Brendan Seery
Arrogance is the biggest killer on our roads. We think we can drive, we think we can handle any situation and, mostly, we think everyone else is wrong.
With defensive driving instructor Sue Peebles in the passenger seat, calm and measured, any display of arrogance on my part would be just plain silly. Clearly, this is a woman who has forgotten more about driving than I’ll probably ever know.
The first session with her is for her to evaluate my driving skills and to assess how much I have absorbed from the comprehensive DVD supplied by driving.co.za and which forms the basis of the company’s defensive and eco-driving course.
Before I watched the DVD I had a pretty arrogant opinion of myself as a driver: only ever had one accident, never been charged with a road traffic offence, seldom get speeding fines these days. And, although I have not done a course, I have absorbed a lot of information about how to drive defensively.
Before we’ve gone a block, Sue is gently pointing out that I am way too close to the car in front as we stop at an intersection. The driving.co.za course emphasises that defensive driving is all about two things: distance and time. If you, the driver, give yourself these, then you are better able to avoid a tragedy. Always have an escape route is the mantra in the DVD and from Sue and driving.co.za founder Rob Handfield-Jones.
Now, I don’t have anywhere to go – except into the back of the car in front of me – if something happens.
As we filter into the motorway, Sue points out that I am not checking my blind spot. In the K53 test, there is a slavish focus on “mirror, mirror, blind spot”, but that’s no bad thing. I was not trained in this system and, once I begin focusing on checking, I am surprised at how much I have been missing.
“To change any habit,” says Sue, “takes at least 21 days of continuous practice. After that, it will be ingrained.”
So, a little over 21 days later, I am sitting with her again. I am as nervous as I was when I took my driving test all those years ago. This is a test, as real as any by the traffic department, and I am desperate to pass. Why? Because I set out on this project – to assess defensive driver training – with the aim of underlining to myself how good I am. And I have realised I am nowhere near as good as I thought.
Rob is a former journalist who was also a highly qualified driving instructor and is one of the most authoritative voices on road safety in the country.
And his training course is serious business: no one-day jolly out at Gerotek or Kyalami, throwing high-powered cars around a track or a skidpan to get an “advanced driving” certificate. Most of those are nothing more than sales pitches for the cars of the manufacturers that partly sponsor them.
And, while it may be nice to think after a skidpan session that you have car control like Michael Schumacher, the reality is that if you get into a skid in the first place, you haven’t been advanced enough in your driving techniques. You haven’t been paying attention to the world around you.
I had asked Rob to put me and two of my colleagues who often drive test cars for the Saturday Star through the course to sharpen our skills.
The driving.co.za course DVD is something you can keep for future reference and for refreshing your skills, while the training and assessments are conducted in your own car and in real-world traffic situations, not on a track. So it should be highly practical.
Sue is now sitting in my 23-year-old Jetta and that doesn’t worry her, she says, because clearly the car has been well looked after and is clearly roadworthy.
And, with the benefit of a month’s practice, I am a lot more at home than I was. And I am applying the lessons: checking that blind spot, leaving space, looking all the time for escape routes.
Sue and Rob emphasise the importance of assessing the situation around you when you drive, both close in and far away. They teach you to read road conditions and behaviours that can give you vital warnings of something untoward about to happen.
One of the most difficult parts of the course and test is to do “commentary driving” where you must provide a running, out-loud, assessment of all that is happening around you, from who is behind you to the potholes in the road, to the pedestrians on the road bridge you are passing under, to the brake lights of the cars up ahead, indicating you are going to have to slow down. If you can’t commentate, you’re going too fast..
When we pull into the parking garage, Sue tells me I have passed, although I can work on not going up and down the gears so much (wastes fuel) and the occasional slip-up on safety distance.
If you complete and pass the course, your insurance company may offer you a discounted premium. But what is even better is knowing, and feeling, I am a better driver. And better able to avoid those who aren’t.
I am still a touch arrogant (sorry Rob, sorry Sue) and I still get a lot of road rage (sorry again), but this is because, even more than before, I am aware of silly behaviour and can make adjustments in time.
I also realise that Rob is correct when he says that the posted speed limits are sometimes too high for conditions. I am very careful now when applying power in the fast test cars we have. I’ve also improved my feel for the cars I am driving. I drive more economically, saving fuel and maintenance costs, too.
I keep an eye on my blind spot and I give myself that extra bit of safety distance. It’s already helped me avoid a bumper bashing or two. (And, even as I sat down to finish this, I thought about the woman who pulled right in front of me on the way to work. She had simply turned into the intersection without even looking in the direction I was coming from. Six months ago, I would have hit the brakes hard, tyres smoking. This time, I had prepared in advance and come off the throttle in anticipation, so only a gentle prod of the anchors was necessary.)
But most of all, I realise that, even after you have done training like this, staying alive on our roads is a full-time occupation. No time to relax. You even find yourself turning off the car sound system because it interferes with your concentration.
I have no hesitation in recommending this course to anyone. At least anyone who is not arrogant enough to assume they are infallible and that they are immortal…