No Consumption of Alcohol while Driving

Posted on by

Alcohol is the main cause of deaths on Australian roads. About one third of male motor vehicle deaths and over 10% of female deaths are due to alcohol. For pedestrians, alcohol accounts for around 40% of male and 17% of female deaths. Around half of these deaths are in those aged 15–24 years.

After just one drink a driver is less able to make decisions quickly or react promptly in an emergency.

After the second drink a driver will become more relaxed with less concern for normal restraint and attention to detail. There is a further deterioration in mental responses and physical reactions, combined with a slight degeneration in co-ordination and the execution of manipulative skills.
After the third drink a driver’s emotions become more extreme and behaviour exaggerated. The driver becomes more confident, talkative, noisy or morose and there is further deterioration in reactions, co-ordination and manipulative skill. Perceptive responses become slower and impossible feats are far more likely to be attempted.

After the fourth drink there is still further deterioration in co-ordination to the point of clumsiness. Confidence continues to increase while perceptive skills are unknowingly deteriorating. The driver’s levels of attention and powers of discrimination and normal restraint are rapidly disappearing. Impossible feats are even more likely to be attempted.

After the fifth drink normal perception of moving and static objects becomes blurred. It takes longer for the eyes to focus and speeds and distances are severely misjudged. The driver’s ability to make sensible decisions, and react promptly, is totally unreliable, resulting in high-accident-risk manoeuvres being unknowingly attempted.

Drink Driver Education from driving school provides education of driving to help you drive safely and avoid all possible circumstance on the road.

Non-alcoholic drugs

Drugs impair driving ability by reducing attention levels, the perception of risk, and the ability to make sound decisions quickly and respond promptly to the road and traffic scene. Studies in the USA show that about 10 per cent of drivers involved in accidents take non-alcoholic drugs of some kind.

Learn driving from professional driving class and be a responsible driver to ensure your safety as well as others on the road.

Freeway Driving Tips

Posted on by

Awareness of Hazards Arising from Speed & Volume of Traffic

High speeds mean that hazardous situations develop quickly and that you travel further before you can react. Minimum stopping distances are greatly extended and collisions offer cause injury and damage.
As volume of traffic increases, the demands on your attention and decision making also increase. With more vehicles, there are hazards and the opportunities for manoeuvres are more restricted.

Fatigue

Fatigue is a real problem and you should always plan adequate rest breaks.
Fatigue causes a disproportionate number of accidents on freeways. As you tire your ability to take in and process information is reduced and your ability to react to the information you have received takes longer. It is important to get driving tips from an experienced driving instructor.

Adapting to Higher Speed

At 110km per hour you travel 30 meters per second. At such speeds you need as much time to react as possible.

-Extend your observations in all directions and to the road horizons to give yourself more time.

-Anticipate early and maintain a safe following distance. In good weather the 3-second rule provides a good guide but in poor weather conditions this distance needs to be greatly extended.

-Avoid coarse steering at speed

-Give other drivers sufficient time to see your signal before making a manoeuvre (4 to 6 seconds)

Overtaking and changing lanes

Before overtaking be alert for:

-Slower vehicles moving out in front of you

-Faster vehicles coming up behind you

Changing lanes on a freeway

-Don’t change lanes unless you need to

-Keep your vehicle steady in the centre of the lane

-Don’t wander into another lane

Learn necessary skills and techniques of driving from reputed driving school and stay safe on road.

Things that matter while driving a car

Posted on by

Driver Stress & Fatigue

Reduce the risk of fatigue by making sure that you are not tired before you start driving. Adjust your seat so that your driving position is comfortable. Bad posture causes muscular fatigue, which in turn causes mental fatigue.

Night driving put heavy demands on the eyes and any slight eyesight irregularity can cause stress and fatigue.

Noise and vibration cause fatigue, so do everything possible to reduce noise in the vehicle. Open windows are a major source of noise so keep them closed and use the ventilation controls instead, but make sure that you have enough ventilation to stay alert.

Taking rest breaks is essential to recover from the onset of fatigue. It appears that most people need a rest break of at least 20 minutes to restore alertness. On long journeys you should plan a series of rest breaks.

Excessive Vehicle Speed and Loss of Vehicle Control

Speed has a major impact on safety. International evidence clearly shows that lower speed limits result in fewer accidents. Drivers who drive fast regardless of the circumstances have an accident risk three to five times greater than drivers who do not. At greater speeds the risk obviously increases – you approach hazards faster, you have less time to react, and the impact damage is greater. A child hit by a car at 30km may be injured but will probably live; a child hit at 60km will probably die.

High Demands on Concentration and Sources of Distraction

As you driver faster, the nearest point in which you can accurately focus moves away from you. Foreground detail becomes blurred and observation becomes more difficult because you have to process more information in less time. The only way to cope with this is to scan further ahead, so that you gain more time to assess, plan and react.

Learn safe driving from Northshore driving school and be safe on the road.

Advice on scanning techniques

Posted on by

Scanning the environment

Drivers who can rapidly scan the whole environment looking for different kinds of hazards have a lower risk of accident than drivers who concentrate on one area. There are several ways you can develop your ability to do this:

•    Move your eyes around and look in all directions
•    Look for hazards in any shape or size and form any direction
•    Develop your sensitivity to the variety of possible hazards in different driving situations

Looking but not seeing

What we see depends to a large extent on what we expect to see. When we concentrate we do not just look at a particular part of a scene, we look for particular types of objects in that scene. We find it easier to detect objects that we expect to see, and react more quickly to them. Conversely, we often fail to see objects that we do not expect to see.

Using internal/external mirrors at least once every 10 seconds

Mirrors are one of the keys to defensive driving. Always use them to keep up to date with what’s behind and to the sides of your vehicle.

Scan the immediate, middle and distant environment forward of the vehicle

The aim is to ‘Pre-Sensitize’ your awareness so that when you encounter a situation you already know what hazards to look for and can respond to them more quickly.

Scan intersections on the approach & throughout turns

Try and get eye contact with the driver of the approaching vehicle to determine which course is best. Your speed should allow you to stop if the other driver cuts across your path.

Always keep an eye on the vehicle in front as you’re about to enter the roundabout.

Don’t assume the driver won’t have to stop while you’re still looking to the right. Many rear end collisions happen this way. Make sure the vehicle has actually moved away.

Driving Lessons, Driving Class

 

 

A Guide on Hazard Detection and Recognition

Posted on by

A hazard is anything which is potentially dangerous. A hazard can be immediate and obvious, such as a car approaching you on the wrong side of the road, or it may be less obvious but just as potentially dangerous, such as a blind bend which conceals a truck reversing into your path. One of the main causes of accidents is the failure to recognize hazardous situations. If you fail to see the possible danger you cannot take actions to avoid it.

On the roads you will meet three main types of hazard:

•    Physical features such as junctions, roundabouts, bends or hill crests
•    Risks arising from the position or movement of other roads users
•    Problems arising from variations in the road surface, weather conditions and visibility

To be able to identify a hazard you must know what a hazard is. In simple terms a hazard is any possible danger that may lead to an accident.
A hazard is any situation, which could involve adjusting speed or changing course. To identify a hazard, you must look well ahead for clues such as

•    Road signs
•    Changes in road conditions
•    Parked vehicles
•    Intersections
•    Cyclists
•    Motorcyclists
•    Pedestrians
•    Animals, particularly dogs off the lead

Hazard Recognition

•    Steer accurately and adjust to safe speeds before reaching a hazard.  You should look well ahead for bends, gradients, road signs, junctions and obstructions such as parked cars, road works and traffic hold-ups.
•    Maintain tyre and road surface friction, drive smoothly and approach hazards at a suitable speed. Take into account weather conditions, condition of the road surface and any camber on bends.

Safe Driving Courses, Driving School