You know you have to drive today, but the time of that trip is all up to you. This isn’t your standard morning commute when you have no choice but to join the stream of traffic on the way to the office — or the packed rush hour traffic on the way home. Your schedule is completely open, so you decide that you want to pick the absolute safest time to drive. When is that?
What you really want to shoot for are the early morning hours, when traffic is lightest. Technically, some studies note that you face the lowest level of risk when driving around 3:00 a.m. They say that the risk level starts to climb a little after 4:00 a.m. Odds are you do not want to be out so early, though, so a good rule of thumb is to try to drive before 8:30 a.m. This helps you avoid the other workers heading in for the day.
If it’s a weekend, you may have a bigger window. People tend to sleep in, fewer people have to go to work, and traffic levels can stay down longer. That said, Tuesday morning is statistically the safest time to drive. In fact, driving too early on a weekend can increase your danger. It may be the morning for you, but there are still a fair number of impaired drivers out from the night before.
You cannot always choose when you drive and you cannot always avoid the risks posed by other drivers. If you get injured in an accident, make sure you know what options you have.
