Generating & Maintain Safety Cushion of Space Around The Vehicle
- Driving too close to vehicle in front is one of the most common causes of collisions
Take into account the following:
- Road surface
- Weather conditions
- Speed
- Visibility
Entering & leaving traffic stream with minimum interruption to other road users
- What can be seen
- What cannot be seen
- What might reasonably be expected
- Which hazards represent the greatest threat
- What to do if things turn out differently
- Anticipate
- Order hazards in importance
- Decide what to do
Identification of hazards associated with particular traffic mixes
Observation links are clues to the likely behaviour of other road users.
- Probable roundabout ahead
- The exit point of a junction
- Road curves to left or right
- Sharp turns
- Pedestrian stepping into the road
- A row of parked vehicles
- Doors opening
- Vehicles moving off
- Pedestrians stepping out from behind vehicles
- Small children hidden from view
- A bus at a stop
- Cyclists
- Pull-ins, petrol stations, pubs, parking spaces etc.
- Vehicles moving in and out
- Accident
Appropriate communication with other road users
- Indicators
- Signals
- Eye contact
Developing Hazard Awareness
- Scanning the environment
- Looking but not seeing
- Developing your hazard awareness
- Acknowledge that attitudes affect driving performance
- Be aware of your own attitudes and recognise that they affect your risk of having an accident
- Recognise that you are vulnerable
- Make safety your primary concern in all your driving decisions
- Consider your own experience of near misses or accidents
- Carry through changes in attitude to your driving performance by applying them in every driving situation
