The Roadcraft team thought it timely to share some holiday driving tips:
3 Tips for holiday driving
- LOOK FURTHER DOWN THE ROAD
Fixating on the car in front doesn’t help. Look as far down the road as it’s possible to see. The simple fact is, many crashes occur because drivers don’t realise there’s a problem until it’s too late to avoid. Every 100 metres at highway speeds (90km/h) is around four seconds of reaction time… and the average human takes more than one second just to recognise a hazard and react to it. If you see a string of brake lights 200 metres ahead on the freeway, you have eight seconds to react. If you wait for the brake lights of the car in front, you could easily be involved in a high-speed nose-to-tail collision.
Roadcraft recommends that you should also be looking down the sides of the roads, particularly paying attention to pedestrians who may be crossing the road, any merging traffic, and intersections.
- DROP BACK FROM THE CAR IN FRONT
This is another time-buying technique that requires no advanced training. Tailgating doesn’t get you anywhere quicker, but it amps up your stress level – and your risk. You need to allow sufficient time/distance as a buffer between you and the car in front so that their mistake doesn’t involve you becoming collateral damage in their crash. Dropping back also allows more view of the road ahead, buying you more time.
Roadcraft recommends leaving a safety space of three seconds or more, depending on road conditions. If someone is tailgating you, we recommend lengthening the gap to the car in front.
- MANAGE RISK AT INTERSECTIONS
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, about half of all crashes, and half of all road trauma, occur at intersections. This is not because there’s a defect in the rules. It’s because for some reason – fatigue, distraction, alcohol or drugs, perhaps – some drivers fail to stop or give way when they are obliged to. When you think about the thousands of intersections you drive through each year, its foreseeable that one day you might proceed through on a green light, or straight ahead past a T-junction just as another party fails to stop or give way. The solution is simple: Don’t rely on the magic stopping power of red light, or a stop sign. If you’re about to drive through an intersection, scan around to make sure that everyone who should be stopping to give way to you is actually doing it. It’s absolutely no consolation to wake up in hospital knowing you had the right of way (if there is an afterwards to wake up to).
All of these techniques and many more are taught at Roadcraft. For your own peace of mind during the holiday driving season, book a course for you or a loved one today. Gift certificates are available.
We guarantee you’ll wish you had done a course sooner!
From: www.canstar.com.au/car-insurance/ways-to-drive-safer-this-christmas
(… and 30-plus years of driver training experience at Roadcraft Driver Education)
Roadcraft Driver Education is a registered training organisation specialising in low risk, safe, defensive driving courses. This not-for-profit organisation was started 37 years ago because of the concern for the number of people killed on our local roads. Roadcraft’s mission has remained the same over the decades; to prevent road trauma by providing effective road safety education to road users of all ages.
Roadcraft boasts a purpose-built driver training facility on 57 hectares on the southern outskirts of Gympie and a unique curriculum. There are courses for any driver; all based on safety with much practical driving. There is also a bicycle & pedestrian road safety course for primary school children.
Roadcraft also has the contract to deliver all driver training for the whole of Queensland Ambulance Service; a contract that affords a significant injection into the Gympie economy.
Everyone at Roadcraft wishes you safe travels during the holiday season.
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