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10/19/2009
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- Buckle up before you start driving. Keep your seat belt buckled at all times.
- Ensure your vehicle is winter prepared
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- Winter wiper blades
- Snow tires or winter rated all season radial tires
- Winter Windshield antifreeze
- Emergency kit in trunk
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- SLOW DOWN! - Posted speed limits are for ideal travel conditions. Driving at reduced speeds is the best precautionary measure against any misfortune while driving on slippery roads. "Black ice" is invisible. Braking on ice may require as much as 20 times the normal distance, ensure appropriate following distances.
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- Be alert. Black ice will make a road look like shiny new asphalt. Pavement should look grey-white in winter.
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- Stopping and braking on ice:
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- With non-ABS, maintain light pressure, look and steering in the direction you wish to go
- With ABS, maintain light pressure, look and steering in the direction you wish to go
- Do not try to stop by shifting to a lower gear – may cause a skid
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- Do not use cruise control. Winter driving requires you to be in full control at all times.
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- Reduce your speed while approaching intersections covered with ice or snow.
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- Allow for extra traveling time or even consider delaying a trip if the weather is inclement.
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- Drive with low-beam headlights on. Not only are they brighter than daytime running lights but turning them on also activates the tail lights. This makes your vehicle more visible.
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- Lengthen your following distance behind the vehicle ahead of you. Stopping distance on an icy road is double that of stopping on a dry one. For example, from around 45 meters (140 ft) at the speed of 60 km/h, to 80 meters (over 260 ft) on an icy road surface.
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- Stay in the right-hand lane except when passing and use turn signals when changing lanes.
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- Steer with smooth and precise movements. Changing lanes too quickly and jerky steering while braking or accelerating can cause skidding.
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- Be aware and slow down when you see a sign warning that you are approaching a bridge. Steel and concrete bridges are likely to be icy even when there is no ice on the asphalt surface, (because bridges over open air cool down faster than roads which tend to be insulated somewhat by solid ground.)
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- Consider getting off the road before getting stranded if the weather is worsening.
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- Be patient and pass other cars only when it is safe to do so.
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Black Ice (also called glare ice or clear ice)
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Interesting Statistics (Sweden) |
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- Automobile Collision rates are five times higher on roads covered with black ice than on dry pavement
- Four times higher than on wet pavement
- Twice as high as on pavement covered with packed snow
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What is Black Ice?
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Black ice is a thin layer of ice on the roadway. Any ice is dangerous to drive on because it's so slippery, but black ice is especially insidious because a road covered with it looks merely wet, not icy. Black ice isn't really black, of course, but it's so thin and transparent that the dark color of the pavement shows through. Key Facts |
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- Four-wheel drive vehicles won't help much for stopping on black ice
- Ordinary snow tires, as the name implies, are designed for snow and not for ice. On black ice, they are no better than ordinary tires, and in some tests very slightly worse
- Studded tires (tires embedded with metal studs to grip the snow and ice) are somewhat helpful, reducing stopping distance on ice by about 20% compared to ordinary tires
- Tire chains are more helpful, reducing stopping distance by about 30% to 50%.
- Black ice is most common at night and very early in the morning, when temperatures are lowest and traffic lightest.
| 5/30/2009
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We all choose our own attitude. We can choose to act as a professional or we can choose not to. You need to choose a professional attitude.
Attitude is the most important aspect of driving. Driving actively does not just happen, we have to choose to drive active / proactively. Simply put if you choose to use the knowledge and skills they will work for you, if not they won’t.
Is speeding or rushing an issue for you as a driver?
Many people are habitual speeders and it is tough for them to change. Why? Because change is uncomfortable, let’s demonstrate.
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Take your fingers and interlock them together. Which thumb is over which thumb? Now take you hand apart and put them back together with your thumb opposite. This feels uncomfortable doesn’t it? Is it wrong? No it is just different.
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If you really want to change your driving habits you must be prepared to feel somewhat uncomfortable until the change takes hold. Sometimes we simply need to think differently. Think about rushing and speeding as an incurable disease, something that will never go away, that you will always want to do. That may be true but we can control it. Put a copy of the last ticket on your visor and when you get in the car, look at the ticket and say “not today”. “Not today” is a huge concept.
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Do you know what professional drivers say is the most dangerous kilometre? - The one directly ahead of them.
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In summary
When in a situation that is frustrating or you are tempted to rush – choose not to. Choose to be patient.
| 5/27/2009
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Congestion is reality of driving on today’s streets and highways. A trip that 5 years ago may have taken 15 minutes, will now take anywhere from 25 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic circumstances. Often drivers caught in congested traffic feel frustration and at times anger.
This type of anger may not result in aggressive behaviour directed at another individual specifically but can cause a driver to disregard courtesy and good judgement. It may cause you to drive dangerously fast, disregard traffic rules and take chances that you would not otherwise accept because your risk perception has become impaired.
Managing Anger
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Each of us has only a limited amount of energy to expend each day. Where we choose to spend our daily allotment will determine to a great degree how effective we are in life and in driving. An effective anger management technique is to distinguish between areas of concern and control, and choose a positive and effective approach, accordingly. To help illustrate this, it is necessary to understand two terms:
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Area of concern
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Your area of concern includes everything in life that you have any interest in or that affects you.
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Area of control
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Your area of control includes everything that you can control. It is much smaller than your area of concern and much smaller than most of us realize. What do you really have total control over? In reality, you are only in control of what you do and what you think. Everyone and everything else is outside your control and you can only choose how to respond to it.
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| 3/10/2009
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What do you follow - the second rule?
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One of the very first defensive driving program was the Smith System of Defensive Driving, which was devised in the 1950s by three researchers, Harold A. Smith, John J. Cummings and Reuel A. Sherman. Smith was a professional driving instructor who worked for the Ford Motor Company in its fleet driving division, Cummings was an accident investigator and Sherman was a recognized authority on occupational vision.
This system is also called “Space Cushion Driving”. The belief was that if you have more space around your car, you would have more room to manoeuvre, less surprises and that would lead to fewer collisions. And you know what? He was right! He was one of the first advocates of a following distance rule. You might remember the 1 car length for every 10 miles per hour. This then in later year evolved to the Time Interval Formula or as we call it the 2 second rule. For professional drivers it is actually 1 second for every 3 metres of length of your truck.
However we are recommending adding 2 seconds to this formula, so it would be 1 second for every 3 metres of length + 2 seconds.
The original formula was based on |
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Reaction Distance + Braking Distance = Stopping Distance
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I think that something is missing
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? + ? + Reaction Distance + Braking Distance = Stopping Distance
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The extra seconds are for Perception Time and Decision Time. Reaction time is about 3/4 of a second so by allowing an extra couple of seconds we provide that extra margin of safety.
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The original formula was based on the assumption that everyone is in an active/proactive mode 100% of the time. Remember our core philosophy?
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Regardless of anyone’s knowledge, skill, experience or training, there are some days that we are better than other days
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By habitually add an extra couple of seconds to our following distance we give a space cushion even when we are not quite in an active/proactive state.
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Driving with the Intention of Space
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The key to good space cushion driving is driving with the “Intention” of space. While you do not control what other people do, you control what you do and you have the ability to manipulate the space around your vehicle. If you can make space an intention and a priority while you drive, you are more active in your driving and change your driving for the better on a day to day basis. Some Space driving hints are:
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- Look and drive to the open space
- Stay out of hit zones
- Keep clear of blind zone areas
- Build space as you approach intersections
- Control your space
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Preventing a collision with the vehicle in front (the rear end collision |
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You are driving along and distracted for just a moment, then you look up and the vehicle in front of you has stopped! Hit the brakes!! |
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Unfortunately in many cases this simply is not enough. Which of the following are critical to avoiding rear end collisions? |
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1. Braking skills |
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2. Vision |
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3. Steering |
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If you said all three – you would be correct. Let’s talk a little about braking first. When was the last time you went out to a safe area and practised emergency braking? (most people – never) Do you know how your vehicle reacts under heavy braking and how the ABS (if you do not know what this stands for, look up anti lock brakes on Google) works? How can you expect to be successful if you have never practised?
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Now let’s talk about vision. Simply put where you look is where you go. If you are focused and looking at the rear end of the vehicle in front during an emergency – chances are you will hit it. You need to “see” the escape route. In other words, in an emergency you have to unlock your eyes from the rear end of that vehicle and look for the escape route. Good drivers, drivers that have and practice good situational awareness already know where that escape route is.
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Once you “see” the escape route, smooth fluid steering is needed to keep the vehicle under control.
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Is the above easy? No, it requires practice. Many people take advanced programs to learn this information, a strategy that I would recommend. If you save just one rear end collision over the next 5 years, the course has more than paid for itself.
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In summary, to avoid a rear end collision, know your car and how it handles in an emergency, see your escape route and steer smoothly to it.
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Randy Flemmer
President of Fleet Safety International | |
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