Be smooth.

Get real training. Not a "driving school", but something offered by a car club on a
race track or coned-off parking lot where you can safely experience the car at its
limits under the tutelage of an instructor.
Look where you're going, where you've been, and where everybody else is going. Be
completely aware of everything and everyone around you.
Be smooth.
Take driving seriously. Don't be doing anything but driving when you are the
driver.
Learn to calculate following distance by counting off two seconds. (In other words,
don't tailgate.)
Be smooth.
Don't surprise anybody.
Have an escape plan at all times: Assume that every other driver on the road is
trying to kill you.
On highways make a right lane change whenever you can. Make a left lane change only
when you have to. (Invert for right-hand drive countries.)
Be smooth.
Know how fast you are going. Always.
Be polite.
Make your priorities safe, then courteous, then fun, then legal.
Be smooth.