13 MORE TIPS
13 MORE TIPS
Here are some more driving tips that you can practise after you get familiar with the vehicle that you are driving.
Watch as far ahead as you can but still watch for things happening close to you. Start at your car and look for things that are moving in your driving area. As you check off each moving [or object that is going to move] within your travel lane and eliminate it as a hazard to you, keep looking ahead as far as you can until you come to whatever object is directly ahead of you. As you are doing this, use your peripheral [side] vision to keep track of the moving objects close to you to see if they stop or speed up.
Also take note of any object that could start moving into your travel lane before you get past them. Focus on their tires [really, their hub caps] because this will give you the most visible warning that the car, bicycle, truck or, even, wheelchair is starting to move.
A car, sitting at a stop sign with the driver looking the other way will tell you it is starting to move by you seeing the hub caps starting to turn; also, but not as visible, the front of the car will rise slightly as the driver starts to accelerate from a complete stop. These are both warning signs that the driver is intending to pull out in front of you and gives you some time to start slowing down to avoid a dangerous close call.
Another tip is to expect the unexpected; don’t expect that pedestrian to stop when they reach the curb. Pedestrians have caught on to the fact that, if they step off the curb, then they have the right of way and they take it irregardless of how much danger is involved to them. [I know, I know. How can a pedestrian have the right of way when you have the green light? It’s because they are smaller than you, in your car, and, in a collision, they would be the most hurt. Law officials will tell you to give them the right of way and leave it up to the law to prosecute the jaywalkers.]
You have to be ready for everything and anything, when you drive, because the rest of the population does not seem to know or care where they are or what danger they are in. Pedestrians, bicyclers, other car drivers and truck drivers do not seem to know or care where they are going or where they are supposed to be travelling. Bicyclers travel on the wrong side of the road or on sidewalks; sometimes they will act like a bicycler and other times like a pedestrian.
There is also the surprise factor; someone in a line of traffic will blow their horn at someone they know, the person at the front of the line hears the horn and, without looking, thinks that the light has changed. They jump on the gas and are out in front of you before they realize their mistake; it is too late for them to stop which leaves them at your mercy. You have to be ready in case you have to stop to save their life.
