Safe Driving with Driverthink

Looking through or well past the car in front of us is one of the most important Safe Driving type things we can do while driving in any traffic.  At Driverthink, we call that “Forward Look.”

Forward Look allows us to:

• Automatically center ourselves in our lane.

• See whether traffic ahead is bunched up or running smoothly.

• See traffic that is slowing or stopped, earlier than we would otherwise.

• Spot potential Road Hazards earlier, giving us more time to react to them.

• Be less dependent on the vehicle directly in front of us.  We won’t be as greatly affected by his possibly “less than sterling” driving techniques.

• Anticipate turns or curves and negotiate them with greater precision.

• Drive with more confidence.  We won’t be driving blindly.

There are times, however, when it is difficult or impossible to Forward Look.  So what’s a driver to do? 

There are basically three situations that will cause us to lose our Forward Look.  Learning to recognize and address them will make us safer, more comfortable drivers.

We’re bored.  Traffic has been moving or not moving for miles and we’re simply losing our focus.  We tend to zero in on the closest object around us and that object is usually the bumper directly in front of us.  We call that “Bumper Fixation.”  Not good – even in slow and go traffic.

Slow and go traffic is a great risk for rear end collisions.  If we have a driver in front of us who is consistently stopping quickly or riding the tail of the car in front of him, we’re at greater risk for a rear-ender.  The quick stop seems to have a multiplier affect.  The first car stops quickly and due to reaction time, the second has to stop more quickly.  Same with the third, the fourth and on down the line.  Eventually, it’s a panic stop.

If we’re in that panic stop slot, let’s say five cars back, it won’t take much for the car behind us to misgauge the situation and end up tangled in our rear bumper.  Bruises a lot of rear license plates.

(Yesterday tied a record for me.  I witnessed two rear end collisions and drove past two more, already on the side of the road.  Really nauseating.)

If you find yourself constantly stopping quickly in slow and go traffic, consider your focus.  Are you focused on the bumper right in front of you?  Regain your Forward Look and you will automatically space yourself out and smooth the traffic flow (unless you happen to be possessed with suicidal grey matter).

We can’t Forward Look around curves, either.

There’s a piece of road that I often travel with a simply gorgeous curve.  It’s an extended two lane exit ramp that curves around to another highway entrance.  It’s a gentle, smooth curve – a great place to squat the tires on my independent rear suspension and put the car quickly but safely through its paces.  One little problem.

You can’t see around the curve.  You can’t Forward Look.  If  I’m boogying around that curve and come up on an accident or obstacle at forty or so – it’s not going to be pretty.

If you can’t Forward Look around a curve, you either have to slow it down or perhaps swing into the outside lane which will allow you to see further.  Third option?  Just keep bopping along blindly, leaving your health and the health of others to pure chance.

Finally, there’s the most common instance where you can’t Forward Look.  There’s a bigger buggy, in front of your little itty bitty buggy.  It’s hard to see around, over or through a van with darkened windows.  There are, however, things you can do, to regain at least partial Forward Look.

• Simply back off.  You will regain better field of vision.

• Changing lanes will obviously help if it’s an option.

• Focus more closely on Forward Look when you get the opportunity.  When you’re in a curve, or if the big guy in front swings off to the right of his lane, grab the chance to consciously note conditions.  They may change, but at least you have a basic picture.

• Where is the sun?  Say what?  Yup, the sun.  More specifically, where are the shadows?  If the sun is off to the right, it will cast shadows of cars to the left.  You may not be able to see the cars, but if those shadows are stepping all over each other, you’ll probably want to allow yourself additional space.

When we can’t Forward look we really only have three options.  We can reposition ourselves, we can focus harder, or we can simply back off.  The operative concept is to fully recognize – that we’re at greater risk.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYONE!

There’s a neat little feature on almost all modern vehicles that allows the driver to flash his high beams whether or not his regular beams are being used.  It’s called an “Optical Horn”.  Flashing headlights has a history.

Prior to the advent of these cute little devices, high beams were employed by a switch – often a button found on the floorboard next to the left foot.  The high beam switch only worked if the headlights were already on. 

As usual, the foreign car makers were first to discover that a high beam switch on the turn signal would be a little easier to operate.  While they were at it, they decided to add a feature that would allow the high beams to be flicked, whether or not the regular driving headlights were on.  The Optical Horn was born.

Now even before the Optical Horn, bright lights were often used as signals – mostly by long distance drivers (spell that truckers) and almost always at night.  Some Four wheel drivers (spell that cars or small trucks) who were often on the road with those big trucker types, soon learned the rules of communication.  It was a great way to tell those big guys, “Hey, I’m a Driver too.  I know the rules of the road.”  It also kept things quite a bit safer.

The concept was simple.  If you were in a fast lane and you saw a trucker signaling to come into your lane ahead of you, you had two options.  The first was to hit the brights with a longer burst to let them know you were there and coming through.  The second was to give him a short flick or two which would suggest, “Okay, I see you coming over.  I’ll lighten up and let you slide in front of me.”  This would usually be followed by a signal from said trucker who would flash his trailer lights off and on again as a “Thanks, Buddy”.
 
Enter the Optical Horn.  There really weren’t any written rules on using it, but drivers now had a new toy.  They had to figure out something to do with it!  Those original unwritten rules got brutally corrupted.  They remain so.

Today, there are two most common uses of this neat little device.  The first is to signal oncoming traffic that there’s radar or police activity ahead of them that the signaling driver already lucked through.

The second is to signal a slower driver in front of you to “Get out of the way – I want to move.”  For this signal to work, we must assume that the slower driver has a rear view mirror, uses it, actually knows what is meant by the flash, and doesn’t panic off the side of the road wiping out a whole bunch of expensive shrubbery in the process.

One could argue that both of these uses tend to be abused but we don’t have space to go there.

While both of the above signals are reasonably well understood, the original signals have become so misused that at best, they’re worthless and at worst they can be misleading.  If you’re signaling a driver that you’re “coming through” and he misconstrues it as “come on over” – the consequences aren’t very hard to imagine.

Never the less, a basic understanding is probably helpful.  Maybe we can even develop a standard which would be based on those rather historic principles we discussed earlier.  They would go something like this:

• If you see a driver signaling to get into your lane –
    o One or two short blinks means “come on over.”
    o A longer steady blink means “hold on, I’m coming through and really don’t want to have to stand on my brakes to avoid hitting you.”
    o In either case it would be understood as, “I see you – keep an eye on me!”

• If you see flashes in your rearview mirror –
    o A longer, steady blink would mean, “Please move over.  I want to get by you.”   Maybe I have a real emergency, or maybe you’re slow poking in the passing lane.
    o A short blink or two would suggest, “Hi guy, your turn signal’s been on for the last fifty miles and I’m guessing you don’t know it.”

• Blinks from the other side of the road –
    o Usually suggest police action or a radar trap but,
    o Could also mean “Accident” or “Obstruction” ahead on your side of the road.  “Cool it.”

• A lengthy, short burst of frantic blinks –
    o “Hey, I’m a complete maniac and I don’t know what I’m doing – but I’m doing it.  Avoid me at all costs.”

Does any one else out there have some thoughts?  It really would be nice if we could kind of standardize use of the Optical Horn.

One of the most important things we can do to avoid mishaps on the road is to identify Road Hazards.  One of the tools in our arsenal that helps us do this, is Profiling drivers and the different types of vehicles that they’re driving in.

Now most of us would agree that the concept of Profiling has taken on some rather dubious controversy.  It’s not exactly “Politically Correct” nor is it something that’s particularly easy to talk about.  But hey, we’re not pulling over people here, nor are we handing out tickets.  That’s not our job as everyday drivers.

What ...<< MORE >>

Over the years I have read countless articles, tips and suggestions about what to do when you’re driving and you start to feel drowsy.  Most of them are the typical excellent ideas.  For myself, however, since way back when the ink was still dripping off of my brand new driver’s license, I’ve followed a simple, basic rule.  It has always kept me alert and very much alive.  I drive the car!

Independent Rear Suspension, or “IRS” for short, can take turns, curves and throttle steering to a far higher level.  A quick Google of the subject will suggest it’s not a topic of insignificant interest — to serious drivers.

It always fascinates me.  When someone is talking about the “go fast” attributes of their car, I’ll ask them, “What kind of rear suspension do you have?”  Inevitably, I’ll get a blank stare.

If you’re a “go fast” — and don’t really understand your car’s suspension, something’s kinda’ suspect.

There have been volumes written on IRS and suspension issues but for the sake of brevity we’re going to cut right to the chase.  For a more detailed explanation, an article on Everything2 covers the subject really well. 

Independent Rear Suspension, or IRS for short, is ...

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Soon after that, however, driving became routine.  It was like slipping on an old pair of shoes.  We laced them up and never really thought about wearing them as we went through the day.

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