Driver’s education courses can feel like a whirlwind. On top of everything you have to learn—basic car operation, the driving rules as they apply to your state, and safety tips—you’re also feeling quite excited to finally get your license and get on the road!
A state-approved driver’s education class will cover all of the required information, but there are some things that you will only ever learn once you get behind the wheel and have hours and hours of driving practice.
These are the types of things that you might pick up in your class, but you will also gain through life experience.
- Put Your Phone Away Any driver’s ed course will emphasize the importance of not texting and driving. When driving, a text message occupies approximately five seconds of a driver’s attention away from the road. When traveling at 55 miles per hour, that’s long enough to cover the length of a football field blindfolded. You may feel like a little glance down at your phone won’t hurt anything, but it can actually be incredibly dangerous, not only to you but to others on the road.
If you truly can’t fight the temptation, then it’s best to put your phone out of sight and out of mind. Set it somewhere in your car that you’re not able to reach when driving so you simply won’t feel the desire to pick it up and take a look. Even if you’ve texted while driving successfully in the past, it only takes one small mistake to result in some horrible consequences.
- Just Drive In the same vein, don’t try to multitask. It’s so easy to forget how dangerous driving truly is, so dividing your focus between the road and anything else is simply a terrible idea. A study from Erie Insurance found that drivers engage in some pretty risky multitasking while behind the wheel.
- Romantic encounter/PDA
- Combing/styling hair
- Changing clothes
- Putting on makeup
- Brushing/flossing teeth
- Taking selfies
- Changing drivers
- Going to the bathroom
Remember: it’s one thing to brush your teeth while you’re reheating leftovers on the stove, but it’s another thing entirely to do while operating a vehicle that weighs over 4,000 pounds. If you find yourself in a situation where you truly need to focus your attention on something else, then take responsibility and find a safe place to pull over.
- ABS Is Your FriendIf you need to make an abrupt stop, it can be a bit of a scary thing. Many new drivers are tempted to ease onto their brakes for fear of hurting the car, but the opposite needs to happen! You must press hard on your brakes to activate the ABS or antilock braking system. This is a customary system set up in most cars today that essentially pulses the brakes for you when you press incredibly hard, allowing you to have more steering ability and to avoid skidding while braking.
Let’s say you’re driving through a green light and see a child’s toy ball roll out into the intersection. You have a few options: keep driving straight and hope that the child is old enough to know not to run out into the road, swerve to avoid the ball which could put you in the path of other cars, or brake quickly to give you more time to determine the best plan of action. ABS will kick in, slowing your car down without sending it skidding across the intersection, making it safer for you to maneuver and keep yourself and everyone else safe.
When you stomp down on your brakes, the ABS will kick in on its own. You may feel the pulsations from the pedal, and this is completely normal and it is not harming the car in any way. Remember, if your car has ABS then it was designed to activate when needed, making your driving experience a safer one.
- Know When To Slow Down Sure, you know to lower your speed a little when the speed limit advises you to, but there are many other times when you’ll be driving and it will benefit you to hit the brakes a bit. There’s no reason to race around the parking lot of your grocery store or bolt through a construction zone. Always remember that people’s lives are on the line, and one small mistake can result in some horrifying consequences.
This is sometimes hard to gauge, but it’s far better to err on the side of a little slower in certain situations than not slow enough. For example, when driving by a school you might think it’s not necessary to slow down if it’s not during school hours. But sometimes after-school activities keep students around until the evening time. Additionally, if you’re driving by a collision or accident where the ambulance has arrived, proceed with caution. There are people who are walking around and trying to do their jobs with dangerous traffic nearby, and you can make things much easier for them by slowing down. Parking lots are also a prime spot to take it slow and steady. As you cruise down the aisles looking for a spot to put your car at the shopping mall, you never know when people may walk absentmindedly into your path.
While there may not be any hard and fast rules about the speed you should go in these situations, treat everyone’s lives with respect. Believe it or not, accidents at 35 miles per hour can still cause fatalities! Keep the road a pleasant place to be by respecting everyone’s safety and not just your own.
- Drive Like an F1 World Champion Driving between 150 to 200 mph is definitely not a safe way to go. However, you can still live the dream of being a racecar driver minus the speed. You can copy the skills and techniques of Lewis Hamilton to make your daily drive safer. One skill to master is to focus not only on what’s ahead but also on the surrounding traffic. A racecar driver making this mistake can mean losing the race. You, on the other hand, could end up in a serious accident. Another weird yet effective little hack is to grip the steering wheel and pull. This allows you to be more agile and in control when turning. If you have to turn right, you’ll pull with your right hand. Or if making a left, push down with your left hand. This helps you gain more stability when making sharp turns or instantaneously going around other vehicles or road obstacles. Upon taking the driver’s seat, automatically adapt the stance and confidence of your favorite racecar hero. Sit closer to the wheel, slide your seat forward, rest your wrist on top of the wheel with arms outstretched, and your back against the seat. This is the best driving position to execute and maneuver swift and last-second moves to evade possible crashes and accidents.
- Slow Driving Can be More Dangerous Ever since learning how to drive, “drive slowly” is a word of caution that has been hammered into your head. Adults, parents, and driving instructors would keep you on a leash by reminding you of the dangers of fast driving. However, driving slower than the specified speed limit can be dangerous. Driving 30 mph on a 65 mph highway can disrupt normal traffic flow and increase your chances of being a hazard to yourself and others. Make sure your speed is keeping up with the traffic requirement. If you need to drive slow for whatever reason, stay on the far right of the lane for safety.