Defensive Driving and following "the rules"...

[mjr]

This shouldn't be a fratching topic, just thinking out loud because I'm wondering about this and it's amusing me.

I recently took a 6 hour defensive driving course. I wonder if the people who come up with the "rules" for safe driving actually follow them, themselves.

Like I wonder if any of them ever speed. Or violate the "two second rule", or other things like that.

[Kittish]

I wonder if the people who come up with the "rules" for safe driving actually follow them, themselves.

I'm sure they do violate their safe driving rules. Most people don't follow the "two second rule". If you actually pay attention, two seconds worth of room between cars is a LOT, and just almost every car I've ever seen on the road follows the car in front of them with maybe a one second gap, but very often less than that. Not even talking about tailgaters, either. And if you do try to leave that much room in front of you, people will be forever jumping into it, because people.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I never heard of a "two second rule." I assume that it refers the distance between cars. I was taught to leave one car length for every ten miles per hour. Whenever I do that, someone pulls into the space in front of me.

Like it says in the song Lord Mr. Ford:

Well now, all the cars placed end to end
Would reach to the moon and back again
And there'd probably be some
Fool pull out to pass

[Jetfire]

I've never taken a defensive driving course, but I try to follow common sense for the most part (especially since buying a car last August and joining the road warriors ). Thankfully my city isn't too big so traffic is rarely an issue.

My own personal driving rules of thumb are:

* Always be able to see the mirrors of the big guys; Trucks, buses, whatever, I try to stay far enough back that I can see their door mirrors (unless I'm passing them of course).

* All other traffic, I try to leave a decent car length or so behind, the faster we're going the more I leave. That's basically the 2 second rule more or less. If someone happens to pull into the space I leave behind, I'll drift back a bit further to maintain the distance.
* When stopping behind someone, I make sure I can see their back wheels and/or pavement between me and them. That leaves room in case they need to back up or if they roll back with a standard or anything like that.

Of course my car has radar on it for the smart cruise control so for highway driving I find I use that a lot; set the cruise to 120kph, and if I'm coming up on someone, the radar cruise will slow me down to maintain a safe distance.

Now that the winter season is coming and roads are freezing/snow is coming, I'll probably leave even more distance (depending on the situation), just to make sure I have safe stopping room.

[lordlundar]

Amusingly enough, if someone does follow those rules all the time they'd be more than likely to get infractions for being a road hazard.

[EricKei]

* Always be able to see the mirrors of the big guys; Trucks, buses, whatever, I try to stay far enough back that I can see their door mirrors (unless I'm passing them of course).

Rule of thumb I've heard from truckers (and seen on some big rigs) is this: "If you can't see me, I can't see you." In other words, if you can't see the driver's head in his main side-view mirror, he can't see you, either. Adjust your following distance accordingly. That, and, those things have backwash. If your car is close enough to feel it, you're WAY too close to the higher vehicular life form.

[Minflick]

One thing I tried very hard to impress upon my daughters when they were learning was that they needed to be predictable..... The other drivers need to know where you are going, so they can not be there!

[paperfiend]

My biggest defensive driving "rule" is to try to avoid getting my vehicle blocked in (so if I'm passing a truck, I wait until the car in front of me has cleared the truck plus moved far enough ahead for me to get back into the lane in front of the truck before beginning to pass.

My driver's ed class showed a video on defensive driving that was narrated by/featured Goofy (yes, Goofy) and the little diagram about what can happen if you get blocked in really stuck in my mind.

[Nashida]

If I remember right, for the two second rule you're supposed to focus on an object ahead of the driver you're following (like a sign, lamppost, etc.). If you reach that object within two seconds (counting '1 one thousand, 2 one thousand') you're following too closely.

I just follow the rule of thumb of driving like everyone else is an idiot and anticipate someone's going to do something incredibly stupid.

[RealUnimportant]

The two second rule worked well in the 60s and 70s because it accounts for the brakes of that period. While unwise, it's perfectly possible to follow closer nowadays within reason, as brakes are just that much better.

The majority of those that teach advanced driving rules will follow them the majority of the time, as it's their bread and butter, and bad habits are too easy to get into and switching from "how I should drive" and "how I really drive" is a very tricky act to pull off convincingly.

[EricKei]

I always thought it was about human reaction time moreso than the brakes. Huh.

Of course, tha major issue being, the (thankfully) people who ignore this 'rule' entirely are gonna keep doing what they do so poorly, no matter what, and ride yo car's ass all the way >_>

[dalesys]

The carlength rule was essentially useless except for the few mighty hunters with calibrated range-finder eyes. (By the way: 1 mph = 1.4667 fps, 1.5 fps is ~ 2% over.

Most cars of that era were 15-18 feet long. 10 mph ~ 15 fps ~ 1 carlength per second.

So the old rule gave a timing of 1 to 1.33 seconds.

The seconds rule is usable by a lot more people. Just watch for something to pass the ass of the ass in front and count seconds until you pass it.

[Seanette]

I just follow the rule of thumb of driving like everyone else is an idiot and anticipate someone's going to do something incredibly stupid.

When my grandfather was teaching me to drive, his approach was "assume they're stupid, crazy, and trying to get you". Smart man.

[greek_jester]

When my grandfather was teaching me to drive, his approach was "assume they're stupid, crazy, and trying to get you".

Sounds like my first driving instructor. Some of the rules he gave me:

1) When dealing with lorries/trucks/buses/vans, ignore right of way. They have right of weight. If they want to be where you are, get out of the way.
2) If you can't see the entire cab of a lorry in your rear-view mirror when overtaking on a national speed limit road, you're still too close to pull in.
3) If you can't see a lorry's/bus's/van's entire side mirror then they can't see you.
4) The well-quoted 2 second rule, extended to 3 or 4 seconds depending on driving conditions.
5) Assume everyone else on the road is a drunken idiot who thinks they're playing Death Race 2000 and drive accordingly. Ignore indicators or a lack of them; pay more attention to which way the driver is looking and which way the wheels are facing.

[lordlundar]

You know what the really scary thing is? North American and European drivers are comparatively safer than the rest of the world. Look up the show "Don't Drive Here!" hosted by the same person that hosts Canada's Worst Driver.

He's been to places where, just to give a couple of examples; situational awareness only is what's in front of you, not all around (that's the concern of people behind you) and bribery is not only expected, but encouraged (this also has a "driving test" that consists of doing a figure eight in a parking lot).