A key aspect of defensive driving techniques is to signal your intent when you are out on the road. This means communicating to other drivers what you are about to do. As a first step it is essential that all lights that help you communicate to other drivers are functioning. Indicators, brake lights, head lights and other driving lights must be in good order. It's almost impossible to adopt a defensive driving attitude if other drivers have got no idea what you intend to do.
Indicate Your Intentions Early
When changing lanes, turning or undertaking some other manouvre that others may not expect, use your indicator early, that is before you make your move, rather than late or not at all. Mind reading is not really part of defensive driving techniques. Even if you think you are a mind reader, other drivers are usually not. Your indicators should tell other drivers what you are going to do in advance, not to disguise or acknowledge the manouvre you have just completed!
Be Predictable
Apply your defensive driving techniques by being clear with your indicators and move according to your signal. Don't suddenly change your mind and act in a way that confuses other drivers. Don't indicate a left turn and then turn right or vice versa. Make sure your indicators cancel after your manouvre so you don't drive for miles with a meaningless signal that only confuses other traffic.
Know Where You Are Going
Knowing where you are going may not be something you consider as part of defensive driving techniques, but neither is getting lost. Getting lost results not only in confusing yourself, but also in confusing others as you make sudden or false moves trying to find your destination. Slowing down, then speeding up again without indicating is hazardous. If you get lost, indicate correctly to an appropriate place to stop and consult your street directory or map, or ask someone for directions. Driving around aimlessly forms no part of defensive driving techniques.
Always Signal
As part of driving defensively, it is a good habit to always signal your intent, particularly when making lane changes or turns. Even on a an apparently lonely road at night it is good practice to signal your intent.
Slowing Down
A key aspect of defensive driving techniques is slowing down or stopping. You can warn following drivers of your intent to slow down or stop by tapping the brake pedal once or twice to flash your brake lights. The flash of the brake lights will alert following drivers to what you intend and this is particularly important if a following driver is approaching quickly.
Signalling your intent early and clearly is a key to staying out of trouble on the road. Being predictable is not only part of your armoury of defensive driving techniques, but also enables other drivers to know what you are doing. . This allows them to anticipate your moves and allows valuable time to adopt their own defensive driving tactics.
Anyone serious about becoming a truly good driver should explore the possibility of obtaining defensive driving certification skills. Getting such skills is not as lengthy nor as difficult a process as you might think, and defensive driving certification skills are something which will serve you well for the rest of your life.
Starting With The Basics
The range of defensive driving certification skills may at first seem overwhelming, but as with all things worth learning, you simply start with a solid grasp of the basics, and take it from there. You may not realize it, but if you travel by car you already practice one of the most important defensive driving certification skills each time you fasten your seatbelt.
There is simply no contradicting the fact that wearing a seatbelt has been the difference between life and death for many automobile accident victims, and even though no one ever gets into his or her car expecting to have an accident, they still happen to thousands of us every day. Defensive driving certification skills bring the wisdom that preparing for the worst is often enough to prevent it.
Learning To Pay Attention
A second of the essential defensive driving certification skills is to learn how to view traffic when you are traveling at highway speed. You need to focus not only on the vehicles directly around and to the sides of your car, but on those much further ahead. Increase driving speed on the highway means that you will need extra braking time should something happen, so by watching cars a good distance in front of you, no matter in which lanes they are traveling, you'll notice when they brake. That way, even if you can't see any obstructions, you can slow down until you know the reason why their drivers did.
Defensive driving certification skills are about learning to read the road conditions and the traffic patterns around you, and about staying alert to any changes in either. The more information your brain has about its surroundings, the more quickly it can formulate solutions to developing traffic situations.
The defensive driving certification skills involved in changing lanes, for example, require you to learn to look over your shoulder for an instant instead of depending on your side and rear view mirrors with their blind spots. You may have a tendency to swerve your vehicle slightly when you first master this technique, but if you practice it in a no-traffic area you will soon have it down pat!
Defensive driver education programs will give advice on such matters as the importance automobile drivers avoiding driving near large vehicles any longer than necessary. A defensive driver education program will also emphasize staying ahead of or away from any closely bunched group of vehicles, and the proper techniques for making lane changes.
All these skills are essential for keeping a driver out of the situations which most often lead to accidents; this is why they are referred to as defensive driving. Learning defensive driving, no matter your age, will keep you out of harm's way, and may even ave you money on your car insurance premiums!
Both Ray Hogan & David Faulkner are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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