Better than the deed itself - the moment...of anticipation.*

[R_U_LOCAL]

*Title courtesy of lounge lizard Jacques Brunswick from "The Simpsons"

I mentioned last time that it was better to forgive and forget other drivers mistakes, in order to keep your stress levels to a minimum, but how about if you actually knew what people were going to do before they did it? How much less stressful would driving be if you knew the vehicle you were approaching from behind on the motorway was about to move from lane 1 to lane 2, or if you knew the car in front was about to turn right, or if you were sure that the car waiting in a junction ahead was going to pull out in front of you?

If you knew these things in advance, then you'd be able to compensate for them before they even happened. You could move to lane 3 or adjust your speed on the motorway, slow down and move nearside for the right-turner, or adjust your safety position and be ready to brake for the car in the junction.

I can hear you - "don't be daft Reg" you're saying, "who do you think we are? Derren Brown? We're not bloody mind-readers or paranormal mentalists or anything".

Derren Brown is an interesting comparison at this point. I'm not a huge fan of magicians or conjurers, but I do like to try to suss out how they perform their tricks. I'm always disappointed when I find out it's done with wires and mirrors, but Derren Brown performs much subtler tricks, involving mind-reading and mental manipulation. What's more, he'll often tell you how the trick is done. When he's doing the mind reading stuff, he isn't performing psychic miracles, he's just watching people, spotting tiny clues in their body language and facial movements, and interpreting them correctly. Tiny eye movements, very slight head movements, hand rubbing, changes in respiration rate - such small things seem totally innocuous to most of us, but he's able not only to spot them, but to realise their significance, and make it appear as though he's "mind reading".

Drivers give off similar "body language", and you can, over time, learn to spot the signals that other drivers give off, interpret them correctly, and anticipate what they're going to do next.

Let's go back to the driver on the motorway first. The commonest problem you generally come across when driving along the motorway is people unexpectedly changing lanes - but do they always do it completely without warning? Usually, people will move from lane 1 to lane 2 in order to overtake a vehicle in front of them. If you extend your observations a bit further in front, you can train yourself to look for closing gaps, which indicate that one vehicle is catching up with another. If you spot one of these closing gaps early, you'll have plenty of time to move over to lane 3, or adjust your speed, before the inevitable happens, and the vehicle moves into lane 2. You'll often get a wave of appreciation from the driver too if they're any good, as their plan would have been to wait for you to pass, and by spotting their intentions and adjusting your position/speed, you've made it a little easier for them.

There are other, even more subtle things you can look for which will warn you that a vehicle is about to change lanes. People generally drive in the centre of their chosen lane on the motorway, however, just before they change lanes, they make a slight, wandering move in the direction they want to go, then they move back to the centre of the lane, and then they change lanes. I've considered this long and hard, and I think it's their physical reaction to their own mental planning process. They think about changing lanes, and as they're thinking, the vehicle wanders towards that lane slightly, then they correct it, and then act on their decision and change lanes.

If you can spot this slight wandering move, you've enough time (less than with closing gaps, but enough nonetheless) to change lanes or adjust your speed. Don't just take my word for it though - next time you're on the motorway, look for that little move, and you'll see that Reg isn't feeding you bull - it really works.

Here's another good one - it's not motorway related, and will probably ring bells with any Police instructors who are reading this. If you're driving along, and a vehicle emerges from a junction on the left ahead of you, and travels in your direction, there is a very strong possibility that it will turn right at some point in the next mile or so. There's nothing particularly scientific about this - if a car is coming from your left, it'll generally be continuing in that direction, which will mean a right turn somewhere ahead. It's a trick that Police instructors have used for years to impress passengers during a demonstration drive. They won't mention the vehicle pulling out, but after a few hundred yards, they'll include in their commentary "I'm anticipating that the vehicle in front will turn off soon, probably to the right".

Lo and behold, the instructor goes up in everyone's estimations when the vehicle does the (easily predicted) right turn.

So, that trick is good for showing off, but it's also very useful. If you can spot the ones that are going to turn off, it won't be a surprise when they do a lastminutebrakeandindicate, as favoured by a seemingly large number of todays drivers.

There are thousands more of these little "car body language" clues that you can pick up when driving around, and looking for them can really liven up a dull journey, and can genuinely improve you as a driver.

Reg.

[R_U_LOCAL]

andy_s said:

Great wee articles here - all good tips - appreciate the effort. On the 'anticipating lane change by car body language (great phrase!)' i.e. by drifting towards the next lane - is this also explained by the phenomina of a vehicle drifting/going where the driver is looking (like 'if you look at that cone while you're trying to avoid it in an emergency, you'll hit it.........*HIT*........see? Now look where you want the car to go, not at what you're about to hit')? I know that's an 'emergency' example but interesting how it works...

The phenomenon you're referring to is known as "target fixation". As you've identified, it refers to the common habit of looking at something, and automatically driving towards it. I was once stationary at the scene of an accident, with my blue lights fully illuminated, when someone simply drove into my car at 40mph+, despite the fact that I'd coned the scene off, and I was visible for more than a quarter of a mile leading up to the scene.

I think you're right - it's a similar mental process which makes people weave in their lane prior to changing lanes. Think about doing something, and your body automatically reacts to that thought process, and a physical clue to your intentions is the result.

It always amazes me how many people manage to hit the one tree or lamp-post along a stretch of road, rather than harmlessly skidding off the road into the adjacent field. As you say, it's because they looked at the tree, rather than at the huge gap.

[R_U_LOCAL]

chris_tivver said:

So what is the visual clue that many drivers use to spot that a driver is going to fail to arc round a multi-lane roundabout but is going to cut the corner right across you? I know I often spot it and I know that many other drivers do sub-consciously - but I have no idea what the clue is.

Many times my wife and I have had time to both comment that we think a car will do this, have time to pull back and then watch the idiot do it.

That's easy - the clue is a large sign on the roof of the car that says "Taxi".