Advanced driving or Defensive driving?
Discussion
Is Advanced driving any better / different than Defensive driving?
Back in the day when I drove company cars, our company (a very large one) got fed up with the number of accidents everyone was having (i had my fair share!) and made us all attend a Defensive driving course. Before the course some 10 % of the fleet was being crashed each year. I don't know what the stats were subsequently as I left the company, but I have never had an accident since and that was 20 years ago. All about anticipating hazards and reacting appropriately. Taught by ex police drivers. The accent was on making progress without hitting anything and the instructors didn't mind if the speed limit was slightly exceeded, or if you ignored some of the road markings if it made things safer. Some techniques were counter-intuitive but very useful e.g if there is limited space and on-coming traffic, you pull out slightly aggressively much further than you need to in order to make the other driver move over more than he would otherwise have done, thus making the passing safer. I think it was called 'showing how much space you need'.
Is Advanced the same or is it a different set of techniques?
Back in the day when I drove company cars, our company (a very large one) got fed up with the number of accidents everyone was having (i had my fair share!) and made us all attend a Defensive driving course. Before the course some 10 % of the fleet was being crashed each year. I don't know what the stats were subsequently as I left the company, but I have never had an accident since and that was 20 years ago. All about anticipating hazards and reacting appropriately. Taught by ex police drivers. The accent was on making progress without hitting anything and the instructors didn't mind if the speed limit was slightly exceeded, or if you ignored some of the road markings if it made things safer. Some techniques were counter-intuitive but very useful e.g if there is limited space and on-coming traffic, you pull out slightly aggressively much further than you need to in order to make the other driver move over more than he would otherwise have done, thus making the passing safer. I think it was called 'showing how much space you need'.
Is Advanced the same or is it a different set of techniques?
I think a lot of it is about anticipating what other road users will do and/or expecting the unexpected which is a defensive technique.
I try to do this and, I think, it gives me a more forgiving attitude to other road users particularly when they do what I hope they wouldn't, which is basically f**k up. Something we all do once in a while.
For example, I saw a car ready to pull out the other day and lifted from the throttle and hovered over the brake in anticipation. Low and behold he did pull out in an unsafe manner imo. Did I hoot angrily and launch an enormous tirade of vitriolic road rage at him? No, I simply slowed and gave him a raised eyebrow.
How magnanimous of me.
I try to do this and, I think, it gives me a more forgiving attitude to other road users particularly when they do what I hope they wouldn't, which is basically f**k up. Something we all do once in a while.
For example, I saw a car ready to pull out the other day and lifted from the throttle and hovered over the brake in anticipation. Low and behold he did pull out in an unsafe manner imo. Did I hoot angrily and launch an enormous tirade of vitriolic road rage at him? No, I simply slowed and gave him a raised eyebrow.
How magnanimous of me.
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