The Safe Driver

We should drive this way, just in case…

There are a lot of things we do in our lives that fall under the category of “just in case”. Just because we have fire insurance on our home it doesn’t mean we want to have a fire. No open flame in my home thank you very much. I’ll bar-b-que in the yard thanks. Just because our home insurance includes theft it doesn’t mean we leave our doors and garage unlocked so people can walk in and take what they wish. These are all measures we have in place “just in case” something goes wrong. It’s accepted within our society. The same acceptance should happen while we’re driving.

In many jurisdictions wearing a seat belt is law. For many of us it was something we grew up with and has become second nature to use. Although it has become second nature, some people still need laws and reminders for them to wear them. We wear seat belts “just in case” we have to swerve or stop suddenly. As a road safety educator with over 30 years’ experience as an educator, would you wear a seat belt if I was driving? Of course you would.

It’s not always because of the law or whether you trust or don’t trust the driver. It’s really about the people around us. We can’t always trust the other drivers, cyclists and pedestrians around us to do the proper things. They may cut us off causing us to brake hard or quickly swerve around them. The seat bet is needed to keep us restrained in the seat so we can steer or brake effectively. Since we never know when that may happen, we wear the seat belt “just in case”.

The same can be said about why I stop well back of the vehicle stopped ahead of me at the traffic light. I do it “just in case”. Not so much just in case the lead vehicle stalls so I can get around them. It’s more of just in case the driver behind me can’t stop in time. It makes escaping a rear crash much easier. Trusting the driver behind to stop could be a mistake. We all know rear crashes happen, so leaving additional space in front while stopped “just in case” the driver behind needs more time to stop or to give me room to steer and accelerate out of the way.

For years I would train drivers to keep 2 hands on the steering wheel. After a short while after getting their driver’s license, drivers tend to relax a bit too much and only keep one hand on the wheel. I still keep 2 hands on the wheel, “just in case” I need to steer quickly to avoid a problem. Having 2 hands on the wheel to steer is quicker than one.

I once had a student who felt leaving their hand at 12 o’clock and resting their left elbow on the top of the door was just fine. When it was time to practice emergency swerving techniques, I asked him to position his hands the same way; right hand at 12 o’clock and left elbow on the door. Each time I asked him to swerve he could not drive through the opening between the cones without hitting the cones. After four attempts, I asked him to place both hands on the steering wheel. He was able to swerve safely between the cones while keeping the vehicle under control. He became a believer that two hands on the wheel are a good choice “just in case”.

Driving in such a way that you’re always ready for emergencies is the way to go. Our driving journey’s won’t always go as smoothly as we would like. Being in the proper mindset of “just in case” is always worth it.