Take a break to stay awake.

Take a break – stay awake by safedriver

As written for The Insurance Hunters. Please visit their blog.

I sometimes wonder what life would be like if we weren’t so busy. Would we be bored or would we learn to become more relaxed? Whether you’re busy with your job, your family or your pastimes, it can take quite a toll on us and cause fatigue. If these activities also cause you to drive, what can you do to combat fatigued driving?

What does fatigued driving or drowsy driving do to us? When our brain is tired it stops us from making proper decisions. It’s late getting messages to our eyes, hands and feet. Think of how you act at home when you’re tired. You may not be thinking clearly and may forget to do things. Now imagine that in the vehicle. Too dangerous to even consider, yet many people ignore the symptoms.

We need to recognize the early signs of fatigue. If you’re having a difficult time keeping your eyes open, extremely low energy, yawning a lot, drifting in your lane or have very little focus it’s time to do something different. Recognizing many of these signs beforegetting into your vehicle is best, but during some longer drives these symptoms begin to appear while you’re already in motion. So what are the common things drivers do to help stay alert while driving?

Many drivers will drink strong coffee, blow cold air on their face, play loud music and try to have a diverse conversation to help keep them alert. It may work, but only for a very short period of time. The best solution is sleep.  Find a safe place to pull over and rest. Find a parking lot, lock your doors and have that 15 to 20 minute nap. For many people, this little snooze refreshes them enough to become alert once again and become safe to drive. If you need more time than that, take it.

Now that’s all fine and dandy as a reactive solution, but let’s look at a proactive way to avoid fatigued driving altogether. Get plenty of rest before starting that long drive. Schedule breaks every couple of hours to allow you time to get out, stretch and perhaps take a washroom break. The best proactive solution is to share the driving with passengers, but do that before you get too tired. Avoid heavy meals before driving. Light snacks are better than a big meal. Apples are great to keep you alert and awake. And the last tip is to keep the temperature cool inside the vehicle. A very warm interior causes drowsiness.

I’m sure we all know stubborn drivers. They say they can handle while fatigued. Good drivers realize they can’t handle it. Having your eyes closed for just three seconds at 50 km/h (30 mph) means your vehicle travels roughly 40 metres. You’ll most likely pass through an intersection too and perhaps a stop sign or red light. I’m pretty certain you and your passengers deserve better. Take a break – stay awake.

Driving in fog

The Highway Code applies to England, Scotland and Wales and is essential reading for everyone.

Rule 236 You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226) as they dazzle other road users and can obscure your brake lights. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves.Law RVLR regs 25 & 27

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Win the parking lot battle by safedriver There’s something we all do as drivers that many seem to overlook as being risky – driving through the dreaded parking lot during the holiday season. For many drivers during this time of year it becomes an all-out combat zone to find that one remaining vacant parking space. Driving manners seem to be thrown out the window, but there are things you can do to win the battle. Driving up and down the aisles during this busy time of year means you’ll find pedestrians walking between vehicles to get to and from the stores and their vehicle. Larger vehicles such as vans and SUVs can hide the pedestrians from you and you from them. To help keep everyone safe, reduce your speed and drive toward the centre of the aisle. By driving away from the parked vehicles, you’re improving the angle you and the pedestrians have of each other. It allows each of you to see each other sooner and will also give more response time for both of you in case either of you have to stop. Ensure you drift back toward the right side of your aisle when oncoming vehicle approach and as you approach any intersecting aisle. This will protects you from vehicles turning sharply into your aisle as it will give them more space to enter. Treat the aisle you’re driving in as you would a roadway. Yield to pedestrians and cross traffic, signal your intentions so everyone else knows which way you’re planning to go, including your parking space once you find one. To find that parking space, it’s best to start at one end of the parking lot and work your way to the other side. Be prepared to park further away than you may like during peak times, so ensure you’re wearing good walking shoes. Perhaps the best tip to find that elusive parking space is to decide when the best time to get to the mall would be. If you can go there when the stores first open while many others are either at work or in school, you’ll find plenty of parking spots. Not only will the parking be plentiful, but the stores won’t be as busy, therefore your shopping trip will take less time. If you can do that it will seem to be a win-win for you. Not all of us can do that, so that may not work for some. One final tip to finding an empty parking space in a busy parking lot is to head directly to a set of doors to find people leaving the mall. Let them begin walking toward their vehicle and you then follow them, staying well back. Once you find which vehicle they’re getting into, put on your turn signal and position your vehicle ready to park. That should help you find that last space. Whichever tip you use, do it safely and be patient. An empty space will arrive soon enough. And when it does, you’ve won the battle.

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To pass your driving test in Northampton UK. Do the opposit of this

How to fail your road test by safedriver

As most people I come to meet through Young Drivers of Canada they want to pass their road test and get their driver’s licence as soon as possible. Some of the students I’ve taught over the years actually want to drive safely. Passing the road test is just a step for them. Good thinking in my books.

Now, in most cases you can fail the road test by any violation of the law, a dangerous action and of course, a collision. Other factors would include poor observation on a regular basis and consistent errors of the same nature. These factors for failing are fairly consistent within most jurisdictions, but with this list, I’m trying to think outside the box.

Regardless of the goals you may set for yourself, I thought it may be a good idea to come up with a top 10 list to help people with their road test. Some top 10 lists have been done over and over again, so I had to be a little creative. After a long 15 seconds of thought, I decided what my top 10 list would contain. The following is the top 10 ways to fail your road test. *Not to be tried on an actual road test. See how many of these you may be tempted to do.

10. Lay on the horn and chase pedestrians out of the crosswalk.

9. Constantly ask the examiner out on a date.

8. Answer “Okay baby” after each instruction the examiner gives you.

7. Play the Fast and the Furious theme song while driving your road test.

6. Get dressed up for the test by wearing your birthday suit.

5. Use the parking brake to slide your vehicle sideways into your parallel park position.

4. Shift to neutral and rev the engine while looking at the driver next to you at a red light.

3. Curse aloud at the driver who just cut you off during their lane change.

2. Suddenly look over your shoulder out the rear window and yell “Crap! It’s the cops!”

1. Say to the examiner “Whatever you do, don’t open the glove box”.

This was certainly a fun tongue-in-cheek article to write and I hope you never end up doing any of these crazy things during a road test. I’m certain you won’t know anyone who has tried these things during their road test. Or have you? For anyone who has tried any of these things, you’ve created a lot of talk around the office water cooler…to say the least.

safedriver | January 23, 2014 at 9:08 pm | Tags: How to drive, road test | Categories: angry driving, communicating, cooperative driving, driver training, driver's license, driving articles, driving attitude, driving basics, driving habits, driving skills, how to drive, how to fail the road test, learning to drive, parallel parking, practising driving skills, right of way | URL: http://wp.me/pbmCu-Aw

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