Do you really want to become a better driver? For most people, the thing that they need to work on to get better is simple and yet really hard.

Planning.

You need to be thinking and looking further down the road than you do currently. As I said, easy to explain and much more difficult to actually do.

You are driving to work in the morning, and you have thoughts going through your brain about the day ahead, why the coffee you bought wasn’t as good as usual, and why your other half seemed distant.

What are you not thinking about? The fact that you are driving two tons of metal glass and plastic and it takes some stopping.

You can try and make the drive more entertaining by watching the vehicles around you and trying to figure out what they are going to do. With some practice, you can get pretty good at predicting what a driver might do in a given situation. Think of it as people watching, but instead you are thinking about what they might do while they are in that metal bubble of their own world.

The other thing to consider is space, always leave yourself enough space that if someone does make a mistake, including you, then there is ample room for you to slow and take avoiding action. 

TREV TREV TREV! The Audi behind me is flashing its lights and tail gating me, so I have to speed up and get closer to the vehicle in front!

No. You really don’t. The best thing to do is to drop back from the vehicle in front and leave more space between you and it. If the dangerous Audi driver behind carries on being too close and hits you then you are now much less likely to hit the vehicle in front of you.

If you are on the motorway and this is happening why not try moving out of the outside or middle lane and move left to let it go passed? 

BUT TREV!!!

No, no but Trev. Let them go and have their own accident off in the distance somewhere. This way it won’t involve you will it?

How about you are approaching a green traffic light? Have a look in your mirror and think about when the lights are going to go red and when could be the last point you could safely stop if they did. Green traffic lights always go red, so why are so many people surprised when it happens? Only due to the fact that they are not thinking about it.

Zebra crossing, is there anyone near it? What’s behind me?

Next, there are some pedestrians on the pavement and one of them is a small child that is walking on its own. Slow down a bit and maybe move out if you can.  That way if the unexpected happens and the child trips towards the road you have a much better chance of safely avoiding it.

You are driving towards a meeting situation, i.e. the road has narrowed due to some blockage or other and there is traffic coming the other way. Start looking around and thinking about if the traffic stops could you stop out of the way to allow traffic to flow? It might be best if that is the case to stop before you get there.

Planning is simple to do, but also really hard if you are not that used to it. It will gradually make a massive difference to your driving. It can allow you to drive more safely, smoothly and also potentially save fuel. No really. 

When you start looking at situations as you approach them and imagine what might happen you can often slow down instead of stopping. Why is that important? Getting your car moving again after it has stopped is harder work for your car and so uses more fuel.

Imagine you try and push a shopping trolley that is full and heavy. How hard is it to get it moving? Very.

Once it is moving keeping it going is much less effort. It is exactly the same for your car, slowing down instead of stopping where you can use a lot less fuel.

Becoming a better driver is like any skill, it takes practice, I cannot promise that you will get better overnight but you will quickly notice changes if you start thinking ahead.

Before I finish I am going to come up with some quick scenarios for you to have a think about when you are driving. Answers are below. Somewhere. Well, the answers are really inside you, as they have been all along. Sometimes the real friends are the answers that we met along the way aren’t they?

Please do share this page if you think that it might help people. I hope to keep writing posts that help people to become better drivers.

1 – You see a child on the other side of the road shouting across the road. There is a large van parked on the left. Where and what is the potential hazard?

2 – You can see the front of a car sticking partially out on your left from between a line of parked cars. What might happen there?

3 – You are following a bus and you can see some people inside of it standing up. Why? How might this affect you?

4 – You are in the middle lane of the motorway and you are slowly overtaking a lorry. As you pass it what should you do?

5 – You are driving along a fairly narrow country road that you do not know that well. What things could you use to help you with knowing where the road goes?

1 – Be prepared for a child coming out unexpectedly from behind the van Maybe slow down a bit and see if you can see any small feet under the parked van. 

2 – It is likely to push forwards into the road. If you cannot see the driver’s eyes then they cannot see you either. Slow down and look at what is going on behind you as well.

3 – The bus is probably about to stop, people standing up on the bus usually means they want to get off. Also keep an eye out in the distance for people stood at bus stops.

4 – Check your mirrors, when you can see it is safely behind you indicate left and move back in. You should only be in either of the outside two lanes if you are overtaking or there are signs telling you to do so.

5 – If you have a sat nav you could glance at that, it will give you an indication of the road to come. Also look to see if you can see lamp posts or any other kind of way of seeing where the road goes, often they will follow the curve of the road ahead as it was the simplest place to put them.