Five New Safety Habits to Adopt in 2017

As we go through life, personal safety should be our constant goal in an ever-changing and sometimes uncertain world. The following five habits can keep you safer in 2017.

• Use real-time alert apps.

Your smartphone can be a useful tool to help you avoid dangerous situations. Use a mapping app with real-time traffic to avoid heavy traffic and accident scenes. Weather apps alert you to incoming storms or unsafe driving conditions. Another useful safety tool, LiveSafe is a crowdsourced intelligence app where people can report shootings and other dangerous situations in real time to help people avoid those areas.

• Keep your distance while driving.

Of course, this safety tip isn’t new, but in a day where texting and driving is producing more distracted drivers on the road, keeping plenty of distance between you and other cars could saver your life.

• Change passwords regularly (but not all the time).

Keep yourself safe in cyberspace as well! Changing your passwords regularly reduces the risk of hacking, but Wired Magazine suggests when you change them too often, you’re more likely to make only small changes that hackers can predict. Instead, use strong passwords and change them completely once a year or so.

• Change your daily routine.

If you walk or drive on the same route every day, thieves can identify your patterns and plan for you. Try changing up your route to work or leaving home at different times so your movements are harder to predict.

• Stow your phone.

Your phone not only distracts you when you’re walking or driving, it can also be a magnet for thieves. Stow it while walking, driving, taking public transportation or in other public places for greater safety.

For more safety tips especially while driving, see our post on Seven Spring Driving Tips.

If you are injured in an accident, contact our Washington D.C. personal injury attorneys to discuss your options.