Defensive Driving 101
Why defensive driving is so important.
By BENGT HALVORSON
Defensive driving means that you're on guard and ready for what might happen -- cautious, yet ready to take action and not put your fate in the hands of other irresponsible drivers. According to National Safety Council data, 77 percent of all accidents are attributed to driver error. If you become a good, defensive driver, you can cut that percentage significantly.
Here are some important elements of defensive driving:
Allow enough space ahead.
Four out of 10 accidents involve rear-end collisions, many of which could have been avoided by simply following at a safe distance rather than tailgating. You should allow at least two seconds between your vehicle and the car ahead of you. That gap should be lengthened to three seconds at highway speeds and four or more in rain or other poor weather conditions.
Look ahead. Don't depend on other drivers. Keep your speed down. Adjust for hazards. Avoid frequent lane changes. Use lights and signals. Keep a proper driving position. Wear your seat belt. Cut out distraction. It's all about the attitude!
The FBI says police officers are about as likely to be killed in a vehicle crash as with a criminal's gun. Cops drive in a high-threat, workload-intensive environment: blaring sirens, flashing computers, screaming radios, civilian drivers seemingly bent on kamikaze attacks, and, at their destination, angry bad guys who don't particularly respect public servants. All reasons that cops take driving very seriously. With feedback from officers in the field, law enforcement driving instructors have compiled numerous tips to help their students avoid becoming a statistic. Here, we pass those along to you. Watch Your Hands Side Windows Lock Your Doors Back In Back Up Right Foot Only The Fog Line Lights Down Final Tip
Scan the road and the surrounding area at least a few hundred yards ahead for potential road hazards. Look around on both sides, and keep your eyes open for approaching vehicles, pedestrians, or animals that might enter your path.
Be considerate of others, but look out for yourself. Don't assume that another driver is going to move out of the way or allow you to merge. Plan your movements anticipating the worst-case scenario.
Remember that the posted speed limit applies to ideal conditions. You're responsible for decreasing your speed to match the conditions.
By slowing down or speeding up only slightly, or by moving to a different lane position, you may avoid a potentially hazardous situation.
Try to maintain a speed near that of the flow of nearby traffic. Remember your lane discipline and keep right unless passing. Remember to check the blind spot before making a lane change, too.
Turn your headlights on in dim daylight, rain, or other low-visibility weather conditions, and remember to always use turn signals. For expressway driving, we also believe that, when still at a distance, a quick blink of the flash-to-pass feature on your headlights is far safer than the tailgating or the aggressive right-lane passing that often otherwise results. If you're in town, direct eye contact and gentle gestures might help clear any doubts over who has the right of way.
Maintain a comfortable, upright driving position, with both hands on the steering wheel (preferably at the nine- and three-o'clock positions). This will put you in a better position to make sudden avoidance maneuvers.
It's still the best thing you can do to protect yourself in case the unexpected happens. It's hard to believe there are still those who don't buckle up, even though seat belt use rates have never been higher.
Any time you become preoccupied with distractions, you're letting your defenses up. As always, minimize your eating, drinking, CD-changing, and cell phone conversations. Save them for when you're stopped in a safe place.
Although defensive driving includes all of the above considerations, it's better described as a realization that driving is a privilege that you share with many others, that there are real people in other vehicles -- possibly even family, co-workers, or loved ones -- and that aggressive, irresponsible driving on your part could put your life and the lives of others in danger. Defend your life.
By JOE HOLLINGSWORTH
Airbags save lives, but many a police officer has been unnecessarily injured because their hands were over the airbag when it went off. At the school for law enforcement driving instructors I recently attended, the story was told of an officer who was driving with his wrist draped over the top of the steering wheel. His attention was diverted by the in-car computer and he smashed into a car that suddenly pulled in front of him: the deploying airbag broke his lower arm and caused his own hand to break out his front teeth. While driving straight, police instructors say that your hands should be at 3 and 9 o'clock on the steering wheel. If you MUST be lazy, try 4 and 8 o'clock. Also, the police instructors say, learn the "shuffle steering" technique where the left hand never ventures to the right side of the wheel and vice versa. To turn right, first pull down with the right hand. Next release the right hand grip while pushing up with the left hand and raising the right hand up to grab more wheel. Repeat. With practice, it's possible to drive as fast as possible through the tightest course without your hands going above 10 and 2.
Side windows should be all the way up or all the way down. Imagine a pane of glass, edge on, banging into your temple. Now picture a side-impact car crash that snaps your neck against a partially open side window. A guillotine is only slightly more efficient. Because few officers enjoy collecting dismembered body parts from the roadway, your side windows should be all the way up or all the way down. For vehicles with side windows that don't go below the top of the door, this means "all the way up all the time." Fully raised is preferable over fully lowered because it's far better to hit your head against the raised side glass than, say, the brush guard of the SUV that T-boned you in the door.
Preventing carjacking is but a side benefit of this tip. A closed car door will help keep your arms, legs and head inside the vehicle. Police driving instructors claim that a locked door is 10 times more likely to stay closed in a crash. The incredible forces in a wreck mean that even belted occupants can be partially ejected if the doors fly open. In secondary impacts, flopping heads can be smashed against the roadway and dangling limbs can be ripped off. Makes a carjacking seem like a desirable experience, no?
Since about one-third of driving incidents involving officers on duty occur when the cruiser is in reverse, cops are instructed to back into parking spaces when they're not under pressure. You should do the same thing. The main advantage for you is that it's much easier to see -- and avoid -- cross traffic when pulling forward out of a parking space. Ever park between two giant SUVs? As you backed blindly out, your car was perhaps two-thirds into the traffic lane before you could see around the behemoths. When responding to an emergency call, cops can't, or don't, take time to back out slowly. Crunch! Since police have no more right to leave the scene of an accident than you, if their brother officer was getting a butt kicking, he'll have to hope someone else responds to the call for backup.
Since so many cop crashes occur while reversing, officers do a LOT of backing up in their driver-training courses. You should, too. Find an empty parking lot. Using traffic cones, PVC pipe, or soft drink cans, mark a 9-foot wide parking space that "T"s into an 8-foot-wide traffic lane. (Hint: Put a little extra fudge room opposite the parking space.) Practice backing down the lane and in and out of the parking space. Police driving courses add a backward slalom. In cop-driving-school, if you're moving backward, you must be looking backward: to check your car's nose or look through the outside mirrors, you must come to a complete stop. (Imagine having a highway patrolman inside your car assessing if all motion has ceased. Trust me, that's pressure.) Here's the technique: grasp the steering wheel between your thumb and forefinger at 12 o'clock (the airbag won't go off in reverse), grab the passenger's seatback with your right hand, and, in order to see well out the rear window, raise yourself up by pushing your left foot against the floorboard.
Police driving instructors, seeking ways to reduce the overload, insist that their students brake with only their right foot. The instructors also say that in a panic, some left-foot brakers push both the gas and the brake to the floor; not the optimum technique for a short stop. The other side of the coin is that a vast majority of race car drivers brake with their left foot. The police instructors and I found common ground: Left-foot braking is a legitimate advanced technique, but one that's far too advanced for the vast majority of Americans.
Ever been driving down a two-lane road at night and the other driver failed to dim his brights? Here's what you do: switch on the blues, take-downs, and hi-lo siren, do a quick U-turn and bust the snap. But, if you lack the authority to do that, instead focus on the white "fog line" along the right side of the road. Keep track of the high-beam birdbrain with your peripheral vision. If you allow the bright lights to ruin your night vision, it will take between four and seven seconds for it to recover. By keeping your eyes averted to the right, you'll limit the damage to your night vision.
Preserve your night vision by turning down the dash lights to the minimum required to safely read the speedometer. It's much more important to see what's outside the car. Over-bright dash lights do nothing but hurt your night vision.
Here's a final tip: if you see blue lights in your mirror, pull to the right immediately. If they're for you, stop immediately. Turn on your interior lights and place both hands on the wheel. Answer all questions with either "Yes, officer." or "No, officer." Have a nice day.
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