Reading The Clues Others Give Us

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I recommend that you practice the following, not only when you are driving but when you are a passenger also. This will allow it to become a habit, a thing you just do automatically.

Q. How do I know where someone is going on the road, as sometimes they would have an indicator on but not make the turn?

A. Always remember, an indicator on just means an idicator is working. There are three other ways of checking where a vehicle is going apart from the indicators.

1 Speed - Have a look at the speed of the car approaching the turn, has it slowed sufficiently to make the turn, which the driver has indicated on taking?

2. Position - Look at the position of the car. Is the vehicle angled towards the direction that the driver is signalling to go?

3. Wheels - Check the angle of the wheels. Make sure that they are angled towards the direction which is indicated by the driver.

Progress - To Go OR Not To Go

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Progress is a category in the driving test. It covers nine different areas; moving off, on the straight, overtaking, at cross junctions, at roundabouts, turning right, turning left, changing lanes and at traffic lights.

The reason behind this being part of your test I agree with, but the way people perceive it to be, I don’t agree with. I have found that people, who come to me after having done a driving test before, take unnecessary risks at junctions and roundabouts. When I ask, was that the safest time to move out? I hear over and over again, I got marked in my last test for progress.

Believe me there is not a single tester in the world who wants you to kill yourself on the road. Their job is to ascertain that you are a safe and competent driver making good on the spot judgements which keep both you and other road users safe.
You will only be marked for progress if you have not taken a safe opportunity to join the other traffic. Again, testers do not want you to take unnecessary risks.

So, here is a tip I hope you all find useful when you come to a junction or roundabout ....
Q. How do I judge a safe gap to join other traffic?

A. If the vehicle already on the road you are joining, has to break to make room for you - Don’t Dare

If you can join the other traffic without forcing them to slow down for you, - Don’t Dawdle (but do remember to allow for the fact that you will be slower moving off than the other traffic already in motion).

Hazards - Yikes!!

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The upside to the reason we drive, is to reach our destination in a faster time, and at a time that suits us. This allows us to make longer journeys than in the days of horses and carts. This, by the way was long before my time. We also have the comfort of suspension Air conditioning and everything to make our travelling enjoyable.
However it has its down side. Every time we get into our vehicles, we are putting ourselves in the path of potential danger through our own misjudgment.

You often hear people say, “The car/truck/he/she just came out in front of me. I hadn't time to do anything.” It is not possible, for traffic, pedestrians or cyclists to just come out in front of you, if you have been observing and had been scanning the road ahead correctly for what may happen.

Even if we have not been the cause of the initial misjudgment, we should have been alert to what the person might or might not do and been prepared for either. . Talk yourself through every situation out loud, like a running commentary on what's happening and what you're how you are going to deal with the situation.  I do this with many of my students as it is good practice which forms a good habit in training our mind to behave in a certain way when driving. A safe way, I call it the “what if”.

An example of this unusual technique is, on approach to a sharp bend in the road, you would say. “Around this bend there may be a traffic queue, a pedestrian about to cross, something parked on the bend or an approaching vehicle may take the bend wide.” Solution: Take care. This does not mean driving at snail’s pace, but at a speed that you could can stop safely.

Hazards will only become dangerous through our own misjudgment. I include myself in this. Just because we are driving instructors does not make us infallible and calling it wrong at times. . We all have moments where our concentration lapses and are caught off guard.

One hazard that I constantly see is when a car is parallel parking and the following vehicle doesn't heed the indicator. When they finally notice what is happening, they don’t look to see if the person parking can make it in one manoeuvre or not. So they keep creeping forward, leaving the person parking no option but to stop what they are doing, and they find themselves in a situation where they can neither reverse or go forward.

It soon becomes a traffic jam with everyone involved becoming angry as they in turn had also moved forward. This leaves a situation where nobody can move until somebody at the back reverses. This situation It could have been avoided with the “the “What If” technique. Eg. What if the person can’t make it in one manoeuvre. I’ll give them enough space to negotiate into their position.

Have fun with it make it habit, start as a passenger. Look to see what is happening and what might. but always keep alert and aware.