Driver Safety

 Alcohol and Driving

Guidelines that are available to show how much a person may drink before reaching any given blood alcohol concentration (BAC) should be treated with great caution as they may not be accurate for some people.
If you decide that you must drink, please aim to stay a reasonable degree under the limit rather than trying to "accurately" reach it. It is not just your life that could depend on it.
The safest option of all is either not to drink any alcohol if driving, or have a designated driver who will consume no alcohol.
Also, be aware that way back in 1992, the World Medical Association recommended that the highest blood-alcohol limit for safety should be 0.05%, not 0.08%! The vast majority of countries do in fact use 0.05% limit, so remember this fact when considering how much you should drink. This entire issue is about lives, not laws, and in the USA alone over 15,000 people a year are killed as a direct result of drivers drinking alcohol.
(View the table of countries here and a page about alcohol and driving here - both from DSA)

Armrests

If your vehicle is fitted with driver's seat armrests, do not use them at any time when the vehicle is in motion.
In the event of an unforeseen crisis situation, it is vital that you have full and free arm movement in order to use the steering without any obstruction.
Imagine a child running out in front of you, and you hit your elbow on an armrest while trying to swerve to miss the child..... Using armrests while driving should always be a "big no, no."

Cell Phones

Despite protests from those who put their own convenience above the safety of other people's lives, it has well and truly been shown that using any cell phone while driving is potentially very dangerous.
Again despite protests, doing this is more dangerous than other in-vehicle distractions because of the additional mental distraction aspect.
Because of this, using a "hands free" phone is not any safer than using a "hand held" phone.
(See the DSA page on this topic, here.)

Distractions

With the exception of using a necessary, vehicle control, anything that interferes with you keeping both hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road, while the vehicle is moving, should be avoided wherever possible.
Holding food or a drink, messing with CDs or audio controls, personal grooming, etc., all carry potential risk -- not just to you but to those around you, too.

Evasion Tactics

If a person is using the highest level of advanced driving technique, evasion tactics such as maintaining control while using crisis steering should be no more than a million-to-one occurrence. The whole point of proper advanced driving is that it teaches anticipation and planning to such an extent that good drivers will entirely avoid the crises that trigger such evasion maneuvers.
Be aware that courses which offer this type of training are not by any means providing true advanced driving standards.
To put it another way, consider which you would prefer: seeing a dangerous incident or a crash happen and thinking to yourself "I'm glad I knew enough to keep out of that," or feeling great shock or fear as you frantically try to swerve back and forth to avoid grave danger.
For similar reasons, teaching people skid control techniques without first teaching them that only someone driving very badly ever gets into a skid, can be very counterproductive and dangerous. See 'Skid Training,' below.

Fog Lights

To prevent uncomfortable and possibly dangerous glare for oncoming drivers, use front fog lights only in conditions of significant fog or heavily falling snow. Leaving them on at other times is either selfish or thoughtless and is symptomatic of a bad driver.
The purpose of front fog lights (and the reason they are mounted low down) is to aid a driver's view when visibility is badly reduced, when ordinary headlights create a reflective glare that actually makes it harder for the driver using them.
See also the 'Rear Fog Lights' section, under Vehicle Safety, below.

Following Distances

Because many so-called instructors who talked about "the two second rule" truly did not understand what they were talking about, it has wrongly fallen into relative disuse in the USA.
The important point is that the rule needs to be varied to allow for different road surface conditions.
Also, even though two seconds is perfectly adequate for a driver who is concentrating properly, many people prefer to extend the times to those shown in parentheses, below.

Surface Condition
    

MINIMUM Time Gap
    

Wisdom Often Needs:

Dry, unbroken and clean
    

2 seconds
    

3 seconds

Wet, or mud, or gravel
    

4 seconds
    

6 seconds

Ice, or a diesel-fuel spillage
    

10 seconds
    

12 seconds
Forget useless advice about how many car lengths you should be behind another vehicle at certain speeds; this technique is vague, difficult to judge and therefore often dangerously inaccurate.
If you feel that you somehow prefer the "car lengths" method, estimate the length of a typical car (stretch limo's do not count!). What would you say? Seventeen feet, perhaps?
At 70mph, a vehicle is covering the ground at 102.6 feet per second so two seconds is, of course, 205 feet. Now compare this with the spurious "seven car lengths" approach! (7 x 17 = 119 feet and at 102.6fps, this barely allows for "reaction time", let alone any adequate "braking distance".)
Remember: "Only a fool breaks the 2-second, 4-second, 10-second rule!"

Horn

Many people in North America -- particularly the USA -- seem afraid to use the horn in case another driver gets angry, but consider the facts:
In the USA alone, each year, over 42,000 people are killed and a vastly higher number are seriously injured through road crashes. By comparison, the number of people killed or injured through road rage is very small indeed. So even though none of us wants to be hurt by some lunatic with a weapon this has to be balanced against the much bigger risks simply from being on the road.
If you can help reduce the chance of a crash, use the horn!
Remember: for a pedestrian one or two short "beeps" are less aggressive and frightening; for another driver, two slightly longer "beeps" are less aggressive than a long blast; and for a truly dangerous situation use a long blast.
As an important footnote, always use the horn with just your thumb. Keep your hand on the rim of the wheel, where it should be, so that you may still steer correctly.
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Lights

Keep all of your lights clean and clear. Don't forget to wipe them clean when you stop for breaks during long journeys in poor weather conditions.
For those of you with a CHiMSeL (Center, High-Mounted Stop Light -- or low mounted in some cases -- would that be a CLoMSeL?) remember to make sure that it, too, is clear of snow when cleaning your car off in winter. Central braking lights make a big difference to other drivers' reactions so make sure they can see yours!
In many regions or countries, the law requires that you switch on headlights half an hour after sunset and you may switch them off again half an hour before dawn. But if ever there was a stupid law, this is it. Many times, before sunset and after dawn, low sunlight or -- if cloudy -- very drab lighting can make it hard to see and be seen. A good driver is the first to put on his/her headlights and the last to switch them off. Be safe; be seen!
In a similar vein, it is always an essential safety rule that whenever you have to use the windshield wipers you should also switch on your low beam headlights. This is the law in some U.S. states and in some other countries. Wipers on; headlights on!
If ever in doubt about the ambient light or your own conspicuity, switch the headlights on. Do not drive using just parking lights (a.k.a. side lights). Doing so much less safe than using headlights, for obvious reasons, and gains you absolutely nothing.
See also the 'Lights' section, under Vehicle Safety, below.

Medications and Driving

If labels on your medication do not provide an answer, ask your doctor whether you can safely continue to drive while using the relevant drugs.

Mirrors

Do not hang anything from the interior mirror. The movement even of tiny pendants, etc., is distracting to the peripheral vision and the bulk of larger items can also physically block your view to the side. Many motorcyclists and bicyclists around the world have died because something hanging from a mirror has disrupted a driver's view, one way or another.
There is a misguided fashion, at present, for people to set their exterior mirrors to a "wide" position to help them see vehicles alongside them on multi-lane roads, rather than helping to maintain a view to the rear. They claim this means that they no longer have to turn to check over their shoulders. This is very bad practice and is indicative of an incompetent driver. For full information on this topic, view the relevant Drive and Stay Alive webpage, here.

Pets

Occasionally, one sees a person driving along with a pet on her/his lap. This is a clear sign of insanity!
Even a well-behaved pet that always stays in the rear of the vehicle should, in a sensible way, be physically prevented from ever being able to get to the driver (e.g. a secured leash or a pet barrier).
The possibilities, if your pet gets wound up about another animal outside the car or gets frightened by a loud noise or an incident, should be self-evident.

Skid Training

If done at all, skid training should come at the end of comprehensive, advanced driver training.

Research in various countries has shown, in particular, that providing skid training for young drivers tends only to increase their already misplaced belief that they are "good" drivers. Such training is now said to make young drivers believe that they have become untouchably good and research shows that they end up having more crashes, at higher speeds, than young people who have not had such training.

Steering

Use only the "Ten (o'clock) and Two (o'clock)," or "Nine and Three" positions to hold the wheel, NOT "Eight and Four!"
"Eight and Four" was an entirely misguided, knee-jerk reaction by some people who added two and two together and came up with an answer of seven.
Because the advent of airbags has resulted in more arm injuries among drivers, some people arbitrarily decided that by holding the steering wheel at "Eight and Four" it would keep one's arms out of the way if the airbag went off. But this very technique results in such poor steering ability that one is much more likely to have a crash because of using such an incredibly inefficient way of holding the wheel!
Before airbags came along, it was universally recognized that "Ten and Two" or "Nine and Three" were the safest and most effective ways in which to hold the wheel, and in this context absolutely nothing has changed.
In addition, "Pull-Push Steering" (a.k.a. "Shuffle Steering") not only allows a driver to keep both hands completely on the wheel at vital moments, it also dictates that neither hand ever passes the "Twelve" or "Six" positions, which is likely much more efficient at preventing unnecessary arm injuries due to airbags than is the ill-thought-out "Eight and Four" method.

Speed Two paramount rules:

-- "Any fool can drive fast enough to be dangerous!"
-- Never drive so fast that you cannot stop safely, on your own side of the road, well within the distance you can see to be clear!

Stopping Distances

If you check specifications for new vehicles, or listen to commercials about them, do not fall into the trap of thinking that the sixty-to-zero (mph) figure is the overall stopping distance for that speed -- it is not. 60-0mph figures represent only the braking distance and although they are a good guide to the efficiency of the relevant new vehicle's braking system and tires, these figures do not allow for "reaction time."
For a much more detail about stopping distances, view the tables at Drive and Stay Alive, here.

Tires

-- Tire pressures should be checked at least weekly, and at the same time should be checked for damage, cuts, bulges, and embedded objects.
-- The CORRECT pressures are those provided by the vehicle manufacturer - usually on a sticker which will either be on the driver's door or door frame (visible only when the door is open), or in the engine compartment. The pressure shown on the wall of the actual tire is only the maximum permissible pressure at which that tire may be used; it is almost certainly NOT the "correct" pressure for use on your vehicle!
-- Depending on your country, the minimum, legal tire tread depth may be 1/16 of an inch, 1.6mm, or whatever. But if safety is your main concern it is important to change the tires while they still have double the above amounts of tread depth remaining. This is because the grooves serve to clear water away on wet roads and the more efficiently they can do this the safer you are, period! And for use in snow, three times the above tread depths should be considered the minimum for safety.

Traffic Lights / Traffic Signals

In the old TV show, Mork and Mindy, the comedian Robin Williams once joked that "red means 'stop', green means 'go', and yellow (i.e. 'amber') means 'go faster'."
Unfortunately, his comments reflect the fact that this is precisely what a lot of drivers do, so the first rule is: Yellow means stop unless it is unsafe or impossible to do so.
Although it surprises some people, having another vehicle too close behind is not a reason to say it is unsafe to stop for a yellow light. What if it were a pedestrian in the roadway rather than "just" a yellow light? There are times when each driver has to be responsible specifically for his/her own actions and stop their vehicle for the sake of safety, and this is one of them. The number of people killed or seriously injured because people run yellow lights when they could have stopped is horrifying. Which is better; Getting rear-end damage because a tailgater bumps you as you are stopping, or getting involved in a t-bone (broadside) crash with another vehicle because a light has been run?
'Unsafe' or 'impossible to stop' mean either that the road is slick, due to ice or something similar, or you are simply too close to the actual stop line to be able to physically stop the vehicle in the time and distance available.
Following in from the last point, it is wise when approaching a "stale" green light (in other words a light that has been showing green for more than just a few seconds and which may therefore change to yellow, then red, imminently) to be ready to stop if you need to.
This is done by "covering the brake." This means taking your right foot off the gas pedal and resting it directly over the brake pedal. And by using this technique a driver can drastically reduce the "reaction time" if it becomes necessary to stop, and thereby stop more promptly and more safely, in a shorter distance.
Your car will normally lose very little speed while you cover the brake under these circumstances unless you are travelling up a reasonably steep hill, in which case one would not need to use this technique (because the hill itself would help you stop).

View

Keep all windows clean and clear, and free from stickers or other obstructions anywhere that a driver may need to look out (including through the mirrors).
(Also see 'Mirrors,' above, about not hanging anything from the interior mirror.)

Young Drivers

Recent (2003/04/05) research has now shown that the part of the brain used not only for risk appraisal but also for some of the cognitive functions that govern driving skill do not fully develop in people until around the age of 25, and this is the major factor in such a high level of serious and fatal crashes involving young drivers.
The younger a person is, when they start to drive, the more likely they are to have a serious crash within the first year of driving alone.
These already serious risks are made even worse by a young driver carrying equally young passengers (the bigger the number the bigger the risk) and by driving at night.
Graduated driver licensing is helping to address these dangers but if parents hold back their sons and daughters for one or even two years, before letting them drive, and also make sure that their offspring don't travel as passengers with other young drivers, then a lot less young lives will be needlessly

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