Driving tips from delivery people

UPS, DHL, and more offer shortcuts, lifehacks to make you a faster, safer driver.

As the holidays approach, it means streets will steadily fill with parcel-toting delivery trucks.

And it's the job of those behind the big vans' steering wheels to get your gifts to far-flung friends and family members in one piece - and on time.

The drivers' rigorous training arms them with knowhow that you, too, can employ while running your day-to-day errands.

Read on if you want to shave minutes off your journey, use less petrol, or stay more alert among holiday traffic jams.

"Don't turn against traffic."

For example, if you live in a country that drives on the right and permits a right turn on a red light?

Then that means avoiding left turns at all costs.

Nearly all the sources contacted for this story offered this as a top road tip: If you have to make a turn against traffic, it slows you down as you wait for the others cars, that have right-of-way, to pass.

"You can continue your journey without as many stops" if you don't turn across thoroughfares, says Dan McMackin, a former driver and driver trainer and now PR manager for UPS.

This ensures you save time, but that you're also driving more safely - the fewer lanes of traffic a delivery person needs to cross, the quicker and safer the journey.

Of course, knowing your neighbourhood like the back of your hand makes this easier.

"Know your streets and plan your route."

Knowing the lay of the land helps drivers deftly navigate their territory.

"Most important: territory knowledge," says Cain Moodie, Senior Vice President of Network Operations at DHL Express US.

That means "taking alternative routes to avoid peak traffic and understanding the habits of drivers around you."

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