Driving Development Driver's Handbook: Index
Our natural way of looking at the world hasn't yet caught up with the mechanical age. While our normal visual awareness is perfectly adequate for a creature that moves at walking pace, we have to learn the kind of heightened visual awareness necessary to move safely at speed. This level of awareness is obtained through:
Tests have been carried out on drivers using sophisticated optical equipment that can measure eye movement. In these tests, expert drivers record much more eye movement than the average driver. Rapid scanning of the whole field of view is a characteristic of all effective drivers.
Obviously, if you stare at one thing you miss big chunks of the picture. But if you move your eyes at random, you waste time looking at irrelevant things. You need a controlled pattern of eye movement.
Adjust your pattern of eye movement so that you look most frequently at the most important images. So when you're driving on a motorway with little traffic your eye movement is mostly over the central part of the scene and the rear view mirrors. And when you're driving along a busy city street your eyes move pretty evenly across your whole field of view.
If you find that you haven't enough time to see all the important features around you, it indicates that you're driving too fast for your ability to observe your surroundings. The actual speed is irrelevant: if you can't see all that you need to see, the speed is unsafe. The solution is obvious: whenever you experience this, slow down.
When you're driving, how much do you move your eyes, and how much do you look at one thing? Take the time to reflect on what you look at and how you see it.
When you consciously move your eyes more, scanning the scene more rapidly, how much more information do you take in?
Do you always link your speed to your ability to scan the scene for hazards? Notice whether there are any particular situations or conditions in which your speed tends to exceed your scanning ability. What reasons might you have for driving at such an unsafe speed? Or what pressures might you experience that compel you to do so?
Looking further ahead is perhaps the easiest single way to improve your driving. It enhances both the quality of your driving decisions and the smoothness and accuracy of your driving actions - because it gives you more time to think and act.
Many drivers habitually look no further than the point they'll reach in a few seconds. To give yourself ample time to weigh up situations and to react to them calmly, you need to look at least twenty to thirty seconds ahead. On a motorway that's half a mile or more.
In heavy traffic it's easy to find yourself staring at the vehicle ahead. When every driver in a queue does this, the last driver may not react to a hazard until some seconds after the first, perhaps leading to a nose-to-tail collision. By looking well beyond the front of the queue you can react at the same time as the leading driver and steer clear of trouble.
When you're driving be aware of how far ahead you're tending to look.
What happens when you take more interest in what you can see at the furthest visible point on the road ahead?
When driving in traffic queues, how often do you find yourself staring at the back of the car ahead of you? What do you experience when that car's brake lights go on? How do your feelings change when you look further ahead?
Many work and leisure activities (for example reading, writing, using a computer or watching television) involve vision that's concentrated on just the central field of view - a tiny portion of the total. Consequently, many of us have got into the habit of ignoring our peripheral vision at least to some extent. Reversing that process and learning to make fuller use of peripheral vision raises your overall visual awareness - which helps you to become a safer driver.
Peripheral vision isn't sharp but it can provide good information on distance, colour and movement. And that's all you need in many cases to position the car or to detect danger. For example, a pedestrian about to run into the road may be seen out of the corner of your eye as a sudden blur of colour. Responding to the blur immediately without moving your eyes first could literally be the difference between life and death.
Which part of your visual field do you use to judge the position of your car in bends? Check next time you drive. If you find yourself focusing on the edge or middle of the road in the foreground, you're not looking as far ahead as you could.
Try this experiment. As you drive through a series of open bends, keep looking at a point in the distance - not at the foreground. You'll find that you can accurately steer the car through the bends using your peripheral vision alone.
Your view to the rear makes an important contribution to your overall awareness.
Scan all the mirrors for the best view (a door mirror often gives a more useful view than the interior mirror on bends).
Link the frequency of mirror checks to the level of activity behind - more often when it's busy. Always look behind when it's particularly relevant; so check before changing speed or course. But never take your eyes off the road ahead for more than a moment - take frequent glances in the mirrors rather than lingering looks.
Look well behind, particularly on roads carrying fast-moving traffic. A speck in your mirrors one moment could overtake you at high speed the next.
Make full use of your peripheral vision - you don't have to look straight at the mirrors to know what's happening behind.
Total awareness includes an awareness of blind spots: the coverage of mirrors is restricted. There are times when your observation to the rear is not complete and safe unless it includes looking round over your shoulder - for example:
On straight roads, following vehicles have to move out of your field of view in your mirrors before they can move into a blind spot. By checking your mirrors frequently, you'll always be aware of all road users around you - seen and unseen. When "blind spot" collisions occur on straight roads, such as when one car pulls out to overtake into the path of an already overtaking car, invariably the driver in front has neglected to check the mirrors for a while.
How often do you use your mirrors? Check it out next time you're driving. Are you as aware of the traffic behind as you are of the traffic ahead? If not, what prevents you from being aware of it?
If you always look straight at your mirrors to check on following traffic, find out how much you can see in the mirrors out of the corners of your eyes. You may not be aware of detail but can you see relevant movement or signals from vehicles behind? Notice how much you can see behind even when you're looking straight ahead, when you simply take an interest in what's visible in your peripheral vision.
Think of any near misses you've had with road users who were in your blind spots. Perhaps you've tried to change lanes into a lane that was already occupied, or not seen a cyclist on the nearside when turning left at traffic lights. As you recall each near miss, be aware of where you had been looking immediately prior to realising your mistake. When did you last check your mirrors? And what did alert you to the presence of the other road user? Was it something you saw out of the corner of your eye? Was it something you heard? What information had been available to you beforehand? How could you have used it better?
Imagine as many typical driving situations as you can where your view to the rear and sides is particularly important. How will you ensure that you drive with maximum safety in those situations in future? Run through those situations in your mind with maximum all-round observation.
Practise increasing your observation to the rear and sides each time you drive over the next few weeks.
Effective drivers often respond to a distant hazard before an average driver has even seen it, let alone had time to think about it. How do they do that? Partly it's due to looking well ahead (see focal distance, above) but that's not the whole story.
Effective drivers are able to respond early and appropriately because they have installed mental triggers. These are simple visual cues used to "trigger" awareness of important features. Reacting to a mental trigger is far quicker than thinking from scratch about what you see. For example, if a red triangle acts as a trigger, you quickly spot warning signs.
Next time you drive, choose a type of feature that you want to be particularly aware of - such as warning signs, road markings or other drivers' signals - and notice how many more of these you see than normal and how much earlier you spot them. Gradually set up triggers for all important visual features and keep reinforcing them.
Visualising is the ability to imagine pictures. In order to drive effectively it's not enough just to use your eyes to look at what's on the outside. You also need to be competent at using your mind's eye to visualise internally.
Unlike your physical eyes, your mind's eye isn't limited to just one point of view. You can zoom in for a close-up... take a bird's-eye view of a situation... imagine you have X-ray vision and look through walls and hedges, to see what may be concealed by them... and experience how other road users see you.
By visualising, you can see:
Anticipation is a fundamental driving skill. When you anticipate, you take your awareness of the world and project it into the future.
Anticipation starts with observation: you can judge where something is about to happen by spotting visual clues, which are often subtle. For example, an observant driver would notice a puff of exhaust smoke from a parked car and anticipate that it's about to move away.
Visualising allows you to judge how something will happen - or might happen. By seeing the possible future event played out in your mind's eye before it occurs, you can be ready to perform the appropriate action in response.
Moving off: rule 48
Driving along: rules 51 and 52
Space and speed are inseparable. You constantly have to balance one against the other. Your speed determines how much clear space you need to be safe. And how much space you have available determines your maximum safe speed. It's when space and speed get out of balance that collisions occur.
Two points are worth remembering:
You're usually aware of the "personal space" around you. Probably, you feel threatened and defensive when it's invaded. You can use the space around you on the road to enhance and protect your safety and personal comfort.
Notice how the space around you changes with speed.
Notice how you feel when other drivers get close to you. What is it about the way they approach that makes you feel uncomfortable sometimes?
When you enter someone else's personal space be aware of how you do it. What effect do you appear to be having on the other driver? What could you do differently?
Most drivers leave far too little space between their cars and other vehicles. Why? Often it's because they have no idea of how much space they need to be safe.
You may get away with leaving just enough room to react to brake lights. But what if the vehicle ahead stops dead - as it may do if it runs into an obstruction? Then you need at least the full stopping distance from that speed.
Simply being able to recite the table of stopping distances in The Highway Code is of little practical use. What matters is being able to judge a safe separation distance.
Most people find it easier to estimate time than distance. You may already use the well-known "two second rule." That is, you make sure that your car passes any point at least two seconds after the car ahead has passed it. But beware; this rule of thumb only covers your stopping distance at low speeds on dry roads. Once you go over 50mph you need a three-second gap to be safe. When it's wet you need to double the size of the gap (i.e. to at least four or six seconds, depending on speed) and at least double it again on an icy road.
You may not try to measure your separation gap but rely instead on some sort of "gut feeling." Perhaps you base your judgement on balancing conflicting feelings - on one hand, the feeling that you're wasting space and, on the other hand, the feeling that you need space. This is a method that many drivers use (often without realising it) but it tends to be stressful and is unreliable.
Often the feeling that space is being wasted gets the upper hand and the driver closes up to the vehicle ahead and leaves an unsafe separation gap. Where do these feelings come from? Feeling that space can be wasted is a belief. It follows that to feel comfortable about using space safely you may need to change some beliefs.
Do you believe you shouldn't waste road space? If so, consider this: Can there be any better use of road space than as a means of preserving safety?
But hanging back wastes time, right? Wrong. The separation distance between your car and the one ahead makes no practical difference to your journey time. What would you do with the couple of seconds you save by tailgating? That's all the saving amounts to - a couple of seconds. And how long would it take you to recover from the strain of driving in such close proximity to other vehicles? Longer than two seconds, that's for sure.
In defence of their reluctance to hang back, many drivers raise the objection that other drivers will overtake, perhaps on the left on a motorway, and fill the gap. If this happens repeatedly, the journey will take much longer - or so they believe.
Like many of the distorted beliefs that contribute directly to road collisions, this one doesn't hold up under scrutiny. Suppose you were to undertake a long journey that you expected to take six hours or so. Even if other drivers filled your forward gap twenty times during the journey (it's very unlikely to happen that many times) and you dropped back to a three-second gap each time, that would add only one minute to your total journey time. Over six hours, does that make any real difference?
If you perceive space to be something tangible and desirable (rather than an empty vacuum to be filled), you'll feel comfortable when you have it and uncomfortable when you haven't. You may find it helpful to visualise your car travelling inside a bubble of open space - a safety bubble. Whenever other vehicles in close proximity threaten to burst your safety bubble, adjust your speed and position to allow the bubble to expand freely again.
Next time you're driving, visualise a safety bubble around your car. How do your feelings change as you move closer to and away from other vehicles, and the bubble is squeezed and expands?
Stopping distances: rule 57
It's all well and good keeping plenty of distance between you and the vehicle ahead, but what about drivers who insist on following you far too closely? How can you reduce the risk of being shunted from behind?
One thing's for certain - you can't control what they do. You're only in control of your own behaviour. There's a number of options you might consider, such as:
Consider what would happen if the car ahead stopped suddenly, assuming you're following it at a safe distance. By braking hard you'd stop without hitting it. But the car behind is so close it's bound to hit you, perhaps even before its driver has started braking. So doing nothing is not a valid option if you want to stay safe.
You may feel a natural inclination to increase your speed, to try to move away from the car behind and open up the space. This inclination is best resisted; it'll only make matters worse. As you speed up you'll move forward and reduce your forward safety gap. The driver behind will almost certainly move forward with you, matching your speed and maintaining his insufficient forward gap. Then, if the car in front should suddenly stop, you'll have too little space to avoid hitting it. And the following car won't be able to stop either. By taking this option you run the risk of being the meat in the sandwich.
You may feel tempted to do this, to "frighten off the aggressor" behind. Chances are you'll succeed only in irritating him (especially if you do it more than once), which may provoke him into some sort of retaliation. There is also the danger - if the driver behind is not aggressive but merely inattentive - that he may overreact to your brake lights and hit his brakes in a panic. He may then collide with the vehicle behind him - especially if that vehicle is also following too closely. So your action could spark off a crash.
There is a danger here of being overly defensive in your response, which could put you at risk in other ways. Certainly, by extending your gap so much, you'd be able to cope with any emergency ahead and still give the driver behind plenty of time to respond. The problem is that tailgating drivers tend to be impatient people. Such pronounced pulling back on your part might provoke an impatient driver into acting rashly - for example by overtaking where it's unsafe.
This is the wisest choice, doing what's sometimes called "driving on the brakes of the driver behind." If you should need to pull up in a hurry, that extra second added to your forward gap allows you time to warn the tailgater with your brake lights (with a light touch on the brake pedal) just before you brake firmly. Then the tailgater can brake before you do or at the same time, thus maintaining his forward gap as you both stop safely.
Think of a few times when you've narrowly missed (or perhaps not missed) being shunted from behind. Were you aware that the following driver was too close? What had you done about it?
When you're driving in future, be more aware of following drivers' behaviour and take the initiative to maintain your safety margins.
How do you judge your maximum safe speed at any moment? The speed limit provides little guidance; there are many occasions when you have to drive well below the speed limit to stay safe. Often your speed is dictated by the flow of traffic. Sometimes your speed may be limited by the need to get round a bend without sliding off the road. But the most common limiting factor is visibility.
To stay safe, you should always drive at a speed that allows you to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear - and that you know will remain clear.
Even when the road is clear for as far as you can see, keep asking yourself whether you could stop safely if the road were blocked just round the next bend or over the next brow. By visualising what may be hidden just out of view, you'll naturally adjust your speed to be ready for it. And if you have to stop on a bend, remember that when you're asking your tyres to change direction and speed, grip has to be shared. So stopping distances are longer around bends than on straights.
Often you can see well ahead but your surroundings are filled with potential hazards, such as pedestrians who might step into the road or parked cars that might move away. In such circumstances you cannot assume that your path will remain clear. Your speed must allow you to deal with any hazard that changes from potential to actual.
Do you visualise obstructions hidden just out of view at every blind corner or brow? If not, try it over the next few days and see what difference it makes. At such hazards do you feel confident that you could always stop safely if the need arose? Even when the road is slippery?
Does your speed in town allow you to deal with pedestrians who might step into the road, or vehicles that might emerge into your path? Be aware of the extent to which you visualise dangers occurring. Are you taking too much for granted - assuming that other road users will look after their own safety and "follow the rules"? Could you be better prepared for the unexpected?
Speed limits: rules 54-6
The safety of pedestrians: rules 63, 65-7 and 70
Animals: rule 80
ROAD WORKS: rule 148
SPEED LIMITS table, page 53
Intelligent positioning can increase the safety and the average speed of your journeys. It can also minimise delay, frustration and stress. So what is "intelligent positioning"? It means optimising your road position to get the best balance between:
Maximising safety margins must always take priority. So put as much space as possible between your car and other road users - seen or unseen - who could move into your path.
That's easy where there's potential danger on one side only: you just move over to the other side of the road. But often you need to balance safety margins. For example, when driving in busy streets, a pedestrian on your left is more likely to rush into your path than a driver coming towards you. So a position more towards the centre of the road is usually safest, especially when your view on the left is limited.
On quiet residential streets lined on both sides by parked cars the safest position is the middle of the road. You can see oncoming cars in good time, slow down and move out of the way. Positioning more to one side when there's no oncoming traffic would reduce your safety margin on that side if a child were to run out.
On wide roads and dual-carriageways be prepared to change lanes to expand your safety margin. For example, it's safer to approach an occupied lay-by in the right-hand lane. Then an emerging car presents no danger. In effect, you overtake the empty space that may or may not be used by someone else.
On dual-carriageways with three or more lanes, adjust your position, timing and speed to avoid being three abreast with other vehicles. Being "the meat in the sandwich" between vehicles to your right and left puts you in a particularly vulnerable position.
How aware are you of safety margins? Consider whether you could make them more generous, for example when passing parked cars or children playing beside the road.
Whenever there are potential dangers on both sides, do you weigh up the balance of those dangers and adjust your safety margins accordingly?
When driving on dual-carriageways, do you "play the gaps" so that you retain a clear space on at least one side as much as possible? Notice how often you or other drivers near you get three abreast. Consider the likely consequences if one driver of the three swerved sideways for any reason.
Often your view of the road is restricted, forcing you to reduce speed to stay safe. If you can position your car to expand the view ahead, you may be able to maintain your safety with less or no speed reduction.
Bends, junctions, and entrances often conceal dangers. By adjusting your position you can spot these dangers earlier. The principle is simple: when your view is obstructed on one side, position as far as you safely can towards the opposite side. When you need to see into concealed openings on both sides, take up a position that balances the risks.
Your view of hazards ahead can also be blocked by large vehicles. You can see much more of the road ahead by increasing the following distance, and you can enhance your view further by moving gently from side to side within your lane, looking first along one side then the other.
Do you position your car to maximise your view into concealed junctions and openings? Try making larger changes of position, using more of the road. But take care not to reduce essential safety margins - for example between you and oncoming traffic.
When you're following large trucks or buses, do you follow far enough behind to maximise your view? Try increasing your following distance and notice how much more of the road ahead you can see.
Improving your view at bends is covered in chapter 4.6 Bends.
Use your position to make your car conspicuous, for example:
When you approach a junction flanked by parked cars, it's difficult for an emerging driver to see you if you drive too close to the parked cars. If oncoming traffic permits, positioning towards the centre of the road makes you much more conspicuous.
When you approach a point where the road narrows, it's easier for oncoming drivers to see you if you move towards the centre of the road early. You can always tuck back in to the left if you have to give way.
The most dangerous type of road for overtaking is the three-lane road where the central lane is shared by both traffic streams. If you pull out suddenly to overtake, an oncoming driver might do likewise at the same time. It's better to move out into the central lane and hold your position for a few seconds before you go ahead with the overtake, to make sure the oncoming drivers have seen you.
When you're driving in lanes, take care not to sit just behind and to the side of another vehicle. That's the other driver's blind spot. Either stay far enough back to be seen in the mirrors or move far enough forward to been seen alongside.
Do you visualise how you appear to other road users? If not, notice how your driving changes when you start to view your own behaviour from the viewpoints of others.
Consider whether you could make yourself more conspicuous by adopting better positions.
How much do you take care to avoid driving in other vehicles' blind spots?
Driving along: rules 49, 50 and 52
The safety of pedestrians: rule 70
Pedestrian crossings: rule 73
Animals: rule 80
LINES AND LANES ALONG THE ROAD: rules 83-8
Turning right: rules 117-9
Turning left: rule 121
Signalling is an important, but undervalued skill requiring forethought and precision. Poor signalling surprises and confuses other road users, and sometimes contributes to collisions.
Before any manoeuvre you need to ask four questions about signalling:
Signalling is a means of communicating with others.
Look around. Can you see any road users - not just drivers - who would be affected by your intended manoeuvre? Yes? Then consider signalling for their benefit.
Even if you can't see anyone, could anyone be near enough to be affected but out of view at present? Is there a bend, brow or any other feature that could obscure an approaching road user? If not, there's no point in signalling.
It's important to select the signal that best conveys your intentions. Choose only from the signals shown in The Highway Code, and use them to convey their standard meanings. If you invent your own signals, or use standard signals to convey non-standard meanings, you're bound to confuse others.
Consider whether a signal could be misinterpreted. Sometimes you can clarify your intentions by combining signals. For example, suppose you want to enter a driveway on the right just before a busy junction also on the right. If you signal with your direction indicator alone, other drivers might form a queue behind, assuming that you're turning at the junction. When you wait near the driveway for oncoming traffic, the drivers behind may get annoyed that you haven't moved up to the junction.
You can clarify your intention to turn into the driveway by giving an arm signal as well as the indicator, just before you wait. Your pointing arm effectively says to the following drivers: "Look. This is where I'm turning."
Sometimes the best signal is no signal. For example, if you need to change lanes to avoid an obstruction just before a junction, giving a signal may give the impression that you intend to turn at the junction. A driver waiting at the junction may then pull out into your path. If traffic conditions allow, it would be better simply to change lanes smoothly and early with no signal. If a signal is advisable, there's no ambiguity if both the signal and the lane change are completed well before the obstruction, and the signal cancelled well before the junction. Of course, you can plan ahead like this only if you're looking well ahead.
Never signal out of habit. Signal when you have something to say to other road users that you can say unambiguously.
Signals must be well timed: early enough to give plenty of notice of your intentions, but not so early that they mislead. As a rule of thumb, signal about four seconds before you start to make any change of course or speed.
In some situations timing is critical. Other road users will assume that any signal refers to the next likely action. For example, where there's a series of side turnings avoid signalling until the turning you intend to take is the next one along. Similarly, take care if you intend to stop at the roadside just past a turning on the same side.
When you stop signalling is almost as important as when you start. A signal should never outlast the action, or else it implies that a further action is intended.
For example, if you wish to move from the left-hand lane to the central lane on a motorway, the signal should be cancelled the moment you reach the middle of the central lane. Leaving it running any longer gives the impression that you intend to continue moving across to the right-hand lane.
Sometimes a signal is best cancelled before the action is completed. A common example of that is when leaving a roundabout. There may be a junction on the left just beyond the exit. If you wait for the straightening of the steering wheel to cancel the signal, a driver waiting at the junction may assume that you intend to turn left immediately after you leave the roundabout and pull out into your path.
See whether you can improve the clarity and precision of your signalling by always considering the four questions. Don't be surprised if you signal less than before because you're omitting unnecessary signals.
Signals: rules 45-7
Moving off: rule 48
Driving along: rule 51
OVERTAKING: rule 99
ROAD JUNCTIONS: rule 111
Turning right: rule 117
Turning left: rule 121
ROUNDABOUTS: rule 124
Hazard warning lights: rule 134
Flashing headlights: rule 135
Use of the horn: rule 136
DIRECTION INDICATOR SIGNALS, page 56
ARM SIGNALS, page 57
None of the elements of road and traffic management - observation, using space and speed, positioning and signalling - are of much use on their own. It's the skilful combination of all these elements that leads to effective driving. This combination comes about through planning and carrying out appropriate strategies for dealing with whatever hazards you meet on the road.
A hazard is anything that is potentially or actually dangerous. The vast majority of "accidents" can be more accurately described as failures to recognise and/or deal with hazards.
You meet three main types of hazards on the road:
What happens when you recognise a hazard - and sense danger - is an interesting notion. You react to something that's not actually causing you any harm; it's something that has the capacity to harm you if you fail to respond appropriately to it.
So what is it specifically that tells you - reliably - that a situation is hazardous? How much of it is conscious reasoning, and how much is unconscious - perhaps a gut feeling or vague uneasiness. Do you get "flashes" in your mind's eye of the danger materialising? Or does an inner voice tell you to watch out? Does it matter whether it's conscious or unconscious as long as it works reliably?
Whatever indicators you use to recognise hazards you can be sure that there are people who do it differently. Some of these people may have more reliable methods than yours - as indicated by a comparative lack of collisions or near misses, and a lower stress level when driving. It's worth finding out how they do it.
Experience is clearly very important in developing the ability to recognise hazards reliably. Recent research by the Department of Transport shows that, on average, a seventeen year-old male driver is seven times more likely to be involved in a collision for every mile he drives than a middle-aged man.
In order to improve your recognition of hazards, a good starting point is to raise your awareness of the sensations that cause you to notice hazards.
Remember a time when you were not concentrating on your driving as well as you would like - perhaps you were tired after a long day at work. Then something happens that concentrates your mind and you react instinctively to a hazard. You control the situation but you're disturbed by what happened.
Run the movie of that event as if you were actually in the driving seat, and just notice what you notice.
What is it that attracts your attention away from what you were previously doing or thinking about and towards the danger? It may be that you recognise a pattern of events that you had experienced in the past, and that had had a similar or perhaps a more serious outcome. You may notice particular feelings or sounds. It's quite likely that you notice something changing in your field of vision. Perhaps the forces on your body, through your hands, feet and backside are the key elements?
So if these sensations are able to intensify to the point that they break through your distracted state and enable you "instinctively" to react to danger, what would it be like if you were to be aware of the earliest and slightest signs of these particular sensations at all times when you're driving? What do you need to focus on to raise your awareness in this way?
Effective drivers, whether on the road or racetrack, all use the same well-established basic system for dealing with any hazard. All specific strategies for dealing with particular kinds of hazards are derived from this basic system.
The system has five phases:
-------------------------------I n f o r m a t i o n-------------------------------
Position Speed Gear Acceleration
The information phase is continuous throughout the whole system, while the other four phases are considered and executed in sequence.
During the information phase you obtain, use and give information as appropriate:
In the position phase you set an appropriate course through or round the hazard. This may involve positioning your car:#
During the speed phase you adjust your speed as appropriate to negotiate the hazard safely. This may involve:
Once the speed is appropriate to negotiate the hazard, the optimum gear is engaged. This may be done:
The last thing to consider prior to reaching the hazard is acceleration. You must consider:
Remember a few times when you've arrived at hazards in a rather unprepared state. Relive each experience in your mind, seeing it through your own eyes, hearing the noises around you and feeling what you feel.
How do you know that you're unprepared? Perhaps you realise you're not in the best position, or you feel that you're travelling too fast, or you haven't had time to consider and/or select the most responsive gear? Are you aware of tensions in your body? Where? What emotions are you experiencing?
As you rerun these experiences notice whether there is a pattern. Are you tending to neglect a particular part of the basic hazard system? Have you forgotten it or simply not considered it? Have you got the phases of the system out of sequence (for example, you've changed down before you've slowed down)? Or have you too little time to think about and do it all? Could you have started assessing and preparing for the hazard earlier?
Now run each movie again as you would like it to have been, with each phase of the system in the right place, judged accurately and performed with precision. Notice what you're doing differently in order to feel completely in control and safe.
It's important that you apply the basic system flexibly. A dogmatic approach can be dangerous. You need to consider every hazard afresh and adapt your decisions and actions to suit the actual circumstances - rather than the usual ones.
For example, it's dangerous to say, "I always approach right turns positioned next to the centreline." There may be circumstances in which the safest position is well to the left.
Recall a time when you found yourself in an awkward situation at a hazard, despite the fact that you had approached the hazard "by the book"? What have you done that makes it awkward? For example, has your "textbook" positioning caused a blockage in the oncoming traffic flow, when you might have used common sense, been flexible and positioned to ease the flow?
Be aware of any inappropriate rigidity in your driving. What would you need to do, or what would need to happen, for you to be more flexible in your approach?
The next two chapters cover strategies for dealing with two of the most common and also most risky hazards: bends and overtaking other vehicles. The following chapters deal with strategies for dealing with typical hazards encountered in different road and traffic conditions, at night and in adverse weather conditions.
If you misjudge the way you take a bend, you could easily find yourself running off the road or into some hidden obstruction. Having good car control which enables you to corner with precision, balance and smoothness is not enough on its own (although it's certainly important). Road and traffic management is essential too. To be safe you need to:
Usually there are all sorts of clues to indicate the nature of any bend, many of which you can see well before you arrive at it. Obvious ones are:
Then there's information that seems to be less obvious to many drivers (judging by the collisions that occur even when this information is present), such as:
Perhaps the most useful information about any bend (and, strangely, information that most drivers have never been trained to use) is that provided by the vanishing point.
In this context, the vanishing point is the furthest point ahead at which you have an unbroken view of the road surface. It's where the left- and right-hand sides of the road appear to come together at a point. You can learn a great deal about any bend as you approach it and drive through it by watching the behaviour of the vanishing or disappearing point. If you not only watch it but also respond to what you see, you can ensure that your speed never exceeds your ability to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear.
When you first see a bend with a restricted view in the distance, the vanishing point appears to be static - you can see just a little way into the bend. The distance to the vanishing point rapidly shortens as you approach. Once the remaining distance begins to get near to your stopping distance from your approach speed, you obviously need to slow down to stay safe. The shorter the distance gets, the slower you go, all the time ensuring that you can stop in the distance you can see.
Just before you arrive at the bend the vanishing point begins to move ahead along the road. If the distance you can see to the vanishing point now remains constant, you know that the bend is of a constant radius; you can hold your speed steady and select the appropriate gear to drive round the bend. If the vanishing point moves ahead but more slowly than you're moving, it indicates that the bend is tightening - so further slowing is required until the movement of the vanishing point and the speed of your car match.
As you drive round the bend you reach a point where the vanishing point begins to accelerate away from you, often very rapidly. This tells you that you are approaching the end of the bend and, more importantly, that you can see further ahead. Therefore you can increase speed in safety as you now have more and more visible clear space in which to stop.
By waiting until you see the vanishing point move away from you before you accelerate, you are unlikely to run into hidden hazards just round blind bends. You're also more likely to judge a safe speed for each part of the bend if you continually visualise some sort of obstruction just beyond the vanishing point.
If the notion of watching the moving vanishing point is new to you, it's easy to become so fascinated that you stare at the vanishing point alone and fail to notice other hazards. Take care to keep scanning your whole field of view.
You can enhance safety at bends by being open to unconscious warning signals. If a particular bend looks safe to take at your present speed, according to all the clues you're consciously aware of, but you get a "bad feeling" about it, go with the feeling and slow down. You may have recognised a warning, such as fresh skid marks on the road, but not be conscious of it (particularly if you're thinking about something else).
The way you position your car on the approach to any bend makes a significant contribution to the safety with which you negotiate that bend. It does this through affecting both your ability to gather information and also the line you steer through the bend.
By keeping well over to the left on the approach to a right-hand bend you extend your view of the road ahead. So you'll get the earliest possible warning of any hazard. And should an oncoming vehicle drift wide on the bend, you're in the safest place to avoid it.
By comparison, positioning towards the centre restricts your view of the road ahead. So you'll spot hazards later than you would if you were to keep left. You're also putting yourself in the path of any oncoming vehicles that drift wide over the centre-line as they exit the bend.
By positioning near the centre-line on the approach to a left-hand bend you extend your view of the road ahead, so you'll get the earliest possible warning of any hazard. You're also well placed to avoid a broken-down vehicle or any other obstruction on the left. Although this is an advantageous position, be ready to slow down and move to the left to stay clear of oncoming traffic encroaching on your side.
By comparison, keeping tucked in to the left restricts your view of the road ahead. So you'll be quite close to hazards before you can see them. You'll also find that avoiding obstructions on the left is unduly difficult. If oncoming vehicles force you to adopt this approach position, keep your speed very low.
To take any bend well you must assess it, take up the best position on the approach, adjust your speed to suit the view, radius, camber and surface, and select the gear that gives you best control. And one more thing: steer the best line through the bend. The ideal line should maximise your view and the car's stability, and allow early and safe acceleration out of the bend.
Any car is out of balance when cornering, as can be seen and felt by the leaning of the body on the suspension. It follows that the less you turn, the less you disturb the car's balance. So the idea is to steer the straightest possible line that's compatible with maintaining safety margins (particularly with oncoming traffic) and the best view ahead.
The approach position that gives you the best view also allows the most scope for "straightening" the bend. By approaching a right-hand bend tucked well in to the left, a straighter line can be taken by easing the car towards the centreline. Similarly, by entering a left-hand bend towards the centre of the road, the turn can be lessened by steering in towards the left-hand kerb.
Your apex determines your exact line through any bend. That's the point where you come closest to the inside of the curve (the centreline on a right-hander or the nearside kerb on a left-hander). Aim to place the apex beyond the middle of the bend; the poorer the view ahead, the later the apex. If you take too early an apex, you'll tend to cut right-hand bends and run wide on the exit from left-handers.
When you approach a bend with a good open view across it, see an apex in your mind's eye about two-thirds of the way through. Visualise a smooth curve running from your approach position, passing through the apex and then gradually straightening out. By taking what's known as a late apex you can start to straighten while still in the bend. As you straighten out you can apply smooth, progressive acceleration out of the bend without running wide.
Once you've visualised your line on the approach, trust your peripheral vision to keep you on that line. Aim your eyes high and look through the bend as far as you can see, then you'll spot any further hazards as early as possible.
When you're taking a bend with a restricted view, stay in your approach position until your view starts to extend, as the vanishing point accelerates away from you. Only then should you steer towards a late apex to allow you to start straightening and accelerate out of the bend. On some very blind bends you may not clip an apex at all, but stay in the position that gives maximum view, then return to your normal driving position as the road straightens.
When there's another bend immediately after the first, or a whole series of bends, visualise the optimum smooth line through all the bends you can see. Ensure that your line out of each bend puts you into a good position to approach the next. By considering the whole series of bends as one manoeuvre, you'll naturally focus on the most limiting bend: the one with the tightest radius, the most restricted view or the most awkward camber.
When you're next driving, take notice of how you're dealing with bends.
Are you obtaining all the information you need to be completely safe? Do you look for road signs, road markings, skid marks, road surfaces, cambers, lines of hedges or trees, etc.?
Are you using that information to the full - for example, are you visualising and anticipating possible hidden dangers at every bend with a restricted view? Are you running a quick "mental movie" of bringing your car to a stop before the imagined hidden hazard, to check that your approach speed feels comfortable?
Are you positioning your car on the approach to obtain the best view into the bend? Are you doing this rigidly or are you flexibly adjusting your position to maintain safety margins, particularly with oncoming traffic? If you do adopt a safety position that reduces your view, do you adjust your approach speed to compensate?
Are you linking your speed in the bend to the movement of the vanishing point?
Are you steering the optimum, most stable line through each bend? If you don't already do it, try applying the advice on visualising and clipping the apex of each bend. See what effect this has on the smoothness of your cornering and your ability to maintain your cruising speed. Take care to keep looking well ahead, not down at the road.
Are you stringing series of bends together in a smooth, seamless flow or taking them one at a time, in a fragmented manner? On winding roads, try visualising your driving line further ahead and see what happens.
Overtaking on single-carriageway roads is probably the most hazardous of all driving manoeuvres. Mistakes can so easily be fatal. So how do effective drivers maximise safety when overtaking?
First of all, get to know the overtaking capability of your car. You need to know how long your car takes to get past vehicles travelling at various speeds, and what distance you cover in that time. Check this when you change cars.
The best place to develop this knowledge of the car is on quiet dual-carriageways, where you can practise without worrying about oncoming traffic.
Much overtaking is an unnecessary risk and a waste of effort. Whenever you think that you need to overtake, ask yourself a couple of questions:
In order to plan you must be able to see. So hang back in a normal safe following position. If you're following a large vehicle, look along both sides by moving gently from side to side.
Look for any features that make it unsafe or illegal to overtake, such as:
Look for hidden dangers - concealed entrances, overhanging trees or dips in the road. Take note of danger warnings, such as hazard lines or skid marks.
Is the vehicle that you want to overtake holding a steady speed and course? Can you see any reason for it to change either in the near future?
Is there a good space for you to move into beyond the slow vehicle, or are vehicles bunching up?
Are you about to be overtaken yourself? Keep checking your mirrors.
As you see an overtaking opportunity developing, move forward from your following position to an overtaking position closer to the vehicle ahead of you. Only move into this position when you see no hazards likely to cause the driver in front to brake, and keep your view ahead open by positioning towards the centre of the road.
Continue to match your speed to that of the vehicle ahead and select the best gear for the whole manoeuvre.
Will you have plenty of space to complete the overtake before meeting any oncoming vehicles? Use your visualisation skills to judge the forward safety gap. Mentally rehearse the overtake. If no oncoming vehicles are visible, imagine that a fast-moving car is just coming into view at the furthest point you can see on the road ahead. In your mind's eye "fast forward" to the moment when you've just completed the overtake and returned to your own side. Where will you be then? Where will the (real or imaginary) oncoming vehicle be?
Visualise the gap that remains at that moment between you and the oncoming vehicle. If it feels uncomfortably tight, hang back. Wait for a longer clear stretch and carry out the visualisation again. If you do feel comfortable about overtaking, signal right, still holding a steady speed.
Move across to a hold-off position in the offside lane. Don't overlap with the vehicle you're overtaking yet. Continue to signal. Your position and your signal makes you very conspicuous and prevents anyone from overtaking you.
From your new vantage point, check the space in front of the vehicle to be overtaken and make sure there's still enough room to overtake safely. Also check for any new hazards coming into view. If you're not entirely happy, cancel your signal and move smoothly back to the left.
Being comfortable about aborting an overtake like this adds enormously to the safety of overtaking. Many drivers are reluctant to abort: they feel compelled to go through with an overtake once they've pulled out and committed themselves to it. In truth, there is no commitment until you accelerate past. Expert drivers often change their minds and call off overtakes from the hold-off position.
If you're happy to overtake but you think the overtaken driver needs a warning, sound your horn or flash your headlights.
Then accelerate firmly. In an automatic, make sure that you kick-down fully (unless you've selected a low gear hold while in the overtaking position).
From your hold-off position you accelerate in a straight line. So the car remains stable even when the road is slippery. Most drivers accelerate too early, before they've moved across to the offside. "Swan-necking" on a greasy, heavily cambered road, especially in a powerful car, can induce a skid or even a spin.
Stay well over to your right until the overtaken vehicle just becomes visible in the interior mirror. Cancel your signal, ease off the power gradually and steer smoothly back to your own side.
How well do you know the overtaking performance of your car? Have you experimented with optimising it?
Do your estimates of the time and distance involved in each overtake match the actual amounts? Do you estimate each overtake, or do you sometimes find yourself "hoping for the best"?
How selective are you about overtaking? Do you ask yourself the "Do I need to overtake?" questions every time?
Notice how you feel when you overtake. Do you always feel confident and relaxed? Or do you sometimes feel anxious? If so, what might be the reasons? For example, are you overtaking in unsuitable places, or are you misjudging speed and distance? What can you do differently?
Many drivers overtake by accelerating before they pull out. Notice whether you tend to do this. If so, try the effective drivers' technique of moving out into a hold-off position before accelerating. How do your feelings compare? Particularly, how does it feel to be able to change your mind easily and move back in?
We all frighten ourselves occasionally with a misjudged overtake. Think of a couple of near misses you've had. Where did you go wrong? Was it that you didn't know the car's performance well enough? Was it your planning? Or was it the execution?
OVERTAKING: rules 99-106
Plenty of research evidence shows that driving in towns and cities presents the highest risk of:
Many more crashes occur in built-up areas than on the open road. Even though a large proportion of these are low speed damage-only collisions, the casualty rate (total vehicle miles divided by total casualties) for built-up roads is three times as high as it is for non built-up roads.
Many people find it more stressful and frustrating to drive in towns than on any other roads. Why? Is it a direct relationship: more traffic leads to more stress which leads to more crashes?
The high density of traffic in general and the many places where different traffic flows intersect simply provide more opportunity for collisions and stress. As always, it's the human element that really counts.
People crash - when they fail (for whatever reason) to deal safely with the hazards around them.
People become stressed - often when there's a gap between their expectations and reality. If you're expecting to drive through town at 30mph yet the reality is that half your journey is spent at walking pace, it's easy to feel frustrated, impatient and stressed. So what are you in control of - the traffic flow in the city centre or your own expectations of what you'll find? Remove the gap and you remove much of the stress.
Town driving is safer and less stressful when you apply the skills of road and traffic management in order to:
Sometimes the traffic in town just grinds to a halt. There's not much you can do about that. But you can avoid getting stuck behind single obstructions.
When you see an obstructing vehicle ahead, it helps to know why it's there and, therefore, when it's likely to shift. Then you can decide whether to go round it - and position yourself accordingly - or whether to hang back and let it move off ahead of you. The earlier you can make your decision, the better.
By being fully aware of what's around you, and by continually visualising what you expect to occur, you can start to deal with obstructions before they happen. For example:
Think of a few occasions when you've got yourself blocked in unnecessarily at obstructions.
What sort of obstructions were they? Do they have anything in common? Is there a pattern?
How did you realise your mistake? What clues had you missed?
What could you be seeing earlier to help you anticipate likely obstructions?
Making a bad choice of lane is one of the main causes of frustration - and collisions - in town driving. You may feel that you're being held up while another traffic stream flows past. Or you may be approaching a junction and see that your lane will take you in a direction you don't want to go.
When drivers are unhappy with their choice of lane they want to change it, possibly by making late, rash or aggressive lane changing manoeuvres. Even planned lane changing in traffic is one of the most hazardous of driving manoeuvres; unplanned manoeuvres are far more dangerous still. Using lanes well, therefore, is an important aspect of road and traffic management.
If you're going to turn, there may be only one lane available for that direction, so you need to get into it in good time. The markings painted on the road may be obscured by traffic but you may be able to see other clues that tell you where you need to position your car. Look well ahead for boards at junctions showing the lane layout. Watch traffic ahead: are queues forming, and are drivers signalling?
What about when you're following the road ahead and there's more than one lane that you can use? How do you choose?
When traffic is light and flowing well, choose the lane that gives the best safety position: probably the left-hand lane. If the traffic speeds vary in different lanes, it's usually the lane carrying most vehicles that moves most slowly. So it makes sense to use the lane with the lighter traffic and the better flow. But before you do, ask yourself why most other drivers are not using it. Does it become a lane for turning right only? Or is there a long queue in that lane at a junction ahead? Very often, though, one lane is congested simply because most drivers prefer playing "follow the leader" to thinking for themselves.
Going through a series of junctions is safer if you can minimise your lane changes. Wherever possible leave each junction correctly positioned to approach the next one. You can plan to do this by visualising your route backwards before driving it.
Suppose you want to turn right at a T-junction, go straight ahead at a roundabout and then turn right at the next roundabout. Begin by planning to negotiate the last junction in the series: the second roundabout. You want to turn right. So you want to be in the right-hand lane on the approach. At the first roundabout you want to go straight ahead and may use either lane. By taking the right-hand lane throughout you'll be correctly positioned as you leave. So if you remain in the right-hand lane after turning right at the T-junction, you can stay in one lane through all three junctions.
At many cross-roads, you have a choice of lanes for going straight ahead. Look right through the junction - not just at the approach to it - and choose the lane that best enables you to deal with any obstructions. So, if there's a parked car on the far side, approach in the right-hand lane and you won't get boxed in.
If a right-turning car is obstructing the right-hand lane, you can pass it on the left and then change to the right-hand lane to pass the parked car. The turning car protects your lane change - other vehicles can't overtake you there.
Unless the road is clear behind, try to make lane changes when the lane you're moving into is protected in this way - it's much safer. And, of course, never make any lane changes without full awareness of what's around you, and clearly communicate your intentions to other drivers.
How well do you use lanes?
When you have a choice of lanes, do you always think about the best choice for you or do you follow the heaviest traffic flow?
Notice whether you change lanes unnecessarily. Do you plan to drive through series of junctions or one junction at a time? If you've been taking them one at a time, notice the effect on the flow of your driving and your level of driving stress when you plan your route in advance through a sequence of junctions.
Think about a time when you found yourself boxed in by an obstruction just beyond a multi-lane junction. Where were you looking as you planned your approach? What changes will you make in your driving to avoid this in future?
Could you make your lane changes in safer places, preferably when you have some form of protection?
One of the most tiring - and tiresome - aspects of town driving is all the stopping, starting and gear changing. However, through developing your road and traffic management, you can minimise all of these, thus making town driving more comfortable and economical.
The secret of minimising stopping and starting is to look well ahead, to get a feel for the sort of average speed that the traffic will allow, and then to drive at around that speed most of the time. Much of the stopping in town comes about when drivers try to push above the natural pace of the traffic. By matching the natural pace and keeping on the move, you get through town at least as quickly if not quicker than "pushy" drivers - and in a far more relaxed state.
Trying too hard and failing to plan ahead similarly results in a lot of unnecessary gear changing. Most drivers are in a hurry to change up through the gears every time they get moving. Often, as soon as they've changed into fourth gear it's time to slow right down or stop at the next set of lights. Then they repeat the process all over again... and again. By looking ahead and always considering whether it's worth changing up, you'll find that you often decide to stay in second or third gear and keep moving steadily.
When you're driving in town, be aware of how much you're stopping and changing gear. Notice what happens when you set yourself the challenge of starting, stopping and changing gear as little as possible. Is it more relaxing? Is it more interesting?
One of the most important aspects of driving in towns and cities is how you deal with other road users. Many of them - such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists - are vulnerable to injury. And others, particularly drivers of large vehicles, find town driving difficult, especially when car drivers show a lack of understanding. By considering each road user's needs and problems, you can minimise risk and avoid conflict.
Let's consider dealing with:
Pedestrians! They spill off the footpaths... dart across the road... dodge through the traffic. You've got to have eyes everywhere. Precisely. If you can't watch the footpaths and the road, then you must be driving too quickly. Keep a special look out for elderly pedestrians and children - they're the ones most at risk.
Looking is not enough on its own; you need to act on what you see. Does a child on the footpath look like he might run out? Then take defensive action now, before he ends up in front of you. The most effective precautionary action you can take is to keep your speed down whenever pedestrians might be about.
If you're taken by surprise by a child running out into the road without warning and you hit him (most child pedestrian casualties are boys) at 20mph, there's a 5% chance of killing him. If you hit him at 40mph, the odds against his survival rise to 85%.
Are you ever surprised by pedestrians? But they have to come from somewhere. So what are you doing that prevents you from seeing them?
Do you always approach obstacles that can hide pedestrians (such as parked vans) in a position and at a speed that allows evasive action? Bear in mind that even a small car can completely hide a child.
Next time you're driving through a residential area, check your speed. Would it hurt you to drive a little slower? How much might it hurt a child if you don't?
And do you always give way to pedestrians crossing the road at junctions?
It's no fun riding a bike in heavy traffic, having to put up with all the noise and fumes. And if you get hit, what protection have you got - not like you in your steel box.
Cyclists are helping to keep the city less congested by not driving cars, so it won't hurt to be considerate and give them some space.
When passing cyclists, it's sensible to give them the same clearance as a car. Then, if a cyclist hits a patch of oil, gets a sudden puncture or takes a tumble for any other reason, you won't run him over.
Take great care when passing cyclists in bad weather, especially when it's windy. They can easily get blown off course. And bear in mind that the braking performance of bikes is poor when their wheels are wet.
Always have that extra look for cyclists before pulling out of junctions with a restricted view. And take great care to check for cyclists before opening your door.
Large cities are full of motorcyclists - often couriers - weaving in and out of traffic queues. So you need to make frequent checks for motorcyclists in your mirrors, particularly the door mirrors, especially before turning or changing lanes.
Always double-check at junctions. Motorbikes often travel faster than cars in town, and many riders don't make themselves as conspicuous as they could. And, of course, opening a car door without looking is very dangerous for motorcyclists.
Have you ever had a near miss (or worse) with a motorcycle? Did you fail to see it coming? We tend to see what we expect to see; so it's easy to have your attention focused on a large truck in the distance and fail to see a motorcycle in the foreground.
Remember a time when a motorcyclist "suddenly appeared." As you revisit the experience, notice whether there are any clues available to you that you had previously missed. Can you hear the motorcycle approaching? Can you see it in your mirrors out of the corner of your eye? What would you now do differently to avoid being taken by surprise?
Towns can't function without goods vehicles moving supplies. But their drivers have a difficult job. Often they have no choice but to double-park or stop near junctions to unload.
By hanging back when you follow goods vehicles, you can see more of the road ahead. This allows you to anticipate where they're likely to stop which, in turn, allows you to plan your passing manoeuvre as early as possible. For example, you could expect a van carrying the name of a chain of shops to pull up outside that company's premises in the high street.
Always allow long vehicles plenty of room to manoeuvre, especially on left turns and roundabouts. Remember that drivers often have to swing out before starting a turn in order to create clearance for the back wheels. And when lanes are curved, such as on roundabouts, the rear wheels of long vehicles often encroach well into the adjacent lane.
It's often said that taxi drivers follow their own version of The Highway Code. When picking up or setting down fares they tend to stop suddenly, sometimes cutting across the road or even doing U-turns, often with little warning. But this is the nature of the taxi driver's job. So give taxis a wide berth, to allow for these sudden manoeuvres. And watch out for pedestrians hailing cabs.
Make sure that you know which cars are taxis. The familiar black cabs are obvious enough but, in many towns, the bulk of the taxis are ordinary saloon cars. Look out for the official council licence badges, usually on the back bumper.
Much of your town driving is likely to be done on bus routes, with buses starting and stopping at frequent intervals.
By hanging well back when following buses, and occasionally moving in close to the nearside kerb, you can usually see the bus stops ahead. And don't forget to look inside the bus. You can anticipate that a bus is about to stop when you see passengers preparing to get off.
When buses are signalling their intention to move off, let them pull away from bus stops ahead of you if you haven't already started overtaking.
When you are passing them, do so with great caution. Always expect pedestrians to step out into the road in front of the bus. Look under the right front corner of the bus for people's feet - an early warning sign. Keep well clear and drive at a speed that allows you to stop easily if you have to.
Think of a few near misses you've had in town with other road users, particularly vulnerable ones like pedestrians and cyclists.
What were the circumstances? How fast were you travelling? Was your view restricted? Where were you looking? What were you thinking about - was your mind on something other than your driving? Were you expecting the other road user to be there?
When you're next driving in town, consider how you could be more aware of the needs and problems of other road users. What's their perspective on town traffic? See it from their point of view. As you do this, notice whether journeys across town take any longer, what happens to your stress level, and whether town driving becomes more interesting.
Signals: rule 46
Traffic light signals and traffic signs: rule 48
Driving along: rules 52 and 53
Stopping distances: rule 57
The safety of pedestrians: rules 63-70
Pedestrian crossings: rules 71-5
Emergency vehicles: rule 76
Flashing amber lights on vehicles: rule 77
Buses: rule 79
LINES AND LANES ALONG THE ROAD: rules 83-8
Lane Discipline: rules 89-98
OVERTAKING: rule 101 and 103
ROAD JUNCTIONS: rules 107-10 and 113
Junctions controlled by traffic lights: rules 114-6
TRAFFIC LIGHT SIGNALS, page 54
Turning right: rule 117
Turning left: rule 121 and 122
ROUNDABOUTS: rules 123-7
REVERSING: rule 129
WAITING AND PARKING: rules 137-41
Loading and unloading: rule 145
ROAD WORKS: rule 147
TRAMWAYS: rules 235-9
TRAFFIC SIGNS, pages 58-62
ROAD MARKINGS, pages 63-5
THE ROAD USER AND THE LAW, pages 67-74
VEHICLE SECURITY, page 75
It's so nice to get off busy roads and onto these quiet byways. A chance to unwind; to take it easy. Driving on these roads is really a bit of a holiday.
No it isn't. That's the myth of country roads that too many drivers believe. The reality is that, mile for mile, country lanes are more hazardous than other non built-up roads. The casualty rate for B class and unclassified roads is nearly twice as high as A-roads and four times as high as motorways. A high proportion of the collisions that do occur directly result from drivers' not dealing safely with the features of country roads - for example, blind bends, steep hills and humpbacked bridges.
Country lanes are invariably narrow, and sometimes only single track. Occasionally they pass through the middle of farmyards and often through villages. You're more likely to find railway level crossings on country roads, and you hardly ever encounter a ford on any other type of road.
When you're driving in the country, you also have to deal with a variety of other road users, some of whom you're unlikely to find elsewhere. You can expect to find:
Skilled observation is particularly important on county lanes. For example, you need to scan over a wide angle. By looking through gaps in hedges and across corners of fields you can often get early warning of sharp bends, junctions, vehicles and other road users ahead.
Expect any hedges or rows of trees converging on your road to mark roads or farm tracks. On undulating roads, the line of the road over crests may be shown by trees. But take care with telegraph poles - these sometimes go straight across a field while the road turns sharply. So treat sharp kinks as a warning but view straight rows with suspicion.
Check your observation on country lanes.
Notice how many more hazards you're ready to meet when you scan over a wider angle, looking well to the sides of the road. Are you able to anticipate junctions and entrances to farm tracks by looking for telltale hedges or rows of trees? Can you spot oncoming vehicles well before blind bends by looking across corners of fields?
How often are you able to judge correctly the line of the road over brows by using visual clues such as trees and hedges?
Have you ever been caught out by a sharp bend in the road where the telegraph poles continued straight on?
Make sure that you "read" the road surface carefully. Expect frequent changes of surface, patched repairs, potholes, loose gravel and mud. Because there are no kerbs, the edges of the road are prone to breaking up. So it's often advisable to avoid positioning too near the edge, especially when braking or cornering. And when you're forced to position on or over the edge to pass another vehicle, slow right down first.
Many country lanes have no painted road markings but you may still see warnings marked on the road - those left by other vehicles: skid marks. Treat them very seriously if you see more than one set in the same place.
Whenever you see skid marks, notice how often there are hidden hazards, such as concealed entrances or deceptively tight bends, just beyond.
Anticipation and visualisation play a large part in safe driving on country lanes. For example, when you see tractors working in a field, expect to see mud on the road ahead by the gate. Similarly, when driving past farmyards, expect mud on the road, agricultural vehicles and herds of animals - fresh animal droppings are very slippery.
Expect to see horses anywhere, but particularly near stables or riding schools. Slow right down and stop if necessary until they have passed. When overtaking horses, do so slowly and quietly, giving the widest possible clearance.
Be particularly careful on left-hand bends. There could be pedestrians walking towards you or a stationary vehicle tucked out of view.
Whenever the view is restricted, you'll find that you adopt a safe speed quite naturally if you visualise some typical hazard, like horses or a tractor, just out of view. On unfenced moorland roads you can visualise sheep in the road over every blind crest.
Are you always ready to meet the unusual and the unexpected on country lanes? Could you make more use of visual clues such as fresh muddy tyre tracks or footprints, farm buildings, stables, fields being worked and so on to predict what you're likely to find?
It's particularly important to be able to stop well within the distance you can see to be clear ahead. Sometimes this requires a sizeable helping of self-discipline, as clear views ahead may be very short and safe speeds, consequently, very low.
To be safe on very narrow roads you need to be able to stop in half the clear distance ahead. Then, when you spot an oncoming vehicle (and its driver spots you at the same time), both you and it can stop before you meet head-on.
Your approach to blind bends and crests is made safer on narrow roads by sounding your horn.
On very narrow, single track roads, do you visualise an oncoming car at every blind bend?
Here's an experiment that will allow you to check whether your approach speed to single track, blind bends is safe. First make sure that the road behind is completely clear, so that you cause no danger to following traffic. As soon as a convenient marker on a blind bend (such as a tree next to the road) comes into view, brake firmly and stop. Have you travelled less than half the distance from the point you were at when you saw the marker to the marker itself? If you've travelled further, your speed was too high to be safe.
If you're normally reluctant to sound your horn, consider how much safer you feel when you can hear an approaching car at a blind bend or brow. Use your horn whenever it enhances safety.
Driving along: rule 53
The safety of pedestrians: rule 70
Animals: rules 80 and 81
Single-track roads: rule 82
OVERTAKING: rule 101
RAILWAY LEVEL CROSSINGS: rules 225-234
It's on A-roads, perhaps more than on any other type of road, that your safety depends on your road and traffic management. The highest proportion of collisions that prove to be fatal for vehicle occupants occurs on non built-up A-roads. Relatively high speeds and a wide range of frequently encountered hazards are significant factors. On single-carriageway A-roads there is the ever present danger of head-on collisions at closing speeds of 120mph or more. And dual-carriageway A-roads have far more hazards than you find on motorways - yet the speed limit is usually the same.
Observation and anticipation are particularly important for staying out of trouble. Here's a few general tips:
Because of the traffic conditions on A-roads (particularly speed), even common hazards present special dangers. Specific road and traffic management strategies are therefore appropriate to deal safely with the following hazards when you meet them on A-roads:
Junctions are particularly dangerous because of the vast speed differential that's possible between vehicles. Many drivers, when joining an A-road (particularly a dual-carriageway) from a minor road, misjudge both the speed of approaching traffic and the time they'll take to reach cruising speed. So it's important to apply certain defensive strategies when approaching junctions.
Look well ahead and find out as early as possible where the junctions are. Watch out for route signs. Do other roads appear to be converging? Scan to both sides and look for lines of trees or hedges that intersect with your road.
When you know that you're approaching a junction, make sure that you have space in which to manoeuvre. Even on a dual-carriageway, avoid overtaking near or at the junction, and don't let yourself be overtaken either (adjust your speed so that the overtaking vehicle is clear ahead before you reach the junction or hasn't pulled alongside until you've passed it). This means you need to know what's in front and behind in all lanes and at all times.
On dual carriageways there are two types of junctions with minor roads: those with and those without gaps in the central reserve. A junction that has a gap is more hazardous: you may encounter vehicles crossing your path to make right turns - just as you may on single carriageways. Where there is no gap in the central reserve, drivers can turn left only and your concerns are limited to dealing with vehicles slowing down before turning off or those joining the road and accelerating. These manoeuvres are made safer by acceleration and deceleration lanes (and more hazardous by their absence) so look to see whether there are any at each junction.
Dual-carriageway junctions: rule 112
Cross-roads present many of the same dangers as junctions on one side, such as vehicles slowing down in front of you before turning, pulling out in front or crossing your path to make a right turn. However, with cross-roads there's always the danger that a vehicle might shoot straight across from one side to the other without slowing, whether it's caused by the vehicle's brake failure or the driver's brain failure. Stay safe by scanning well to the sides and take avoiding action as soon as you see that a vehicle clearly can't stop in time. Don't wait until it gets there!
On single-carriageways, junctions and particularly cross-roads present additional "second-hand" dangers caused by oncoming vehicles swerving onto your side to avoid danger on their own side of the road. A head-on collision with such a swerving vehicle could prove to be fatal. So how do you protect yourself? Firstly by taking great care to watch junctions on the right especially when there is oncoming traffic. Visualise the route an oncoming car taking avoiding action is likely to follow, and plan an escape route. If you have to take it, brake hard in a straight line before swerving away from the danger.
When you need to turn right at cross-roads be very careful. If in any doubt, wait. Ask yourself: "Would I have enough time to stall, restart and get clear before oncoming traffic gets here?" And always have a "lifesaver" look behind before making the turn. Watch for overtaking vehicles, especially motorcycles.
Turning right from a dual-carriageway: rule 120
Roundabouts present particular dangers on A-roads (especially dual-carriageways) because you tend to approach them at high speed. It's easy to underestimate your approach speed and to leave your braking too late. This could result in your overshooting the Give Way line or running into the back of a waiting vehicle.
On the approach to some roundabouts, judging your braking distance is made easier by countdown markers or yellow lines across the road that get progressively closer. Where there are no such markers, play safe by starting to brake when it seems a little early.
Another consequence of your high approach speed is that you need to choose your lane well before you reach the roundabout or you may find that it's already occupied.
When you're judging whether it's safe to enter the roundabout, expect the vehicles on it to be travelling faster than they look. If in doubt, wait. Your car provides you with the least protection when it's hit in the driver's door - and that's probably where you'll get clobbered if you misjudge it.
Watch out for long vehicles cutting in on your lane as they turn. And when there are heavy vehicles ahead, it's better to leave by the right-hand lane to avoid getting boxed-in.
Lay-bys can present a number of dangers:
Always look well ahead for lay-bys. There's usually a "P" sign at the lay-by and you should be able to see this at some distance.
When you see an empty lay-by, ask yourself: "Could any other vehicles pull into it before I get there?"
When you see a lay-by with vehicles in it, check each vehicle to see whether it's occupied. An occupied driver's seat means a car may pull out in front of you. And if a vehicle's unoccupied, be ready for its former passengers to cross the road.
Stay safe by covering the brake and the horn. Don't hesitate to use both if you think that anyone is unaware of your approach. On dual-carriageways approach lay-bys in the right-hand lane if you can.
The danger at filling stations on A-roads is of vehicles entering or leaving much more slowly than the traffic driving past. This danger is increased where there are no - or only very short - deceleration and acceleration lanes.
At least filling stations are easy to spot. You can plan your approach as soon as you see an oil company sign in the distance. If you're on a dual-carriageway, either move into the right-hand lane if it's clear or make sure that you will be able to do so as you approach the filling station. If you're already in the right-hand lane to overtake, make sure that you won't be alongside another vehicle as you get near to the filling station. As ever, give yourself room to manoeuvre.
Look onto the filling station forecourt, not just at the exit road. Any vehicle moving away from the pumps presents potential danger. Does your position give you a safety margin? Does your speed allow you to stop before colliding if a vehicle pulls out in front of you - or at least allow you to manoeuvre to avoid it? Is your foot covering the brake pedal, just in case? Are you ready to give a horn warning?
When you need to stop for fuel, make sure that you signal and slow down in good time. After you've been travelling at high speed, it's easy to leave your braking too late and enter the filling station dangerously fast.
On non built-up roads, more people are hurt in collisions at driveways and entrances than at cross-roads. Wherever you see houses consider the likelihood of vehicles turning into or pulling out of private driveways. Be particularly careful where the driveway opening is positioned just round a bend or beyond a hill crest.
At roadside pubs and restaurants, or any other premises open to the public, you should never be surprised by vehicles slowing down in front of you - perhaps suddenly - in order to pull in. The danger from vehicles pulling out of pub car parks is increased by the possibility that drivers' judgement may have been affected by drink.
The greatest danger on single-carriageway A-roads is oncoming traffic. Think how frequently you pass within a few feet of another vehicle at a closing speed of a hundred and twenty miles per hour or more. It only needs a slight change of course from an oncoming vehicle for it to hit you at that speed. And head-on collisions are usually fatal.
On straight roads, there are three ways in which oncoming drivers can endanger you:
You have to be constantly "on the ball". Any lapse of concentration and you could be taken by surprise. Always have an escape route in mind. Driving through a hedge is preferable to hitting another vehicle. Adjust your speed so that you arrive at those points on the road where no escape is possible when you won't be meeting other vehicles.
On winding roads, there's more danger at right-hand bends: an oncoming car entering the bend too fast or on a poor line may skid across to your side. Scan across bends and if you see a car that's approaching too fast, slow down or even stop so the driver can regain control - or run off the road - before you get there.
If you've allowed yourself to lapse into a "motorway mentality" on a dual-carriageway A-road, you could be surprised to come across cyclists. Don't be!
Because you'll be closing on them rapidly, it's important to plan your overtaking early. The main thing is to give plenty of clearance - change lanes completely. When a car is driven at speed it creates a wave of air turbulence that extends well to the sides. If you pass cyclists too closely, you'll cause them to wobble or even to fall off.
From time to time you'll come across pedestrians on A-roads. Because of your speed on these roads, it's vital that you give pedestrians a great deal of clearance. Hitting a pedestrian at sixty miles per hour is bound to be fatal. If you're unable to move well out, perhaps because of oncoming traffic, slow right down before you pass them.
To give yourself time to slow down, look as far ahead as possible. Wherever your view is restricted, such as at bends and the brows of hills, adjust your speed accordingly.
Next time you're driving on an A-road notice how far ahead you're looking, and how much you're scanning well to the sides. How often do you anticipate junctions before you can see any traffic signs (for example by spotting lines of trees or hedges intersecting with your road, or vehicles approaching at an angle)?
If you don't already do so, start planning escape routes, particularly approaching junctions and premises where there's a danger of vehicles pulling across your path. Take notice of the height of kerbs, the width of verges, what lies on the other side of hedges, etc.
Have you ever been taken by surprise by road users you didn't expect to see on A-roads, such as horses, cyclists or pedestrians walking in the road? Cast your mind back to any particular incident. Notice what lead up to your meeting with the unexpected. Were there any clues that you could have spotted - such as a car parked at the side of the road before you met the pedestrian carrying the fuel can? Were you really adopting the golden rule: always drive at such a speed that you can stop safely within the distance you can see to be clear?
Motorways are the safest roads of all (the casualty rate is only one fifth of that for A-roads). However, around 1,500 people are killed or seriously injured on motorways every year.
The most common hazards arise:
Avoiding the hazards - as usual - is largely a matter of road and traffic management.
How do you feel about motorway driving? Do you feel five times safer than you do on A-roads? Probably not. So what is it - specifically - about motorway driving that seems to be risky, as far as you're concerned?
Think about the points raised in this chapter, remember and learn from any problems you may have had in the past, resolve to make any changes in your driving that seem sensible and notice how your feelings change next time you're driving on motorways.
MOTORWAYS - GENERAL: rules 155-7
Space, speed and timing - that's what joining a motorway safely is all about. Especially when it's busy.
Are you ready to join the motorway? Have you planned your journey? Are both you and your vehicle well-prepared and fit to travel? Are you familiar with all the motorway rules and regulations, signs and markings, and general advice as set out in The Highway Code. Why not read it again before your next motorway trip?
Before you enter the slip road, look for any restrictions or information displayed on the matrix signs.
Make sure you have plenty of clear space in front on the slip road so that you can accelerate unimpeded. If both lanes are blocked with slow vehicles, slow down and hang back until you've got the space you need. Without space in front, you can't choose the speed at which you enter the motorway.
Accelerate rapidly until you're going a little faster than traffic in the nearside lane of the main carriageway. This makes final adjustments to position and timing easier (you can knock off 5mph more quickly than you can add it). Stay in the most responsive gear for your speed until you've joined the motorway.
As early as possible, choose the gap you want to enter. Visualise yourself already in it and you'll make the necessary fine adjustments to your speed almost automatically.
Some slip roads divide into two acceleration lanes. Make your choice before the lanes divide: don't cross the solid line.
Check your mirrors frequently in the slip road and acceleration lane. Watch out for faster vehicles overtaking you. Signal in good time and then move across smoothly. Cancel your signal as soon as you've entered the left-hand lane of the motorway.
Very occasionally, there may be no safe gaps to enter. Then you've no option but to stop and wait. In that case, leave yourself plenty of room to build up speed in the acceleration lane when you see a gap coming.
When the motorway's congested, you may have to enter a gap that's rather "tight." If so, ease back gradually from the vehicle ahead. Avoid any sudden backing off - it may annoy following drivers.
Once you've joined the motorway, stay in the left-hand lane for half a mile or so. That allows you time to weigh up the traffic flow properly before attempting to overtake.
Have you ever had a near miss (or worse) or some other kind of unpleasant incident when joining a motorway? Think back to such an experience and rerun it as though you were in the driving seat.
How much space do you have around you prior to the incident? What could you do differently to create more space?
Are you travelling at the same speed as the traffic in the left-hand lane as you join, or are you trying to enter while going slower or faster than the traffic flow? So what prevented you from matching the speed?
Are you able to adjust your position and speed easily? Are you in the most responsive gear, or were you too keen to get into top?
Are you fully aware of what's happening all around you, including in your mirrors' blind spots? What haven't you seen that you should have? What could you do differently in order to be more aware?
JOINING THE MOTORWAY: rules 158-60
Motorways would work more efficiently if more drivers were to use the lanes properly. Bad lane usage causes delay and frustration which, in turn, leads to collisions.
Let's debunk a common myth: there's no "fast lane". Whatever your speed, the rule is simple: keep left unless overtaking. It's an offence to obstruct vehicles by hogging an overtaking lane.
Hogging the middle lane prevents heavy trucks from passing - they're not allowed to overtake in the right-hand lane. Stay in the middle lane only when there's a continuous stream of slower traffic in the left-hand lane.
The right-hand lane is only for overtaking vehicles in the middle lane - nothing else. Yet how often do you see a packed right-hand lane and hardly anything in the middle lane? Most of the vehicles in the right-hand lane have no reason to be there and just cause delays for everyone.
Stay safe by maintaining a "safety bubble" around the car - always have plenty of room in front and to at least one side. So avoid bunching - it's the most common cause of collisions on motorways. If someone's following you too closely, open out the space in front. Adjust your speed as necessary to keep a space in at least one lane - avoid driving three abreast. Then you have options if someone steers into your lane without seeing you.
Anticipate vehicles that might move into your forward space. Maintain that space by acting promptly, ideally before the other vehicle has even started its manoeuvre. If the lane to your right is clear, overtake. If it's not, reduce speed early and gradually, opening out the space again. Constant awareness of following traffic in all lanes is essential. So use all your mirrors frequently.
Give signals at least four seconds before changing lanes and steer smoothly and accurately, centring your car in the lane.
Think of a few near misses you may have had while driving on motorways. As you re-experience each one, consider:
ON THE MOTORWAY: rules 161-84
Space, speed and timing - pay attention to those and you'll leave the motorway safely and efficiently. Whether it's a junction or a service area, the procedure is the same.
Start planning when you see the one-mile sign, especially if traffic is heavy and you're overtaking. Position next to a suitable gap on your left, check all your mirrors, signal if it will help others, ease across to the next lane and cancel your signal. Do this for each lane you have to move across, aiming to be in the left-hand lane by the time you reach the half-mile sign.
As you reach the three-hundred yard marker, signal your intention to leave the motorway. Continue to match the speed of traffic in the left-hand lane until you've moved completely into the deceleration lane. Don't slow down unnecessarily on the main carriageway; it would upset the traffic flow. The effects of such a flow disturbance would be felt by drivers on the motorway long after you've left.
When you're in the deceleration lane cancel your left signal. It may then be appropriate to signal to show which way you want to go at the end of the slip road. If you're turning left, it's better to give two separate left signals otherwise other drivers may assume that you've simply forgotten to cancel your leaving signal.
Take up position for the junction ahead and reduce speed early, relying on what the speedometer tells you - your perception of speed will have been distorted by a long period of high-speed driving. And watch out for bends in the slip road - they can be quite tight. After driving for some time in a virtually straight line, it's easy to enter slip road bends much too quickly.
Have you ever encountered any difficulties when leaving a motorway? Think about what you did to create the difficulty, and what you could have done to avoid it.
Have you left it too late to take up position in the left-hand lane? So what's preventing you from getting over to the left when you want to? Have you not spotted the exit early enough? If you haven't seen the signs, what were you looking at instead? Is your view blocked by large trucks? How could you position to get the view you need? What were you thinking about? Was your mind "somewhere else"?
Is traffic in the left-hand lane bunched up close together, leaving no gaps for you? Could you have seen this earlier and avoided leaving it so late to try to get in?
Do you create any difficulty in the slip road, such as misjudging a tight bend or leaving your braking too late as you approach a roundabout or T-junction? Have you checked your speedometer?
LEAVING THE MOTORWAY: rules 185 and 186
Many collisions occur because drivers who've just left motorways think they're driving more slowly than they really are. Our perception is comparative - if feels great by comparison when you stop banging your head against the wall. After a period of high speed driving on the motorway we adapt. High speed begins to feel very ordinary... and slow. When you leave the motorway, the slower speed by comparison feels like a snail's pace.
The only way to deal safely with this distorted perception is to ignore the sensation of slowness and to rely on the (absolute, non-comparative) information provided by the speedometer. OK, so 30mph feels like 20 for a while - but does it matter? If you drive at what feels like 30 it could easily be an actual 45 - and your stopping distance is nearly twice as long as you expect it to be.
Not being able to stop easily would obviously present a greatly increased danger to pedestrians. It can also cause problems with ordinary stops. Collisions occur every day near motorways when drivers ram into other vehicles at junctions because they started to brake at their usual distance for their usual approach speed... only to find that their speed is far higher than usual and they need twice the distance they've got!
So to stay safe, keep checking your speed after rejoining ordinary roads.
How much are you affected by speed adaptation? Does it seem really slow back on ordinary roads after a stint on the motorway? Have you ever been surprised by your actual speed when approaching a hazard on an ordinary road after leaving a motorway? Do you check your speedometer more frequently than normal after leaving motorways?
In some ways, driving at night is easier than during the day. Traffic is usually lighter and approaching vehicles can often be seen earlier on winding roads. But, despite that, every mile you drive at night carries twice the accident risk of every daytime mile. On top of that, collisions that occur in the dark are twice as likely to have serious or fatal results as those that occur in daylight. So any journey at night carries four times as much risk of being killed or seriously injured as the same journey in daylight.
You're likely to be less alert at night, especially at late hours when you'd normally be asleep. And you're more at risk from other drivers who may drive into you when they fall asleep at the wheel, or who may be under the influence of alcohol. But the biggest and most obvious difficulty is having reduced visibility. Not surprisingly, many drivers find night driving particularly stressful.
Driving at night needn't be more stressful or dangerous than driving in daylight. It won't be if you make the necessary adjustments to your driving to cope safely with reduced visibility. You need to make the optimum use of:
Make sure that you're able to see as well a