out all of the blue cars that you see. When you get familiar with that, start trying to identify how many people are in the vehicle.

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Some additional exercises you can do are try to recognize familiar cars that you see often on your commute. Do they go the same route as you? While observing other cars (safely), observe the driver. What are they doing? Are they communicating with body language? How are they driving? This takes you out of your personal bubble. The final exercise is to randomly pick a car and start describing it like you would to someone else.

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Thezebra.com/road-rage-statistics gives some interesting road rage stats for 2019. Be aware of people out there! Road rage is broadly defined as a physical response to someone else's driving. Most people will stir quietly about an offense committed by another driver. However, forty five percent of people admitted to yelling in their car, thirty five percent reported honking at another car and twenty two percent of people surveyed admitted to making a rude gesture.

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The most infuriating things reported from those surveyed is cutting another driver off, tailgating, and using a handheld device while driving. The most commonly used ways to calm down a driver were listening to music, calling a friend or family member to vent the feelings, and driving someplace remote and quiet.

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From 2006 to 2015 fatal road rage crashes were up from eighty to four hundred and sixty seven. That's a five hundred percent increase! The states with the most reported road rage incidents are Texas, Michigan, and Georgia. The states that reported having the kindest drivers were Minnesota, Tennessee, and Georgia. I am not sure how Georgia made both lists. I guess they are very friendly until you make them angry.