81 Safety Quotes to Keep You Safer on the Road When You’re Driving

By Rainne Mendoza | Published July 27, 2022

To get from Point A to Point B, we all have to travel to get to our destination either by foot or by some type of vehicle.

If you’re the driver of the vehicle, these safety quotes and sayings will take you back to re-learn or refresh your mind with the most important part of driving – safety.

Consider it your non-traditional review course on Driving 101.

Why is safety so important?

When you drive, you’re accountable for anything and anyone you’ll pass up on the road including pedestrians, your fellow drivers, your passengers and yourself as well as inanimate and living objects around you.

Read these safety quotes and keep safe, alert, sharp and mindful when you’re on the road.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration.

Explore our complete collection of motivational quotes here.

Safety quotes about the conservation of human life

1. “Precaution is better than cure.” – Edward Coke

2. “Safety brings first aid to the uninjured.” – F.S. Hughes

3. “The real enemy of safety is not non-compliance but non-thinking.” – Dr. Rob Long

4. “Baseball is like driving. It’s the one who gets home safely that counts.” – Tommy Lasorda

5. “For safety is not a gadget but a state of mind.” – Eleanor Everet

6. “Government’s first duty and highest obligation is public safety.” – Arnold Schwarzenegger

7. “Nothing is of greater importance that the conservation of human life.” – Calvin Coolidge

8. “Shallow men believe in luck; wise and strong men in the cause and effect.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

9. “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” – Lewis Carroll

10. “If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt.” – Dean Martin

Road safety quotes on the ideal of caution

11. “The future of the safety movement is not so much dependent upon the invention of safety devices as on the improvement of methods of educating people to the ideal of caution and safety.” – Walter Dill Scott

12. “I’ve personally met up with quite a few legless, armless and other badly messed-up folks. There’s a whole lot of mighty serious accident contemplation going on in our hospitals. My observations have taught me that it is much better to think about accidents before they happen than to brood on them afterward. … Personally, I’d rather be late for dinner tonight here than to be on time for breakfast in the next world in the morning. Haste makes waste of a lot of good human material.” – Irvin S. Cobb

13. “A lot of the people who keep a gun at home for safety are the same ones who refuse to wear a seat belt.” – George Carlin

14. “Let’s manage safety recognizing how humans are and stop managing safety the way we wish humans were.” – Alan Quilley

15. “The automobile has brought death, injury and the most inestimable sorrow and deprivation to millions of people.” – Ralph Nader

16. “The economic waste resulting from carelessness is appalling, but anyone who stops for a moment to consider the sorrow and desolation which is brought into thousands of lives each year by utter thoughtlessness must feel a new resolve to make a habit of “Safety First.” – W. C. Durant

Safety quotes that will inspire you to do better

17. “Safety is 30% Common Sense, 80% Compliance and the rest is good luck.” – Barry Spud

18. “Teaching the world to be careful is a constructive service worthy of God’s great gift of life to man.” – Justice Harold H. Burton

19. “I’m not a daredevil. I don’t fly without a safety net.” – Steve Wynn

Safety quotes to make you wiser

20. “Patience is something you admire in the driver behind you and scorn in the one ahead.” – Mac McCleary

21. “Recklessness is a species of crime and should be so regarded on our streets and highways.” – Marlen E. Pew

22. “Safety First is Safety Always.” – Charles M. Hayes

23. “The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror with a cop in it.” – Dudley Moore

24. “The best safety lies in fear.” – William Shakespeare

Safety quotes to inspire and teach

25. “The driver that you have to sell on safety shouldn’t be driving.” – Kyle Petty

26. “The safety of the people is the highest law.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero

27. “The speedway ends at the cemetery.” – Unknown

28. “To develop foresight, you need to practice hindsight.” – Jane McGonigal

29. “To err is human. To cover up is unforgivable. And to fail to learn is inexcusable.” – Professor Sir Liam Donaldson

30. “To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.” – Chinese Proverb

31. “To the everyday driver, we’d like to say that, anytime you’re engaging in something else while driving, that really does increase your crash risk by two to three times.” – Charlie Klauer

32. “Working safely is like breathing – if you don’t, you die.” – Jerry Smith

33. “Self-driving cars are the natural extension of active safety and obviously something we should do.” – Elon Musk

More safety quotes to keep in mind when driving

34. “Faster is fatal, slower is safe.” ― Amit Kalantri

35. “Few people would dream of hiring a contractor to build them a house and expect it to be built to a safe standard only 85 percent of the time; similarly, few people would want to eat out in a restaurant where only 85 percent of the meals were safe to eat. Why then do we accept such sloppiness in road safety, where a situation in which 85 percent of drivers going the speed limit is deemed to be good enough?” ― Neil Arason

36. “Certified stunt drivers earn a living, unlawful dangerous driving will earn you tragedy.” ― Wayne Chirisa

37. “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” ― George Carlin

38. “Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.” ― Albert Einstein

39. “If four or five guys tell you that you’re drunk, even though you know you haven’t had a thing to drink, the least you can do is to lie down a little while.” ― Joseph M. Schenck

40. “Recklessness is a species of crime and should be so regarded on our streets and highways.” ― Marlen E. Pew

41. “For every “Drive Safely” sign, shouldn’t there be a “Resume Normal Driving” sign?” ― Robert Breault

42. “Driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 and above is illegal in every state.” ― Chuck Taylor

43. “It’s like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” ― E. L. Doctorow

Other important safety quotes on the road and beyond

44. “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” ― Benjamin Franklin

45. “The driver on the highway is safe not when he reads the signs, but when He obeys them.” ― Aiden Tozer

46. “Understand, our police officers put their lives on the line for us every single day. They’ve got a tough job to do to maintain public safety and hold accountable those who break the law.” ― Barack Obama

47. “At the end of the day, the goals are simple: safety and security.” ― Jodi Rell

48. “True public safety requires a collaboration between law enforcement and the community.” ― Betsy Hodges

49. “Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands.” ― Jeff Cooper

50. “Safety from external danger is the most powerful director of national conduct. Even the ardent love of liberty will, after a time, give way to its dictates.” ― Alexander Hamilton

51. “One is not exposed to danger who, even when in safety is always on their guard.” ― Publilius Syrus

52. “There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else.” ― James Thurber

53. “Your own safety is at stake when your neighbor’s wall is ablaze.” ― Horace

Short Safety Quotes On Speed Limit

54. “Drive safely. Your family is waiting for you at home alert today.” — Divyansh Dixit

55. “Honk if you love Jesus, text while driving if you want to meet up.” — Barbara Kingsolver

56. “Find your speed, maintain your velocity, keep it up, keep it consistent, and stay in the pocket.” — Sony Barger.

57. “Bad news travels at the speed of light; good news travels like molasses.” — Tracy Morga

58. I am not a speed reader, I am a speed understander.” — Isaac Asimov

59. Speed is irrelevant if you are going in the wrong direction.” — Mahatma Gandhi

60. “It’s not the car you drive. It’s the driver who’s driving the car that’s doing the driving.” — Vin Serento

61. “It’s not how you stand by your car, it’s how you race your car.” — Edwin

62. “The person traveling at the fastest pace does not always arrive at their destination first.” — Rasheed Ogunlaru

63. “The crashes people remember, but drivers remember the near misses.” — Mario Andretti

64. “A tree never hits an automobile except in self-defense.” – Unknown

65. “Caution is the parent of safety.”- Unknown

66. “Don’t learn by accident.” – Unknown

67. “Everything you need to get that relaxed driving that brings consistency only comes with practice.”- Unknown

68. “Hug your kids at home but belt them in the car.”- Unknown

69. “If safety is a joke, then death is the punchline.” – Unknown

70. “It takes 8,460 bolts to assemble an automobile, and one nut to scatter it all over the road.” – Unknown

71. “Leave sooner, drive slower, live longer.”- Unknown

72. “Luck runs out but safety is good for life.” – Unknown

73. “My job provides the paycheck but safety takes me home.” – Unknown

74. “Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly.” – Unknown

75. “Every accident is a notice that something is wrong with men, methods, or material — investigate — then act.” – Unknown

76. “Reckless driving is operating a vehicle in a speed or manner likely to endanger other drivers.” – Unknown

77. “Road sense is the offspring of courtesy and the parent of safety.” – Unknown

78. “Safety doesn’t happen by accident.” – Unknown

79. “Safety is a continuing journey, not a final destination.” – Unknown

80. “When you gamble with safety, you bet with your life.” – Unknown

81. “You are the key to safety.” – Unknown

Which of these safety quotes resonated with you best?

If you’ve already got tired of hearing people say, “Better safe than sorry” when they’re telling you to be extra careful when you engage in something as important as driving, then you probably have not been in an accident yet and hurt yourself or others.

These safety quotes that reveal the grim consequences of reckless driving should make you think twice going forward.

Always make sure your car is road compliant and your driving skills and habits are focused on safety.

Make the right decisions every time you’re behind the wheel.

Remember, road safety is important because it’s equal to the preservation of life which we all deserve to have and to live no matter what.