Cleanliness and sanitisation of your car and yourself is an important topic for any driver, and even more so now. Any effort that can help to reduce the spread or contracting of bacteria or viruses is a step in the right direction, and marginal gains across the board are sure to contribute to the whole. Here are some tips to help you on the road:

1. Disinfect major touchpoints

It goes without saying that surfaces that are touched more often by multiple people are the biggest culprits in transferring anything. Get a cloth and a disinfecting solution with at least 70 percent alcohol content to wipe down your steering wheel, HVAC and radio controls, door handles and window controls regularly. It may shock you to know that your steering wheel, for example, is carrying 4 times more bacteria than the average public toilet seat.

Don’t forget the horn, especially if you’re the sort to use it often. If so, use it for good, not evil.

2. Go contactless

This applies to a variety of interactions, for example at the carpark or toll booth. Instead of pressing buttons to receive a parking ticket, use a card or app option instead. For the toll, any option that avoids interaction with a touch surface or toll booth attendant is preferred.

Just drive, no touching. Except for your steering wheels, where your hands should be at 9 and 3 at all times.

3. Beware the Fuel Pump

This is an area completely out of your control. Besides not knowing who has been in contact with the fuel pump at your neighborhood petrol station, there is no guarantee that the staff or management are diligently disinfecting it — virus pandemic or otherwise. In a self-service petrol station, the best you can do is to wash your hands thoroughly after filling up the fuel in your car and replacing the pump. This is the worst offender by far, with nearly 11,000 times the bacteria density of a toilet seat, albeit the one in your house.

You are essentially shaking hands with a germ colony. Wash your hands after, they won’t feel offended.

4. Wash Your Own Car

Keeping your car clean is admirable, essential even. The issue with a car wash, however, is in the people. The staff, other customers — there are too many sources of possible virus transmission at a car wash, or any other crowded place for that matter. Anyone incubating viruses unknowingly could pass it on to you, either directly or through touch surfaces in or on your car. The best solution, then, is to wash your car yourself.

Therapeutic, cost-effective AND low in invisible contaminants? Sign me up.

5. Keep Yourself Clean

Despite all the previous steps, an important step is to cleanse yourself when you get home. Before plopping yourself down on your bed or lounging on your sofa, it is advisable to take a shower and discard the clothes you were wearing into the laundry. This is your best chance of not carrying bacteria and viruses into your home and possibly spreading it to your loved ones.

This is a little over the top; the mask is unnecessary. But you get the idea.

There is no guarantee that any or all of the above will eliminate the chances of contracting viruses or spreading bacteria. However, all of these should reduce the chances of transmission, which is a result definitely worth your time.

Stay safe and healthy with best wishes from the Fluxsters. Check us out at www.driveflux.com.