How can PHP developers avoid fatal errors related to incorrect date values in their code?

PHP developers can avoid fatal errors related to incorrect date values by validating user input to ensure it matches the expected date format before processing it. They can also use PHP's built-in date functions to manipulate and format dates safely. Additionally, setting the default timezone in the PHP configuration file can help prevent unexpected behavior when working with dates.

// Validate user input before processing
$date = $_POST['date'];
if (DateTime::createFromFormat('Y-m-d', $date) !== false) {
    // Process the date
    $formattedDate = date('Y-m-d', strtotime($date));
    echo "Formatted date: " . $formattedDate;
} else {
    echo "Invalid date format";
}