A handbook to defensive driving: Spotting hazards and staying safe
Driver education shouldn’t stop just because you’ve passed your licence test and gotten out on the open road.
There are many ways Australian motorists can continue to improve their hazard awareness and drive more defensively even if they’ve already been behind the wheel for a few months, years or even decades.
We’ve compiled a few tips and suggestions for those wanting to improve their hazard perception and awareness to become safer, more defensive and, ultimately, better drivers.
What is defensive driving?
Defensive driving is a big term, encompassing multiple practices and attitudes towards driving. At its core, defensive driving relates to being able to identify road hazards – in whatever form they may take – and implementing good practices to avoid an incident.
Adjusting your speed to the situation, learning respect for environmental conditions, being familiar with current road laws, exercising etiquette for other road users, and even having more advanced driving techniques under your belt can all make you a more defensive driver.
Why hazard awareness is essential on Australian roads
Being hazard-aware and exercising good defensive driving principles is especially important on Australian roads.
Australia is a large country with vastly differing climates, meaning drivers on its roads can experience a large array of weather and conditions.
With a low population density, it also means our road network needs to cover a lot of ground – especially in regional areas – often without the adequate funding for safety technologies such as guardrails or streetlights.
Recent data shows that, despite advanced in safety technologies, road fatalities are on the rise in Australia. This is a stark reminder that road safety begins from behind the steering wheel.
Driving is the most dangerous thing most Australians will undertake each day. Learning how to drive more defensively might not just save you from a minor fender bender, but could save your life.
How to drive defensively: key techniques
Complete an advanced driving course
Theoretical and practical tests – as well as hours accrued behind the wheel – during a driver’s learner and provisional licence phases are designed to familiarise young and inexperienced drivers with road laws and conditions in Australia.
However, simply passing these examinations and being given a licence doesn’t mean your improvement and education as a driver has finished. Think of them more as having attained the bare minimum level of training required by the government to drive on public roads.
Defensive and advanced driving courses are a great way to progress your abilities even further, and make you a better driver in the process.
These courses allow drivers to experience and learn how to control a vehicle in less-than-favourable conditions – such as during emergency avoidance of an obstacle or learning how to control a vehicle during a slide – in a safe environment such as a race circuit or open area.
Want to brush up on your skills? Book a Safer Driving Course with the NRMA now.
Scanning the road ahead and around
It seems painfully obvious to mention, but being a good and safe driver starts with the ability and practice of being aware of your surroundings.
Good drivers don’t just stare at the back of the car, or section of road, directly ahead of them while moving. It pays to regularly look further down the road to scan for any hazards when driving, and regularly check your side- and rear-view mirrors – even if you’re not planning to change lanes.
The ‘blind spot’ earns its name for good reason: cars can vanish into the section of road over your shoulder and not covered by peripheral vision of side- and rear-view mirrors. Always glance over your shoulder to ensure you’re aware of everything happening around the car before all lane changes.
By the same token, don’t linger alongside someone in their blind spot. All you’re doing is creating unnecessary risk for you, them, and everyone else on the road around you.
A good tip to avoid sitting in someone’s blind spot? If you can’t see another motorist’s eyes through their side mirror, then they probably can’t see you at all.
Keep a safe stopping distance
Brakes and tyres have come a long way, with stopping performance of cars improving over time. The reality will always remain, though, that distance – sometimes a lot of it – is covered in the time between a brake pedal being pressed and a vehicle coming to a complete stop.
Leaving adequate space between yourself and a vehicle ahead ensures a few things:
- that you have enough time to react in the event of an emergency braking situation
- that you retain visibility and can see ahead of the vehicle ahead
- to help make up for differences in vehicle braking performance (a ute will not come to a stop as quick as a sports car it may be tailgating)
The rule of thumb for safe stopping distance is three seconds. By sticking to a time (not a distance), the space between you and the car ahead will naturally increase as your speed does, offsetting that a vehicle covers ground in less time at higher speeds.
Keeping a safe stopping distance includes, but is not limited to, just tail-gating. In situations of reduced grip or visibility – such as heavy rain – your ability to react and your car’s ability stop are both reduced.
A ‘safe’ stopping distance should be applied to all potential hazards, including other road users you can’t necessarily see but may emerge onto a pedestrian crossing or out from an obscured side street.
Drive to the conditions
As mentioned above, adjusting your driving to the current conditions should be a universally applied principle every time you get behind the wheel.
A car will not respond to inputs with the same swiftness or composure in low grip conditions such as rain or sleet, and drivers will not perceive hazard as easily in low visibility conditions such as nighttime driving. This means adjustments to speed and driving behaviours need to be made.
Every vehicle and road user around you can become a potential hazard if a sudden move, or lapse of concentration, takes place. If you’re driving at rush hour, exercise a little more courtesy, patience and diligence for those around you.
More vehicles on a road also means reduced visibility for all, meaning emergency vehicles and other hazards may not be spotted until they are very close.
Ensure a proper driving position
A good driving position is important to maximise your ability to operate the vehicle.
While comfort is important – especially over longer drives – your main focus when making seat and steering wheel adjustments should always be to ensure you have maximum control over the steering wheel and pedals.
Seat adjustment begins with the pedals, as most cars allow telescopic (in and out) steering wheel adjustment, meaning the pedals are the only rigidly fixed control in the car.
Your seat should be adjusted so that all pedals can be pushed through their full sweep of operation with your legs nearing but never becoming completely straight.
A seating position too near or far from the steering wheel will only hamper a driver’s ability to make steering adjustments and potentially increase the risk of an accident.
Both hands should be on the steering wheel in the traditional ‘9 and 3’ position (imagine a clockface, with your left hand at the 9 and your right hand at the 3). This placement ensures drivers can input maximum steering angle (if needed) quickly and without having to take a hand off the wheel.
Drivers should ensure their arms are not too bent at the elbow but also not straightened. A good way to check your driving position is sound is by is seeing if the insides of your elbows can touch as the wheel is turned just past 180 degrees from straight. If you find they don’t touch, only do when the wheel’s rotated much past 180 degrees, or your back has to come away from the seat to make contact, then you probably need another adjustment.
Driving is a lifelong skill
We get it, not everyone wants to be able to drive like Oscar Piastri, but being a good driver is something everyone who gets behind the wheel should want to take pride in.
By taking the above advice and making sure your skills remain honed, you can get to where you’re headed, all while keeping you, your passengers and other road users safe.
