Defensive Driving Tips

Defensive driving is the safe practices for motor vehicle operations. It is a training, practice and mindset for motor vehicle drivers. Defensive driving can be achieved by adherence to the most basic general rules of the road. When a driver understands the importance of defensive driving they can utilize the knowledge, skills and attitude to be a safe driver.

Do Not Speed

Speeding can cause three things; an increased amount of stored energy, a decrease in reaction time and the potential to receive a ticket from a nice officer.

Physics states the faster you go the more stored energy is accumulated. This energy must be released somehow. If you hit something that stored energy is released all at once, and is usually catastrophic. If you have to stop suddenly it is harder when you have the stored energy fighting you. To give you an idea, a loaded semi travelling at sixty miles per hour develops about 6.5 million foot-pounds of force.

An average reaction time is between .75 and 1.5 seconds. A real world example is: travelling at 50 miles per hour it would take a driver approximately 80 feet to react to a situation. If this same driver was driving at 70 miles per hour, their reaction time is reduced to 115 feet. This is the amount of time it takes for the normal driver to react to a situation. Roads have speed limits allocated based on population and road conditions. Going over the speed limit will cause your reaction time to be reduced for the area you are driving in.

Officer friendly will ticket you for going over the speed limit. Besides the initial cost of the ticket your insurance rates will increase as well. This increase will affect your insurance rating typically for three years.

Wear Your Seat Belt

There are a lot of reasons/excuses people have for not wearing their seat belt, none of them are good reason. Car manufacturers create “crumple zones” in cars. These zones are created for the safety of the driver. When a car is in a collision the car crumples around, and away from the driver and the passengers of the vehicle. When the manufacturers design their vehicles they take into consideration that everyone in the car is wearing a seat belt. If someone decides not to wear their seat belt then they can be thrown out of the “crumple zone” and into a more dangerous position within the car.

Avoid Sloppy Driving

Although, it can seem unimportant to some, all those traffic rules are in place for the driver’s safety. Obey traffic signs. These signs are not on the side of the street to be scenic.  Speed signs, “No U-Turn” signs, “No right turn on red” signs and “Stop” signs all have a purpose. Many safety rules on the road are to let the driver know what to expect from other drivers. When several cars come into am intersection, how do they know what to do next? A carefully placed “Stop” sign, “Yield” sign or traffic lights lets each driver know what is expected of the other drivers. These signs can help to thwart accidents. A good defensive driver will still be leery of other drivers, regardless of the signs.

Keep Your Eyes Looking Ahead

The typical driver only looks down the road 5 to 8 seconds ahead of their current position. This does not give the driver enough reaction time if an incident occurs. Try to focus your eyes and your mind 15 to 20 seconds (or about 2 blocks) from your current position. This gives the driver time to react to road signs, other drivers and other surprises that may occur. Although, this is an important tip, do not overdo it. It is still important to keep your eyes moving. Do not focus on any particular object for more than one second. Keep your eyes performing a constant scanning pattern ahead and to the sides of the vehicle. Focusing on any one point for too long can minimize the effectiveness of your peripheral vision. Your peripheral vision is your “early warning” vision, but as it minimizes it can quickly become “tunnel” vision.