Volume XXIII Number 2 March/April 2010 The Driver Safety Magazine Visit us on the web @ www.adtsweb.com C A N Y O U TRUST Y O U R D R I V I N G INSTINCTS? Trusting your first instinct is a smart move in some situations. But when it comes to driving, your natural reaction to a problem or unexpected event on the road isn t always the safest response. In fact, in many cases your first instinct is to do precisely what you shouldn t do. This issue of OnRoads explores some of the driving instincts that could cause trouble on the road and offers safer alternatives. In This Issue Putting the Brakes on Unsafe Reactions...2 A Closer Look at Threshold Braking...3 Steering Clear of Danger...4 Scan to Escape...5 What to Do If...6 How Are Your Instincts in Bad Weather?...7 Take a Walk for Safety...8
B R A K E S O N P U T T I N G T H E U N S A F E R E A C T I O N S If the driver directly ahead of you hits his brakes abruptly, what s your first instinct? It s probably to slam on your brakes as hard as possible. Many drivers mistakenly believe that the harder they brake, the faster they ll stop, says Dick Lambert, a retired captain of the Illinois State Police and an ADTS driver safety instructor. People with anti-lock brake systems (ABS) also tend to think this feature will help them stop faster if they hit the brakes hard. Better Braking Slamming on your brakes is almost always the wrong response. It won t help you stop faster, regardless of your vehicle s particular braking system. It could cause you to skid, especially if the ground is wet or slick or if you re driving on a loose surface, like gravel. If the driver behind you is traveling too close, he or she might be caught off guard and rear-end you. And if you hit the brakes at full force immediately, you leave yourself no additional braking cushion. Generally speaking, controlled braking is a safer response than abrupt braking, according to Lambert. You should base the amount of brake pressure to use on the distance between your vehicle and the object you re trying to avoid; the closer it is, the more pressure needed. And by using a technique called threshold braking, you can optimize your braking efficiency and maintain some extra braking cushion if you need it. (See sidebar for details.) If you have ABS, you should never pump the brakes. Not only is it unnecessary, it will actually increase your stopping distance, says Phil Moser, National Sales Manager, ADTS. In some cases, staying off the brake pedal may be the best response. If there s a possibility a problem might occur for instance, a person on the sidewalk looks like she might walk into the road simply lift your foot from the accelerator and cover the brake with your foot as a precaution. Don t slam on the brakes in anticipation of a problem. Approaching a stale green traffic light is another situation where covering the brake is a safer response. A stale green light is one that has been green for a while and likely to turn yellow soon. Rather than hit your brakes when a light turns yellow, you should be prepared in advance by choosing a point of no return, says Mick Ford, a retired lieutenant of the Pennsylvania State Police and an ADTS driver safety instructor. Choose a point on the road and decide that you will stop for the light if it turns yellow before you reach that point; after that point, you will proceed through the light. Cover the brake as you approach the light so you re ready to stop if necessary. Real-World Situations To better understand how and why abrupt braking can cause trouble, consider these scenarios. Possible Rear-End Collision Natural instinct: Slam on the brakes. Safer response: Use an escape route. If you re following the driver safety principle of maintaining a safe distance behind the driver ahead of you, a rear-end collision isn t likely to be a problem. But many people follow too closely, often because they re distracted or in a hurry. If the driver ahead of you stops abruptly and you re following too close, you re in danger of causing a rear-end crash. When a rear-end crash is imminent, your first response may be to slam on the brakes. But if the person behind you is following you too close, you may be struck from behind. Your first mistake of following too close is compounded by your first instinct of slamming on the brakes, says Ford. 2 March/April 2010
A Closer Look at THRESHOLD BRAKING You should base the amount of brake pressure to use on the distance between your vehicle and the object you re trying to avoid; the closer it is, the more pressure needed. Typically, a safer response to a potential rear-end collision is to steer your way out of trouble. In many cases, steering is quicker than braking, Ford points out. By scanning the area around your vehicle on a continuous basis, you ll have the information you need to decide if you can steer around another vehicle by moving into another lane or the shoulder. (For more details on scanning, see page 5.) Tire Blowout Natural instinct: Slam on the brakes. Safer response: Stay off the brakes at first. If your tire blows out while you re driving, you re likely to panic especially if you re traveling at high speeds. Drivers believe they have to brake rapidly and get the vehicle slowed as quickly as possible, Lambert says. Slamming on the brakes is precisely the wrong response, and here s why: A tire blowout upsets the balance of the vehicle by shifting the weight to the area where the tire is flat; so if the right front tire blows out, the car s weight will shift there. If you hit the brakes too hard, you ll increase the transfer of weight, creating even more imbalance and making it harder to steer your vehicle to the roadside. That creates another problem: you oversteer to compensate for the imbalance, potentially skidding or spinning. A better response is to stay off the brake at first. Keep a firm grip on the steering wheel, take your foot off the gas, and allow the vehicle to begin slowing gradually. Use your turn signal so other drivers know you intend to pull over. Steer your vehicle gently to the side of the road. Apply smooth, gradual pressure to the brakes as needed to bring your vehicle to a complete stop. A learned skill taught in ADTS behind-thewheel training, threshold braking enables you to apply the most efficient braking, which occurs at the instant just before the wheels lock up or just before the ABS engages. When you use a level of brake pressure that allows you to stay at that threshold, your vehicle can stop in a shorter distance and more quickly. By maintaining brake pressure at the threshold level as opposed to slamming on the brakes you allow the tires to keep rolling, which is necessary to supply traction. Without traction, you can t stop or steer. To fully learn the skill of threshold braking requires hands-on instruction and practice. In simple terms, it involves avoiding the natural tendency to lift your foot entirely from the gas pedal. Instead, keep your heel on the floor and pivot your foot from the gas to the brake pedal and you ll reach the brake faster. Don t depress the brake pedal fully. With your heel on the floor, you ll have a better feel for the amount of brake pressure to apply to begin to stop your vehicle. OnRoads 3
S T E E R I N G C L E A R O F D A N G E R When faced with an emergency situation, drivers are just as likely to make steering mistakes as they are to make braking mistakes. Many times, motorists use too much steering input, steer too abruptly, or don t actually steer in the direction they intend to travel. Drivers tend to look at the object they re trying to miss hitting, instead of looking in the direction they want to travel, says Dick Lambert. And that causes motorists to make critical steering errors. Our hands tend to follow our eyes; so if we re looking at the vehicle we re trying to steer around, we re likely to steer toward it instead, he explains. If you re looking in the wrong place, it s also harder to react fast enough to make the necessary steering adjustment. Keeping your eyes focused in the direction you want to travel and using gradual, smooth steering maneuvers are always safer responses to trouble situations. Consider these scenarios in which safe steering strategies will serve you better than your first instincts Animal in the Road Natural instinct: Swerve to avoid the animal. Safer response: Control your vehicle. If an animal runs out in front of your vehicle, your first instinct is probably to do whatever you can to avoid hitting it. But your first priority should be to maintain control of your vehicle, says Bob Deuber, a retired captain of the Upper Merion Township (PA) Police and an ADTS driver safety instructor. Especially when it s a large animal, like a deer, people will panic and take evasive action to avoid hitting it, but they often end up losing control in the process. The crash that results can be more dangerous than hitting the animal. A safer approach is to maintain your steering and gently brake before coming into contact with the animal. Make sure your foot is off the brake before striking it, advises Phil Moser. If you brake while hitting a large animal, the front of your vehicle will dip down and the animal could hit your windshield. Never swerve abruptly to avoid an animal, as you could lose control. By controlling your vehicle, you ll improve your safety and reduce your odds of a crash. Drivers tend to look at the object they re trying to miss hitting, instead of looking in the direction they want to travel. And that causes motorists to make critical steering errors. Wheels Drop off the Road Natural instinct: Overcompensate on steering. Safer response: Use gentle steering. 4 March/April 2010
SCAN TO ESCAPE In many situations, your ability to avoid a crash is dependent on finding a way to escape trouble. Yet, the only way to escape safely is to know your options and that demands proper scanning. Sometimes you ll find yourself driving on a road with a very low shoulder or a patch of gravel or sand to your right. If you re not paying close enough attention, you could drift out of your lane, causing your right tire to drop onto the lower shoulder or to veer onto the loose road surface. The natural reaction is to jerk the steering wheel too hard in the opposite direction, but that creates too big a correction, says Phil Kocis, a retired captain of the Illinois State Police and an ADTS driver safety instructor. Mick Ford agrees, noting that surprise may cause the driver to try and return immediately to the roadway. Often, the driver turns the steering wheel too much and careens into the path of oncoming traffic or spins out of control. The worst case scenario is when there is a difference in height between the road and the shoulder, creating a lip at the edge of the lane. The driver applies more steering input to overcome the resistance, Ford explains. When the tire finally makes it over the lip and is back on the roadway, the excessive steering can cause your vehicle to swerve very far to the left, putting you in the path of other drivers. If your wheels drop off the right side of the road, it s best to ease up on the gas pedal and use gentle steering to guide your vehicle back onto the road. A minor correction in your steering is much safer, says Kocis, noting that a small change in steering input is enough to bring your vehicle back into the lane. If the shoulder is clear, Ford advises that you consider guiding your vehicle fully to the shoulder and bringing it to a full stop. Collect your thoughts and then, after signaling, slowly pull back onto the roadway, he says. If you re scanning continuously, you ll know if another lane is open or if the shoulder is available, says Kocis. In many cases, you can avoid hitting another vehicle or debris in the road just by applying light pressure to the brake and changing lanes gradually. But if you ve been daydreaming instead of scanning, you won t know whether another lane is open. The roadway is a dynamic, ever-changing environment. By scanning continuously, you keep current on changes in that environment and obtain the information you need to make a safe decision, quickly. You should always use three forms of scanning: - Scan ahead, both directly ahead of you and further down the road to anticipate a problem. - Scan to the side from one shoulder of the road to the other. If you re in a residential area, scan from house to house. - Scan behind you, using your rearview mirror to keep tabs on traffic directly behind and in other travel lanes. Based on what your scanning reveals, you can then determine if you have an escape route an option to use when faced with a potentially dangerous situation. You ll know if you can move to another lane (to your left or your right), to the shoulder of the road, or onto a grassy median in order to avoid a crash. OnRoads 5
When faced with an emergency or other unexpected situation on the road, your first response might not always be the safest. Following are some scenarios where your instincts are likely to fail you, but a smarter response will help to keep you safer. W H AT TO D O I F Your Vehicle Crashes or Breaks Down Natural instinct: Leave it on the road. Safer response: Move it off the road. A crash or a breakdown creates stress and tension, making it hard to think clearly and logically. Often, a motorist will leave the vehicle where it ended up after a crash because they believe the police want to see it there for investigation purposes, notes Bob Deuber. Or if they begin to experience car trouble the tire seems to be going flat or the vehicle is overheating they don t immediately guide it off the road. In minor crashes where the vehicle is drivable, it s much safer to remove it from the travel lanes. If you leave your vehicle where it was hit, you increase the risk that you or your vehicle will be struck by passing traffic. Always move to the right as far as possible ideally onto the shoulder or a berm and use flares if you have them. The same advice holds true if you have car trouble. Gently guide your vehicle to the shoulder or another safe place, away from the flow of traffic. Whether you should stay in the vehicle or wait outside depends on the specific situation. In some cases, it may be best to stay in the vehicle while waiting for help. Always choose the front passenger seat and buckle up. If you must get out of the vehicle, never stand behind it or on the side closest to traffic; instead, find a safe place well away from traffic, such as the other side of a guardrail. You re Behind Schedule Natural instinct: Increase your speed. Safer response: Call ahead to your next stop. We ve all found ourselves running late in our travels. Often, the first instinct is to speed up to make up for lost time. But simple math shows why that won t work and why it s dangerous. To travel 30 miles, it will take you 30 minutes if you re driving at 60 mph. If you increase your speed to 70 mph, it will still take you 26 minutes to travel those same 30 miles. The four minutes saved carries with it a huge risk, Dick Lambert notes. For every 10 mph you exceed the speed limit, you double your odds of dying or being seriously injured if a crash occurs (U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). Speeding also creates harmful physiological effects. Speeding increases anxiety, which constricts your blood vessels and reduces the flow of blood and oxygen to your brain, Lambert says, noting that both are vital for making quick, critical decisions while driving. The next time you re running late, ignore your instinct to speed up. Instead, find a safe place to pull over and call ahead to your next appointment to let them know you re behind schedule. And make a mental note to plan your route better the next time allowing extra time for bad weather or road construction and building in time for periodic stops. 6 March/April 2010
HOW ARE YOUR INSTINCTS IN BAD WEATHER? Foul weather driving can be stressful and dangerous. Be cautious and avoid these common bad weather driving mistakes. Speed. Often, drivers ignore safe driving principles and follow the speed of the crowd when traveling in bad weather. If everyone else is driving at a certain speed, you may end up following along without realizing it, says Deuber. Regardless of what other drivers are doing, always slow down and increase your following distance. Fog. Some drivers follow truck taillights in the fog, because they believe the truck driver can see better or simply knows the route. If you rely on someone else, you relinquish control of your vehicle, says Phil Moser. If the visibility is so bad that you need to follow a truck s taillights, you should not be out on the road. Rain. Driving too fast in the rain can cause you to hydroplane what happens when your tires lose their grip on the road, causing them to ride on top of the surface of the water. Without traction, your tires won t respond to braking or steering. Often, a driver feels the car s loss of traction and hits the brakes in an attempt to regain control, says Phil Kocis. But braking hard will only reduce your control, causing you to spin or skid. Drivers also tend to oversteer when they hydroplane. Typically, the front tires are the first to hydroplane, and if they re riding on top of water, the vehicle won t turn, explains Moser. In response, the driver tends to increase the steering input. When the car regains traction, the tires are turned too far left or right, causing the driver to spin out of control. If you feel your vehicle hydroplaning, simply lift your foot from the gas pedal and allow the car to reestablish traction while holding the steering wheel in place. Skids. Wet, slippery roads place you in danger of skidding, and many drivers don t react safely to a potential skid. When you start to skid, your first instinct is to hit the brakes hard, but that s the worst response, Deuber says. The specifics of recovering from a skid depend on the type of skid. For an understeer (diagram A), where the front end of the vehicle is sliding away from a turn or curve you re likely to react by turning the steering wheel more and more because your vehicle isn t responding. The reason it s not responding is the tires that control steering are in a skid and don t have traction. If you regain traction and your steering wheel is turned too far left or right, you will enter into a severe spin. To avoid that problem, you should limit your steering input, using quick, slight chopping motions to turn the wheel in the direction you want to travel. As you use this steering approach, continue to look in the direction you want to go. Use slight, quick stabbing motions on the brake as needed to help you slow down. With an oversteer (diagram B), where the back end slides out and away from a turn or curve it s best to stay off the brake initially and gently steer in the direction that the rear of the vehicle is sliding toward. Once the vehicle straightens, recover your steering by bringing the steering wheel back to center. By recovering your steering, you keep your vehicle from spinning in the opposite direction (often called a fishtail ). Avoid braking while the vehicle is turning. Once you re out of the turn or curve, you can brake gently as needed. A Understeer Limit your steering input, using quick, slight chopping motions to turn the wheel in the direction you want to travel. B Oversteer Stay off the brake initially and gently steer in the direction that the rear of the vehicle is sliding toward. OnRoads 7
P.O. Box 60722 King of Prussia, PA 19406-0722 OnRoads is published bimonthly by ADTS, Inc. 2010 ADTS, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written permission is prohibited. ADVANCED DRIVER TRAINING SERVICES, INC. (ADTS) P.O. Box 60722 King of Prussia, PA 19406 PHONE: 1-800-486-ADTS EMAIL: onroads@adtsweb.com WEB: www.adtsweb.com TAKE A WALK FOR SAFETY When you get into your vehicle, how often do you stop and take a minute to walk around the exterior first? If you re like most drivers, the answer is rarely. In our fastpaced world, we tend to jump right into the driver s seat, start the engine and go. But taking a minute to do a vehicle walkaround could save you a lot of time and help you avoid a vehicle breakdown or crash. It might only take a minute, but it could save you hours on the side of the road in the event of a breakdown, says Phil Kocis. It could even save your life if an intruder has entered your vehicle. A vehicle walk-around should include a check of the following. - Tires: Look for tires that are clearly flat, as well as tires that are low they might just need more air or could be going flat. Make sure your hubcaps aren t loose or missing. - Headlights and taillights: Make sure your exterior lights aren t cracked or broken, which could be a sign you were hit by another driver. - Front and rear windshields: Check for small cracks in the glass. Left unattended, small cracks can spread to the point that they obstruct your view; if a crack becomes too large, your vehicle may not pass state inspection. Small cracks often can be repaired, while large cracks may require a costly, inconvenient windshield replacement. - Side windows: Carjackers and other criminals have been known to break into parked cars and hide in the rear seat waiting for the driver to return. Check for broken windows and look inside to ensure no one is in your vehicle. - Leaking fluids: Glance under the vehicle and look for evidence of leaking oil, radiator fluid or other fluids. If you spot a dark puddle on the ground, open your hood and check the fluid levels before driving. - Vehicle body: Quickly inspect the body for damage, especially if you ve been parked on the street or in a parking lot or garage. - Other vehicle s proximity: If you re doing a walk-around in a parking lot or garage, check to see if the vehicle next to you is parked too close or at an odd angle. Then you can adjust as needed when pulling out. How often should you do a vehicle walkaround? Ideally, you should take a minute to check your vehicle every time you drive. If that s not practical, try to do it after you ve been parked overnight and especially if you park in the street or in a lot or garage. Periodically, you should also check that your brake lights and headlights are working. To check brake lights, find a store front with glass and park your vehicle with the rear facing the glass. While looking in your rearview mirror, step on the brake and check for the reflection of the brake lights in the glass. Check headlights by turning them on while facing a garage wall or door.