The biggest killer on the road....FEAR!

[mikmak]

The biggest killer on the road....FEAR!

21 July 2009

mikmak
GMInsidenews.com
Australia Correspondent


I know my cars. I know that if I have to crash stop in the wagon and there is some loose gravel on the road, I can decrease pressure and reapply it for an even shorter stopping distance. I know how to analyse the Vectra’s weight and momentum should I need to avoid little mister wombat ambling out of the bushes. I know all these things (and various other behavioural traits of my cars) due to one cause: I practise. Nonetheless, this seemingly obvious measure, employed to ensure that I am confident and in control when on the road, is too much of a stretch for politicians and law makers to understand.


It seems that every so often, such as a recent tragic multiple fatality, road safety becomes the flavour of the month with local media. They endeavour to seek out the root of this evil, with ground breaking exposes such as the recent “how dangerous is texting whilst driving” story I saw on TV a few nights ago. This ridiculous waste of air time pitted youngsters against a high speed slalom whilst trying to send a text message, with a qualified driving instructor in the passenger seat, to pass verbal abuse during the task. Guess what. They all lost control. Let’s not mention that one young guy who was doing reasonably well, had the hand brake pulled on him ...not that they actually showed that part, but the ABS equipped ute mysteriously locked up its wheels mid pendulum.

Now I’m not condoning texting whilst driving. Clearly, you need both hands and eyes on the road as much as possible. In fact, there are some people whom are killed by drivers who have been texting and it will no doubt happen again. It is beyond me why these people don’t just use a hands-free kit these days, but that is another issue altogether. Texting whilst driving is dangerous. Any Joe/Josephine Citizen with <half a brain could have told you that.
The same goes for eating noodles, doing your makeup or reading the paper (seriously, I’ve seen it) whilst behind the wheel.

There is something else that could be improved, however. Something so obvious yet it is consistently dismissed year after year. What needs to be done is better driver education.

In Australia, it is not compulsory to undertake any driver training whilst at school. You do have to fill out a log book however, with such challenging scenarios as “driving at night” , “driving in the rain” and the doubly horrifying “driving at night in the rain”. These are in addition to the old school parallel parking, merging and 3 point turns.

Now I ask you: do these requirements really prepare young people for the hazards that you experienced on the road today? Those little things that raise your heartbeat a little, but you just brush off as another idiot on the road, and hopefully, one that you managed to avoid through skill rather than just luck. How about dealing with a tourist who wants to suddenly stop and turn into that street they were looking for? Or a retread delaminating from the truck in front of you (happened to me last week) whilst doing 100kph on the freeway? What about the Taxi driver that assumes one car length is warrant for him to pull out in front of you?
Did you possibly pre-empt the potential incident and loaded up your brakes early? Perhaps you braked hard at the last second, then eased off the brake and steered around without flooring it, thus avoiding power oversteering (or understeering if you are in upside down land) into oncoming traffic.

The sheer volume and diversity of hazards experienced on the road all require one simple, though often completely ignored (by the assessing authority) skill set: vehicle control.
Seems ironic doesn’t it? The major goal of getting your license, though driving a motor vehicle is one the most dangerous acts many people will undertake in their lifetime, is based around following legislation. There are the obvious basics that are clearly necessary, such as giving way to your right (or left in your in upside down land) etc. which are all an essential part of the monster that is traffic flow.
But, why is there no requirement to actually demonstrate CONTROL of your vehicle?
Why are you not taught how to stop? Why is there no avenue to teach you to look where you want to go, when under duress (skidding)?
Where is the test for “swerve and recover”?
Where’s the part of the lesson that covers off on being aware of potential escape avenues if everything gets a bit “how’s your father”?

This all adds up to one thing. When that tourist suddenly stops short to take that aforementioned side road, and the car behind him is an inexperienced driver, what do you assume that young driver would be thinking? In order to avoid giving myself an infraction, I’ll let you work it out, but you can be assured of what they would be feeling: FEAR. Sheer, muscle clenching, cold sweating, eye widening fear.
There would be no precedent, and therefore, no instinctive manoeuvre. Just, that dull, off tone scrooooorch, the heart thumping crunch of metal on metal, followed by glass pebbles scattering across the road. Education through practical experience, can remove that fear and help to encourage essential, instinctive, crash avoidance measures.

I find it sad that in Australia, you can fail your driving test just because your tyre hits the gutter in a three point turn.

[bouda]

You do have to fill out a log book however, with such challenging scenarios as “driving at night” , “driving in the rain” and the doubly horrifying “driving at night in the rain”.

I lawled at that.

[chakis24]

totally agree, and its exactly the same here. its easy to pin the blame on the big guy, its never the person's fault. you should know that by now.

[goblue]

In the US we need to raise the driving age.

[Phoenix]

For a job, I used to drive from Green Bay to Milwaukee and back on I-43 with several stops on the way, for a total of around 320 miles a day.

My conclusions:

-Many people have no clue how to use the passing lane or cruise control, both key elements to keeping traffic flowing smoothly.

-Some people are afraid to change lanes on a freeway. They will come up on your ass right lane and just sit there. Very irritating at night.

-This leads to people traveling in packs for no reason. The irony is they think they are driving safely because they are doing the speed limit. That's fine until someone in the front messes up.

-People will hit the brakes on the freeway for no reason, causing everyone behind them to hit the brakes. Just watch what's going on in front of you and use the brakes ONLY when necessary.

-My general conclusion, The people who drive scared are much worse than us "crazy drivers."

[mikmak]

Originally Posted by goblue

In the US we need to raise the driving age.

Raising the driving age will just result in an older demographic making up the more significant portion of road incidents (ie 22-26 year olds instead of 18-23 year olds). It is actually beneficial to develop any skill when you are at a younger age, as long as the skills you learn are appropriate. There is a cultural flaw associated with young drivers attitudes though, and that will be discussed in a later commentary.

Still, drivers of all ages can benefit from developing their confidence in controlling a motor vehicle under duress.

[ColinOpseth]

Originally Posted by goblue

In the US we need to raise the driving age.

No, we should take away licenses of the elderly. They have a much higher incidence of crashes that people much younger than them.

We also need to require more stringent training. I don't see why driver's education isn't a compulsory class in high school. It shouldn't be an elective and it should involve much more real-world simulation.

[vncj96]

Better instructors would be nice. When I was getting taught to parrallel park my instructor hit the car in front and behind me. Also, I think that you should get your permit and after one year of permit driving you can then go for your license. This way you get the full four seasons under your belt, especially for those that live in regions that get snow! After 65 you should PAY to take your FULL exam every year. This way your forced to get your eyes checked too. They say that certain age groups drag down the system and retired is one of them, my 92 year old grandma payed a quarter for her damn license and she had numerous accidents from 75 until she was 88 when the state finally took her license. I dont enjoy paying for people that have no right to drive!!

[chakis24]

you know there was only one thing i really retained from drivers ed class - SIPDE

scan
identify
predict
decide
evaluate

i think thats what it was, pretty good acronym i think. and then actual driving was a joke, i knew everything the instructors attempted to teach- i was one of those kids who paid attention when i was riding shotgun. learning and watching since i was little.

honestly, i think i learned more from playing gran turismo and reading the manual than from drivers ed. there was this cool thing in the back of the book, called it a "traction wheel".

[OldsReliable]

I agree that it is not a good thing to operate a car scared.
But it is also INSANELY SINFUL to drive "confident".

I do not care if you "know your car exaclty" and can pass through traffic from lane to lane between cars with less than 2 car lengths space.

Yes, you may know exaclty that you will fit, but it is irresponsible and has NOTHING to do with being a good driver.

A GOOD driver drives carefully, all the time, defensively.

And YES, a good driver drives the speedlimit. All the time. Because they are not just 'recomendations' but the law.

And YES AGAIN, it is OK to drive below the speed LIMIT. It is, again, not a recommendation, but indeed the LAW !!!

[CadiEldo67]

I think that rather than raise the driving age for the United States, it should be that you can receive your permit (or whatever depending on state) at age 15. You then have two years of practice before you can get your license at age 17. This allows kids that are graduating high school, but are still 17 to eventually drive to college, work, etc. The current system where you can get your permit at 16, do a 5 hour course, and schedule your road test to receive your license in New York is a bit ridiculous. Especially considering that you could do this in less than a few months and be licensed.

[chinamonty]

I was lucky. My school had driver education. Every second Wednesday a member of the local highway patrol would visit and teach us car control, defensive driving, not looking at the thing you might hit etc. Some of what we were taught is not condoned either. I was taught to left foot brake in an auto. This is now frowned on as some people keep their foot on the pedal and have their brake lights on. I also learned to heal and toe but it is that long since I have been in a car where I needed to use it I would have to refresh myself before trying it on the open road.
Also I managed to do over 8,000 miles on my "L" (learner plates) so I was a reasonably experienced driver by the time I took my licence test. The policeman actually commented on my driving as he had seen me driving around on Ls (I lived in a small town where community policing still operated).
One of my biggest complaints now is that every car you get in to you have to work out what electronic features it has. My sister has a Subaru with "hill assist" this totally unnecessary feature, for me anyway, is not common on other cars I drive. Then you get different ways that cruise controls work. Does this car have ABS -I hope not as I don't like it. I can understand its necessity in places where ice etc is more common but not in my environment.
It is not older drivers nor younger drivers that are the problem - the problem is people who have a licence and either can't drive or can't drive in a manner that fits in with other road users.
The other annoyance I have is the discrepancy between speedometers -in this age of GPS it just shouldn't happen.

[camaro_freak]

how about mandatory full on road course training instead of 2-week snorefest with Mr high school chemistry teacher.

I'm sorry but I learned how to drive from with my dad in the old family pick-up truck. By the time I took "drivers ed" it was a breeze.

There needs to be more "senario driving" where kids learn obstacle avoidance, high speed lane changes, how to maneuver in ice, snow, and water.

I'm horrifed what little is required to gain access to an autombile.

[mikmak]

Originally Posted by OldsReliable

I agree that it is not a good thing to operate a car scared.
But it is also INSANELY SINFUL to drive "confident".

I do not care if you "know your car exaclty" and can pass through traffic from lane to lane between cars with less than 2 car lengths space.

Yes, you may know exaclty that you will fit, but it is irresponsible and has NOTHING to do with being a good driver.

A GOOD driver drives carefully, all the time, defensively.

And YES, a good driver drives the speedlimit. All the time. Because they are not just 'recomendations' but the law.

And YES AGAIN, it is OK to drive below the speed LIMIT. It is, again, not a recommendation, but indeed the LAW !!!

I believe what you are referring to is over confidence, but still, confidence only gets you half way there, and to call it sinful is ridiculous. Sound decision making is also an essential component of being a good driver, but being confident isn't a disadvantage, as long as it is well founded.

Likewise, stating that a good driver always drives the speed limit, has the unintentional effect of all drivers that abide by the speed limit, assuming they are also good drivers. Clearly that is not the case. Red light runners, tailgaters and those who fail to indicate their intentions, can all do so, below the posted limit.

[FenwickHockey65]

Originally Posted by mikmak

In Australia, it is not compulsory to undertake any driver training whilst at school. You do have to fill out a log book however, with such challenging scenarios as “driving at night” , “driving in the rain” and the doubly horrifying “driving at night in the rain”.

Originally Posted by ColinOpseth

No, we should take away licenses of the elderly. They have a much higher incidence of crashes that people much younger than them.

You can't just take away their licenses. Didn't you see the South Park about that?

I do agree, however, that they should be required to retake their driving test at a certain age.