Are you planning on embarking on a road trip in the near future? If you’ve never traveled alone, you might wonder if there are important safety tips you should know as a solo female traveler.
Essential safety tips for females driving alone include ensuring your car is in good condition, planning your trip well, and informing your loved ones of your movements. You should also lock your windows and doors, avoid distractions, stay alert, stop in public places, and avoid traveling at night.
This article will discuss fifteen essential safety tips for females driving alone. Let’s get started!
1. Ensure Your Car Is in Good Condition
If you’ve been postponing that appointment with your mechanic or ignoring a warning light on your dashboard, before embarking on your trip is the best time to address it.
Ensuring that your car is in good condition and not likely to break down during your road trip is an essential safety tip. The last thing you need is to get stuck in a remote or dangerous area, which could make you a target.
Here’s a list of things to check before your road trip:
- Windshield and wiper blades: Your windshield shouldn’t have any cracks (which could affect your visibility) and your wiper blades should be in good condition.
- Horn and lights: Ask a friend or family member to help you check your car’s horn and lights. This should include checking if your brake lights and indicator lights are working.
- Tires: Your tires should have enough tread to ensure a good and safe grip on the road. If not, they should be replaced. You should also check your spare tire and ensure that you have a jack if you get a flat.
- Engine belts: The belts in your engine should be tight, and not show signs of wear and tear.
- Dashboard: Check your dashboard for any warning lights. They will come on when you turn your ignition on. Often, it’s just a case of doing an oil change, but you may need to attend to something more serious.
- Oil: Your car’s oil should be translucent and slightly yellow/green. If not, replace the oil or take your car in for an oil change.
- Battery: The battery provides life to your car’s electrical system to ensure that it works. Use a brush, baking soda, and water to remove corrosion at both terminals.
- Check all fluids: Check if your car needs brake fluid, water, and windshield washer fluid.
In some cases, it’s worth taking your car in for a tune-up to ensure that it’s as safe as possible.
In addition to ensuring that your car is safe for the road trip, set up other items you might need inside your car, such as a car phone charger or a cup holder.
2. Plan Your Trip Early and Thoroughly
Remember Benjamin Franklin’s quote – “failing to plan is planning to fail”. This also holds true when planning a solo road trip.
Early planning can help you decide where to stop along the way, and the best routes to take. For instance, although your road trip can be more scenic and relaxing traveling along the side roads, major highways and routes can be safer and better lit. Also, they are more likely to have busier rest stops and gas stations, which is less of a safety risk.
Knowing your route ahead of time can help you avoid getting accidentally lost, and having to ask strangers for directions, which can sometimes be a safety risk. With this in mind, make sure that you have a reliable GPS app on your smartphone.
While preparing, assemble an emergency kit for your car with the tools necessary for solving common problems. This may include a flat tire, in which case the tools should contain a tire iron, an emergency jack, and a spare tire.
If you don’t already know how to change a spare tire, now’s a good time to learn how to do it.
The weather and road conditions can also influence what you’ll need. A shovel and ice scraper can come in handy if you’ll be traveling in a snowy area.
Taking a well-equipped first-aid kit is also a good idea. This should include the following:
- Bandages
- Tourniquet
- Disinfectant
- Painkillers
- Antihistamines
You should also take a look at the weather forecast before starting your road trip so that you know what to expect. If there are severe storms or heavy snow predicted, you might consider postponing the trip for a day or two.
3. Inform Your Relatives and Friends
Before leaving on your solo trip, inform close family members and friends of your intended route and where you plan to stop.
You might consider telling them that you will send them a message or call them every evening so that if they don’t hear from you, they know that there is a problem.
4. Secure Your Doors and Windows
When driving alone, keep your doors locked and windows up (with the air conditioning on, of course). If your car doesn’t have air conditioning, roll down your windows just enough for some ventilation.
This is especially important in slow-moving traffic or if you are stopped at a red light in a dangerous area. It only takes a few seconds for someone with bad intentions to try and open one of your car doors.
It also goes without saying that you should lock your car and roll up the windows when you leave it. This helps prevent theft of items in your car and theft of the car itself.
Locking your trunk securely is also a good idea, even when there’s nothing inside. Trunks often give access to the rear car seats, and someone could easily sneak into your car through there.
If your car has an auto-lock feature, don’t rely on it. Double-check your doors and trunk to have peace of mind.
5. Aim to Travel During the Day
Traveling during the day is much safer than driving at night for various reasons:
- The roads and rest stops are better lit
- There are more cars on the road and people at rest stops
- You are less likely to feel tired
When driving alone, you don’t have anyone else to take driving shifts, so taking regular breaks is vital. Aim to stop and take at least a twenty-minute break every two to three hours. This will allow you to stretch your legs, use the restroom, and fill up with gas.
If you have to travel at night, stay in well-lit areas with lots of traffic. In my complete guide, I go into more detail about this tip and provide other tips for staying safe at night as a woman on a solo trip. [XX Ways to Stay Safe at Night as a Woman]
6. Avoid Distractions
As we all know, being distracted while driving can be dangerous. You should, therefore, plan to answer messages and phone calls only when you stop or use a hands-free kit.
If you find yourself stuck in a traffic jam, avoid engaging in small talk with other drivers. Car thieves sometimes work in pairs, and if your cars, windows, and trunk aren’t locked, you could become a victim.
7. Stay Alert
In the previous section, I mentioned that it’s a good idea to avoid distractions while driving. This helps you to remain alert while driving, become aware of dangers, and have time to react.
Before starting on your road trip, and after each rest stop, consider briefly inspecting your car before resuming your drive. This should involve checking the following:
- Trunk
- Back seats
- Front seats
- Tires
If you notice that anyone seems to be following you, take a few sharp or unexpected turns to confirm if it’s the case. If so, contact the emergency services or stop at the closest gas station where there are a lot of people.
Not everyone or everything is a threat at all times, but never let your guard down throughout the trip.
8. Stop at Public Places
When stopping during your road trip, choose public and busy places, if you can.
Consider these tips:
- Ensure that the parking area is well-lit, with many people moving around.
- Position the car, so you’ll approach the driver’s side when you return.
- Prepare your key before arriving at your car when you’re leaving so that you won’t have to stand for long while rummaging through your purse or pocket.
- Ask a police officer or security guard to follow you if you notice anything suspicious.
- Don’t unlock the car from afar, and only do so when you’re approaching it.
9. Hide Your Valuables
Most car thefts are from opportunistic thieves attracted by what they see. Usually, if they can’t find any reason to break into your car, they won’t bother.
So, if you’re bringing valuables on the journey, keep them out of sight entirely. These items include phones, laptops, purses, etc.
10. Keep a Phone Charger in the Car
Your phone is an important item on a road trip as a solo traveler. It can help you navigate but can also be a lifeline if you need to contact someone in an emergency situation.
To prevent your battery from dying, keep a phone charger in your car. If you don’t already have one, a phone holder (that fits into the air vents or sticks onto the windshield) can keep your phone in a convenient position.
11. Have In-Car Entertainment
Driving alone can be good for the soul, and give you plenty of time to think about important things. However, it can sometimes get boring, especially if you have no one to talk to. Boredom can sometimes lead to drowsiness, which can make driving dangerous.
With this in mind, you might consider some in-car entertainment:
- Create a playlist. There are many excellent apps that allow you to stream music and create playlists. A car trip is the perfect opportunity to listen to your favorite music, and enjoy new and old songs.
- Audiobook. Have you been meaning to read a book but have been too busy? Why not listen to the audio version on your car trip? The more gripping and exciting, the better!
- Listen to a podcast. There are billions of podcasts out there, and there should definitely be some that you find interesting and educational.
12. Be Well-Rested
Although a road trip involves sitting for a long period, it can be surprisingly tiring because you need to remain alert, with your eyes on the road, at all times.
Make sure that you have a good night’s sleep before hitting the road, and take regular breaks to avoid fatigue.
Driving alone for more than ten hours is not a good idea as you will likely become too tired to concentrate fully on the road. If your road trip is very long, consider breaking your journey up and stopping overnight at a hotel or motel.
13. Have Snacks and Water in the Car
While having snacks and water in the car might not seem like an obvious safety tip, they can help you to concentrate better on the road, prevent low blood sugar levels, and keep you feeling alert.
Consider keeping your water in an insulated bottle or flask to keep it tasting ice cold and refreshing. Caffeinated drinks can help you feel more alert but try not to overdo it as they can make you feel jittery and dehydrated.
Healthy snacks that sustain your blood sugar level are a good idea, and some great examples include:
- Nuts (such as peanuts or almonds)
- Dried fruit
- Chopped fresh fruit
- Trail mix
- Granola bars
14. Bring Cash
In these modern times, it’s not necessary to carry cash with you as most places accept credit or debit cards. But your credit card doesn’t always work on a solo trip. If you plan on spending the night or eating in a remote location, you might have to pay in cash. [Do You Really Need a Credit Card for Solo Travel?]
Keep the cash securely in your wallet, and avoid carrying too much.
15. Lock Away Your Important Documents
One of the worst and most frustrating things that can happen to you on a solo road trip is your important documents getting stolen. Consider locking your passport in your glove box or stashing it in a secure place.
Making copies of your important documents or scanning them and storing them on an app, such as Google Drive or Dropbox
, could save you a lot of hassle should the worst happen.