The problem
The growth of motor traffic is causing the world a lot of problems. It is likely that we will run out of oil within the next few decades. Pollution is getting worse. Your car produces a long list of toxic gasses every time you use it. These gases go into the air and stay there for a long time. They damage the environment and contribute to global warming.
We have no option but to reduce the amount of fuel we use. This will reduce the amount of pollution that we create. It will increase the time that the world has to adapt to the end of the oil. Moreover – it will save you money. An average UK driver will save about £800 a year. In the USA, an average driver will save about $500 a year.
Step one -choosing
• Pick the right gearbox.
o An automatic gearbox uses 10% more fuel than a manual, or stick shift.
• Pick the right fuel
o Diesel engines can use up to 20% less fuel than equivalent petrol engines. They produce less CO2 but lots more particulates. These particulates cause damage to buildings and reduce air quality.
o LPG is not a green product. It is a by-product of the oil industry. It was burned off at the refinery. Now it is used in cars and heating systems. It is 6% less efficient than petrol.
o Hybrid cars combine an electric motor with a petrol engine. This system has a lot of potential as a green system. Some hybrid models are more fuel efficient than their conventional versions. Others are less fuel-efficient.
o Fuel cell systems. Very green but no infrastructure
Step two – Care for your car.
When your car is serviced, the garage will tune the engine to make sure that it is working properly. A properly tuned engine uses less fuel. The older your car the more care and attention it will need.
Properly inflated tyres can save you up to 15 miles a gallon. I check my tyres every week. If I forget, I notice the difference in my wallet.
Step three – Loose some weight
A cars engine does not reach its operating temperature for about a quarter mile. It will use more fuel in the first five minutes of a journey than it will in the next five minutes. If you can walk there and back, you should walk there and back. If you can use public transport then use it.
You car was designed to work at a certain power to weight ratio. If you add heavy items to the car, it has to work harder to produce the same effect. If you take the heavy junk out of your car, you will use less fuel.
Roof boxes, sat navs, mobile phone chargers, open windows and air conditioning waste fuel. Try to do without them.
Step four –driving style
Accelerating and braking waste fuel. Your car uses more fuel when it is increasing speed and slowing down using the brakes. A smooth driving style saves you fuel.
Try to look well ahead and react to problems as soon as you see them. This will let you react by reducing your pressure on the gas pedal. My articles on hazard perception will help you to develop a smooth driving style

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The Driving Routine

I am going to give you the same advice as I give all my driving school clients.  Driving is a complex business.  This routine makes it easier.  Get into the habit of using the routine – it may save your life.

The human mind is a very powerful instrument.  It is made up of millions of connections.  Each of these connections is part of a neural pathway.   Every time your mind thinks it uses up one or more of these pathways.

Your mind can process millions of neural pathways without you noticing.  Unfortunately, it is not so good at conscious thought.  You can only process seven conscious thought actions at any one time.  There are more than 20 thought processes involved in making a turn. 

This is why drivers use a driving routine.  It breaks driving into seven easy steps.

Imagine that you are on a drive and we are coming up to a junction.  I would like you to turn right.  How are you going to make that turn safely? 

Here is how. – The Driving Routine

See the junction – You need to know where the junction is before you can make your turn. It could be signed; it could be a gap in a fence or houses.  It could be a gap in the kerb. 

Assess the junction – think traffic and vision.  How much can I see and how busy is it?  A junction where you can see a lot is an open junction.  A junction with little chance to see into the new road is a closed junction. 

Mirrors – Check to see what is behind you and to the right. 

Signal – right in this case

Position – slightly to the right

Speed – make sure you can stop if……

Look – look into the new road and see what is there.

A good driver is aware of other road users and anticipates what they are going to do. They are hazard aware.  This is the skill of scanning the road and linking what you see to what you need to do. Learn to do this early enough and you will find that you really are the king of the road.

Try this little test.  Pick a route that you are familiar with and drive regularly. Next time you drive that route tell yourself what you see up-ahead. How much more did you see compared to the day before? Scary isn’t it!

Some people ask me why should I bother looking any further than two cars ahead. There are three reasons. Good hazard awareness makes driving less stressful – 70% or road problems vanish if you spot the problems early enough and react straight away. Secondly it is cheaper – If you respond early you can respond gently and this could save you up to a months gas a year. Lastly it is safer – you will find that you are making the right choices for the road ahead.

What is a hazard?

A hazard is anything that could make you change the way that you are driving. Put more simply -its something that you have to deal with. They come in three forms. Fixed Hazards never move -Junctions are an example of a fixed hazard. Potential Hazards might change - Parked cars might pull out. Dynamic Hazards are also known as moving or actual hazards. A car emerging from a junction is a dynamic hazard. You must react to dynamic hazards

You may have more than one hazard. Prioritize them. Flesh over car. Near over far. Moving over potential over fixed.

Observation skills are the core of hazard awareness. It used to be called reading the road, though the term scanning is more popular amongst driving instructors these days. Personally I call it seeing.

New Scotland Yard have been teaching these skills to there police officers since 1956. Metropolitan Police traffic officers are reckoned to be amongst the best trained drivers in the world. The UK government’s department of transport has asked its driving standards agency to make sure that all learner drivers are taught these skills. This means that every British driving instructor is teaching these skills in every driving lesson.

There are five habits to good hazard awareness.  They are: 

1. Look well ahead
2. Keep your eyes moving
3. Look from building to building
4. Spot the problems
5. React now

Lets take the first two habits. Look as far down the road as you can see. Then mid-distance. Then close to the car. Then check whats happening in the mirrors. Practice doing this every time you drive.

The third habit is the hardest to develop. You must become aware of the entire road – even the sidewalks and alleys.  

The easiest way to develop this skill is to position your car correctly.

Position your car so that you have the best view of the road ahead of you. You need to see what is happening as far ahead as possible. You can use cars and windows as mirrors. You can look through the gaps in buildings and fences as you approach junctions. You can look over, under and through parked cars and the cars ahead of you.

The fourth habit is the easiest to develop. Here are some exercises to try in the car:

1.Say what you can see. For example, ‘Traffic lights in the distance. Pedestrian near a crossing, junction right, cyclist to my rear’

2.Shout it out. Every time the scene changes shout it out. For example, ‘Car junction . Cyclist on crossing’

3.What is he trying to do? Try to predict what another road user is going to do. For example, ‘ Pedestrian left looking across the road – likely to cross quickly. Boy leaving nursery alone – run out in front of you’

The easiest habit to develop is reacting now.  You will find that as soon as you identify a hazard your foot will start to lift of that gas pedal.

Does it work? Yes. I am a Driving Instructor and former police driver. I can cross my home town (Hull) and only touch my brakes three to eight times. That is a distance of three miles through the center of the UKs fifteenth largest town.

Driving in the rain

Driving in the rain can cause some drivers problems.  They drive too fast for the road conditions.   They close up on the car in front.   They make other drivers panic.  And, suddenly crash.

Driving in the rain is not difficult if it is done well.  In this article I will tell you the best way to tackle driving in the rain.

When you are learning to drive your driving instructor should talk to you about driving in the rain.  Most driving school do cover driving in bad weather.

In my other articles, I mentioned the idea of a safe gap.  This is the gap between you and the car in front.  You should be able to stop safely in the distance that you can see to be clear.  This safe gap is also known as your stopping distance.

Your stopping distance is made up of thinking distance and breaking distance.  You do not need to learn your stopping distance.  Can you tell what 100 yards looks like at 60?  I work on a safe time gap – do I have time to stop if…

A safe time gap for a good driver on a good road in good weather is two seconds.  I teach my student drivers to keep four seconds gap.  As the car in front passes a fixed landmark, start to count.  Count – 1000 and 1 etc. When you reach the same point, you should have the correct safe time gap.

A fine film of muck and oil lies just under the surface of the road.  It floats on the top of the rain and puddles.  It is the shine on the road when it rains.  It makes it harder to stop in the rain.

You should double your safe time gap when it rains. 

Rain makes it harder to see.  This why you put your wipers on.  This also means that other drivers are struggling to see.  If your wipers are on your lights should be on.

Fog Kills

I am sorry to be so blunt about it, but fog is a killer.  If I were more accurate, the way people drive in the fog gets them killed.  Every time there is fog on the freeway, there is a crash.  It need not be like this.

Fog is a dense formation of water droplets near the ground.  It is, in effect, a cloud on the ground.  The ground absorbs heat during the day.  It releases the heat at night.  This causes the moisture in the air to form water droplets.  If there are enough water droplets in the air, a fog forms.  You are most likely to find fog in valleys and near rivers.

The problem with fog is that it reduces the distance that you can see.  I have experienced fog where I could only see the end of the car.  I slowed right down and pulled off the road as soon as I could. 

The golden rule of a good driver is “I will be able to stop safely in the distance that I can see to be clear.  This is the key to your fog routine.  The fog routine works on all types of roads.

It will take you longer to get to work or school in the fog.  You have to reduce your speed if you are to keep a safe distance from the car in front.  So, you need to leave earlier in the fog. 

Before you leave, you must check that all your car lights work and the windscreens are clean.  Fog reduces the distance that you can see.  You need to make your car more visible to other drivers. 

You need to make sure that you can see.  That is why you need clean windscreens in fog.  It is also, why you must keep your screens demisted.  You car will be warm, the air outside will be cold.  Your windscreens will mist up.

As you approach the fog, turn on your headlights.  Turn them onto dipped beam – side lights are neither use nor ornament.  Do not turn your lights onto main beam.  The moisture in the air will break up the light and create a whiteout in front of your car. 

If the distance you can see drops to about 110 yards, you must turn on your fog lights.  110 yards is about the length of a soccer pitch.   These intense lights to the front and rear of your car will help make you visible.  You must turn the fog lights off as soon as you can.  Rear fog lights are painful to look at.

Slow down and increase the distance between you and the car in front.   If you can see their lights then you are too close.  You are in great danger if you can clearly make out the car in front.

Driving at night can be fun. The freshness of the air. Seeing the lights of the car coming towards you. Looking out for the clues about the road.
Everything that makes driving at night fun can make it dangerous. The fresh air could be the start of frost on the roads. The lights could blind you and if you miss a clue about the road.
It is a shame that very few learners get to drive at night. There are a few driving schools and driving instructors that offer driving lessons at night.

Nighttime driving includes nighttime, dawn or dusk. Nighttime driving skills start as soon as the light changes for any reason.
Before you leave the house, make sure that your car is fit to be on the road. Do all the lights and indicators work? Is the screen clean inside and out? Make sure that you are fit to be on the road. Make sure that you are not too tired or have had any alcohol.

Some night time survival tips
• Lights are for being seen by as well as seeing by.
• Make sure that you can stop in the distance that you can see.
• Dark coloured cars are harder to see at night.
• Silver cars are harder to see at dawn, or dusk.
• You must make sure that your lights are clean and in working order.
• You cannot see as much or as far at night.
• So reduce your speed and increase your hazard awareness.
• Let your eyes adjust to the light.
• Use main beam on unlit roads, but do not dazzle other drivers.
• Avoid being dazzled by looking well ahead and slightly to the right.

Parking at night
If you can you should avoid parking on the road at might. If you have to then there are strict rules about parking at night. If you are parking on a road with a speed limit of 30 or less you may switch your lights off. You may not park opposite a junction or within 10m of a junction. Make sure that you park in the left. If you are parking on any other road, make sure that you leave your sidelights on and park on the left.
Try to park in a well-lit area with lots of people passing by. Your car will be harder to damage or steal

I am pleased to announce that The Drivers Ed Company will give $1 from every copy of ’The Student Drivers Manual’ sold to support a road safety charity.

You – the site users, will choose this charity.

 The charity must be based in or work in the USA. 

Just email at driverse@driversedcompany.com and tell us the name of your chosen charity.   The charity with the most votes at the end of each month will receive the money.

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If you want to be a great driver, then I highly recommend my book, “The student Driver Manual.”  It is the most complete resource ANYWHERE on how to become a safe and skilled driver.

“The Student Driver Manual” is the most up-to-date and complete guide available anywhere on how to turn your Drivers Ed into Driving Skills.

You can learn more here: www.driversedcompany.com/studentdriver/ebook.html. 

Just so, you know what to expect, I have listed a small sample of what you will learn inside this amazing resource:

- The right way to deal with every hazardous situation on the road.

- A full chapter on controlling the car.

- How to park into the most awkward spaces.

- What to do in an emergency.

- How to reverse around a corner.

That is just the tip of the iceberg…

Download “Student Driver Manual” today at:  www.driversedcompany.com/studentdriver/ebook.html

All the Best,

Tim