A hazardous lack of confidence

For a while now, I've been running on an unofficial method of determining if people lack sufficient to be on the road unsupervised and I would like to share this with you.

When waiting behind a car which is having to give way to traffic, for every opportunity an average competent driver could have pulled into traffic without...

• ..causing an accident
• ..causing the other vehicles to brake
• ..aggressively accelerating
• ..breaking any road rules

... you add a point. Here is the scale of the number of points and how I believe these people are on the road. eg: 1 = they took the first opportunity to pull into traffic.

1. Probably over-confident, possibly a little dangerous, may benefit from a defensive driving course.
2. Optimal
3. A little hesitant, still an acceptable level of confidence
4. Insufficient confidence or lack of concentration
5. Should not be driving. Significant lack of confidence, possible issues judging distance and speed, causes frustration in other drivers.
6. Retraining should be a priority to boost confidence levels. Possible reaction time issues as well.
7. Should have taken a taxi
8. Cause of some people's road rage
9. etc

So why am I writing about this today? Because this morning, I encountered the first person I've seen to score 15. The road was dry, it was overcast but vision was clear, the traffic wasn't heavy, the person wasn't even elderly or an L plater. Just appeared to be a normal middle-aged woman.

Scoring 15, I'm just astounded. Gobsmacked. I do not understand how someone can effectively sit there several times where there was more than 15 seconds of clear road.

Now, I believe that the government is somewhat on the way to improving the driver training, especially with requiring a minimum number of hours behind the wheel however I believe that a defensive driving course should be mandatory for all road users.

What is a defensive driving course?
They teach you how to avoid accidents. How to react when the unexpected occurs. How your car behaves in an emergency situation.

The critics:
I have heard a number of people claim that putting people through a defensive driving course makes them overconfident and dangerous on the road. This is a complete lie. If anything, it teaches people how difficult it can be to avoid an accident and to be more cautious.

Braking:
For cars without ABS, it teaches people how to "threshold brake" so they can come to a stop without losing the ability to steer. For people with ABS, I have heard of people slamming on the brakes hard enough for the ABS to kick in for the first time and the "rumble" they feel startles them so much they instinctively pull their foot off the pedal and crash.

Myself:
I've undertaken a number of driving courses, track days and other driving skill training. The first step I think is a good start is having parents/guardians teach their kids good driving habits such as:

• Checking your blind spot before changing lanes
  
• Keeping an adequate distance from the car in front
• When stopping in traffic, practice stopping so you can still see where the vehicle in front's rear wheels touch the road (in case you get rear-ended)
• Learning to control your speed so you're not taking your eyes off the road frequently to check
• Anticipating other vehicles/pedestrians, assuming they will make mistakes, that they will change lanes without looking, that they will pull out from side streets suddenly, that the child standing on the side of the road will suddenly run onto the road for no apparent reason.
• Concentration, remembering where other cars are around you without continually looking in your mirrors and blind spots so if you need to avoid an accident, you know where is clear and where there is something you will collide with.
• Car maintenance: If your suspension, tire pressure or tire tread are substandard, it will affect your ability to stop and steer.

I count myself lucky I was taught all of the above by my parents. They helped me to become an excellent driver. Some of the other things I have done which have improved my driving habits:

• Drive more than 1 car - By becoming used to one car, then if you're suddenly put in another for one reason or another, it could be dangerous if you are not familiar. When you do, before you start moving, familarise yourself with how the controls differ including things such as where the gears are (ie: in a manual, reverse is sometimes in a different spot, or in an auto, it may have a different layout to normal), which side of the wheel the indicators are (European cars are generally on the left, Australian/Japanese on the right)
• Gokarts, drive them. It may seem almost counter-intuitive to compare driving a gokart with the safe driving of a car, but they can teach you the skill of being able to take a smoother path through corners, how to "catch" the "car" if you lose control and how to anticipate other "drivers" better.
• Approaching a green light: As you are coming up to an intersection with a green light, best technique to minimise the risk of going through on the red and/or the car behind crashing into you, is to decide at what point you are going to stop if the lights change to yellow vs continue. This means your reaction time is faster, you can take longer to come to a stop and the cars behind you have more notice to also stop. As I approach the intersection, at the point where I will continue through the interesection I just say to myself "go" in my head. After that point, if it goes yellow, I will continue through. If it goes yellow before I have said "go" to myself, I will come to a halt.

If you are keen to improve your driving skills here are some suggested links:

• Trackskill Collision Avoidance and Driver Training
• Drive to Live Collision Avoidance and Car Control

If you feel you are already a good driver and would like some more experience on a race track, I can highly recommend TrackSkill's drive days. Its says "club drive days" but they will let individuals attend. Drop my name if you need a reference. I will probably be attending the drive day on the 17th of October.