It can seem difficult at the start and I think most people recognise that at some point over the course of their driving lives, they've forgotten bits of the Highway Code and also fallen into a habit of ignoring quite a bit of information as they drive down the road. When I first did it, I realised just how fast I was driving too - I found that I was driving faster than I could think and reflecting on the potential consequences of that was an important part of my training to become a Driving Instructor.
That's why this technique helps people to become better drivers - it's like waking them up from their daily habits and re-engaging them in the task of driving.
Today, I want you to add road surface information to the road sign and marking work you were doing yesterday and in doing that, we're also going to discuss the limit point.
Limit Points
The limit point is that place up ahead where the road disappears out of view.
You have an uninterrupted view of the road up to the limit point, so looking up there regularly, and giving commentary on what you can see up there means that you're seeing and considering information nice and early and making any adjustments to your driving smoothly and in good time.
Furthermore, if you drive at speeds that mean you can easily stop before you reach the limit point, you virtually eliminate the possibility of being involved in a crash - simply because if something comes into view at the limit point that's a problem, say a fallen tree blocking the road for example, you can easily and safely pull up.
Road Surface
I think most drivers know that it can take twice as long to stop on a wet road than a dry one and that it can take up to ten times as long on a snow covered road.
But how long would it take to stop on a loose road surface?
And how long would it take on a layer of dirt or mud?
The truth is that we're all guessing at the answers to these questions and if we're honest, we are guessing with the wet and snowy road surfaces too. There are so many variables that the statements made in the Highway Code about this are very general and can only act as a guide rather than a definite fact.
And then there's potholes, manhole covers and cats eyes - all of which can unsettle the car and alter the amount of grip available to it as it travels along the road and crucially, affect it's ability to stop in an emergency.
It's weird, but whereas motorcycle trainers often talk about road surface condition and it's affect on grip with their trainees, it's often the case that car drivers have never thought about it until it's mentioned at an advanced driver level and that's in spite of it being part of the driving test! The truth is that as car drivers, we aren't as vulnerable to falling off and getting hurt, but we are obviously just as vulnerable to crashing and I believe that we all share the goal of not crashing don't we? The fact that we're in a safety cage and unlikely to fall out of our car's shouldn't really stop us from considering things that increase road risk.
So it's essential that we consider road surface if we want to be able to be able to stop within the distance we can see is clear up to the limit point.
The condition of the road is what we call a "variable hazard" in that it's different every time you drive down the road. Variable hazards are dangerous because people have absolutely no idea about them until they see them regardless of how well they know the road and it's for this reason that advanced drivers try to pretty much ignore the fact that they know the road and drive as though they have no local knowledge whatsoever at all times. We'll be looking more at variable hazards later in the week.
Practice
So today's practice involves going out and commentary driving and talking about road signs and markings as you did yesterday, but looking further up the road to the limit point and talking about them earlier than you perhaps did yesterday.
I also want you to add information about the condition of the road.
Remember to keep it concise, and that reducing speed when you first start will help you to fit it all in. It's also worth doing it in short bursts of 5 minutes or so at the start and then allowing yourself to rest and reflect on what went well, what didn't go as well and how you can alter the driving to help to get it right. Practice makes perfect, but that reflection means that less practice will be needed!
Remember also to keep to the AIM structure...
Alert - What information can you see?
Inform - What hazard does it present?
Manage - How will you change your driving to lower the risk?
As far as road surface in concerned, if you try to imagine a driver driving along an A road between towns where a farmer has recently been working on fields, the commentary might be something like...
"Straight road ahead, can see a long way to the limit point, opening on the right, mud on the road there, road could be slippy, reducing speed, positioning slightly left where there's less mud"
Obviously, there'd be mirror checks in that lot, and you can add them to the commentary if you like but the aim of these blogs this week is to help to improve your driving, and not to turn you into a Driving Instructor - I'm assuming that as a regular driver, you're already using your mirrors.
And that's it for today! As you practice you'll hopefully see it getting easier and you'll hopefully see your driving improving too - less risk, less stress, better fuel economy and often quicker arrival times in spite of us talking so much about slowing down (the truth is that the opposite is also true you see - where you can see that there are no problems, you can increase speeds and are governed then of course, by the speed limit and traffic conditions)
Tomorrow, we'll be discussing junctions and adding them to your commentary.
Nick Heath Driver Training is located in Rode Heath on the Staffordshire / Cheshire border and provides driving training services to those looking to either improve their driving or learn from scratch. In addition to media work, we conduct Taxi Driver Assessments for local authorities and offer Advanced Driver Training and Testing, Motorway Training and Fuel Efficient Driver Training alongside refresher courses and learner driving lessons. We are ORDIT registered to provide Driving Instructor Training and are listed on the DVSA's register of Fleet Trainers so we can help you with your business needs.
More details are available on our website www.nickheathdrivertraining.org.uk
