Maintaining a clean driving record is one of the best ways to keep your auto insurance rate low or even experience a decrease in your insurance premium when your policy comes up for renewal each year. Although you can also complete a defensive driving course and provide proof of the accomplishment to your insurance company to have your premium lowered, there's an up-front cost to this approach. If you're on a budget or don't have the spare time for such a course, focus on being as safe as you can behind the wheel. Here are three refresher tips about maximizing your driving safety.

Slow Down

In today's society, it's easy to feel short on time and drive faster than the speed limit as a way of supposedly making up time. Unless you're taking a long drive, however, speeding does little to get you to your destination quicker. In fact, any time you might occasionally save by speeding comes at an increased risk of costly speeding tickets. Slowing down and following the speed limit not only reduces your risk of costly accidents and speeding tickets, but also won't really make you reach your destination in much more time than speeding.

Keep Your Head On A Swivel

Over a long drive or a dull workday commute, it can be tempting to stare straight ahead and allow your mind to drift off to something more pleasant. This driving strategy, however, means that you aren't aware of other drivers. You might trust your driving ability, but you shouldn't trust those around you. Distracted drivers and those who don't obey the rules of the road can cause an accident in the blink of an eye. You can drastically increase your likelihood of avoiding an accident by consistently checking your mirrors, blind spots and, in general, maintaining a constant eye on those around you.

Get Familiar With Your Route

Not having a clear understanding of where you're going can elevate your chance of an accident. If you're too busy trying to look for a road sign or watching your GPS screen, you aren't being as safe as you can behind the wheel. Whenever you're traveling somewhere new, take a few minutes to check the route on an Internet map. Doing so gives you a rough idea of the journey ahead and can also alert you to traffic issues such as accidents or road closures that you might want to detour around.

For more information or other tips, look at sites like http://www.collinginsurance.com/.