Hawkwell driving schools : DSA Approved Driving Instructor:   Dealing with hazards

Dealing with hazards:

Driving would be easy if there were no other people on the roads, and if you go out at 5am in the morning, there probably won't be. However, when you drive at most times of the day there will be other vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians everywhere. Some days, even if you're not paranoid, it feels like everyone is out to get you. People aiming at you from all directions, and vehicles parked in awkward places. Dealing with all these hazards is what driving on today's roads is all about.

The technique of dealing with hazards can be broken down into sections, the photographs below seek to illustrate this process.

Potential hazards:

1a. Expecting that something may happen:

Blind areas, where your view is obstructed, places you can't see, are the dangerous places; anything could be happening out of sight. When you are driving you should always be expecting the worst, then if something does happen you will react twice as quickly. And, try to always drive at a speed from which you can stop EASILY within the distance you can see to be clear.

When visibility is restricted an inexperienced driver assumes that nothing is there until they see it is, an experienced driver will assume that something is there until they have seen there isn't.

So you're driving along and you can see that there is an obstruction to your view ahead. There is the potential for something to be happening in an area that you can't see: what do you do?

There are a number of options, you might: 

• Cover the horn with your thumb so that you are ready to use it to warn someone of your presence
• Change your road position to move away from the possible hazard. Every centimetre you move away, takes you another centimetre away from a collision.
• Ease off the gas and cover the footbrake, to reduce your reaction time.

"It's no good seeing the hazard, if you don't do anything about it"

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more examples

hazards expecting
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