[Dieseldunk]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Thanks, Dieseldunk, for starting a thread on a topic that is very dear to me, and one that ought to make our roads much safer if everyone practiced it!

Anticipation, aka defensive driving, is not something that your average car driver has ever heard about, nor do the driving training schools teach it anywhere. Yet, it saves lives, and saves money too. Here's something I wrote a couple of years ago...

Thanks SS-Traveller sir.
Have been a real avid reader of most of your posts and threads and find it deeply invigorating and thoughtprovoking. Coming to what you mention of everyone practicing the same well less said the better.

The way one sees it is " A very commonly needed virtue but very uncommonly used".(sounds repetetive and rheotoric of me please pardon)

Moreover it seems that nowadays people do not plan the drive but rather just try to cramp the time of drive and in that hustle to reach faster they overlook one important fact that a few seconds is all the difference between a celeberation and disaster(of whatever degree).

I would add that driving is like poetry wherein the poem(drive/driving) is more and more succinct and beautiful as the poet becomes more and more inwardly evolved to higher levels of self conscience unconsciously.

[tharian]

Well, this is an anticipatory move I did once years ago which saved a lot of arguing and a traffic jam. It is a little out of context, but nevertheless relevant here.

My sister's M800 ran low on battery and broke down on her way back home during peak evening rush. I am her instant mechanic/helper when it comes to car issues. I rushed to her in my dad's Swift and managed to crank the car back to life. To be on the safe side , I decided to drive the 800 back home and asked her to drive the Swift.
She had been driving in traffic only for a short time by then and was used to only the 800 and Swift was like a new experience for her, so I decided to tailgate her.
Since it was her first time in traffic in a different car, I knew she would be finding it difficult to adjust and to top it all, it was rush hour. There is an incline on the route back home which was a bridge that crossed the Bangalore East railway station. The road to the bridge is an incline and in the middle of the bridge , it suddenly slopes down. Like a mountain peak.

The approach to the bridge was probably a 100m and the there was bumper to bumper traffic all through. This was when I wanted to stick to the Swifts bumper since I knew what would happen and exactly then a smart Omni cargo driver decided to cut in between. So I tried all sorts of stunts and managed to cut him off , much to his annoyance, and again stuck the Swifts bumper.
Just like I thought, my sister stalled the car and it came rolling back when she tried to get going again . Since I anticipated that, I stuck to as close as possible and it rested on the 800's bumper and I let it be till she managed to move and then we had people looking surprised that I didn't even have any reaction to what just happened and at the same time the Swift just drove away!

This was an isolated occurrence , and yes something different but saved some unnecessary interactions.

[FarPatel]

Thanks to all of you guys for your inputs. I too have experienced all these situations since I started driving in '78 and now that my daughter has just become 'licenced to drive', I've forwarded this thread to her, with instructions to get back to me for any further clarifications.
Apart from observing what I've put in my signature at the bottom of my post, what I normally do whenever possible, on approaching a stop sign or traffic holdup, is to hit my brakes momentarily 2 or 3 times before coming to a stop, in order to try and wake up the moron behind me in time for him to hit the brakes himself. It's helped so far.
Cheers

[trtraj]

Nice thread, i personally had an experience here in Chennai years ago. While i was back home after picking up my bro from airport near Ekkaduthangal, the barricade was placed just before the signal and i slowed down and stopped for signal, with the assumption of people that "no signals after 10:00 PM" a dipper lorry was behind me. I just zipped my vehicle anticipating the lorry will hit.

And the bad thing happened is a policeman caught me saying jumped the signal , that too by 1:00 AM

[Dieseldunk]

Originally Posted by trtraj

Nice thread, i personally had an experience here in Chennai years ago.And the bad thing happened is a policeman caught me saying jumped the signal , that too by 1:00 AM

Sometimes we get penalized for following law or for following good logic which is quite flustering and adds to the already overflowing bowl of woeful driving manners we have to face on the road.

On the lighter side one could state that the policeman was good in anticipating an occurence like this to happen.

[trtraj]

Originally Posted by Dieseldunk

Sometimes we get penalized for following law or for following good logic which is quite flustering and adds to the already overflowing bowl of woeful driving manners we have to face on the road.

On the lighter side one could state that the policeman was good in anticipating an occurence like this to happen.

Yes, you are right, and i also did explained the situation to him. but i could smell foul that he wanted money for no reason. and he didn't stop that lorry which was speeding and jumping the signal

[Dieseldunk]

Today whilst going to office anticipated patient driving was immensely required. Near ashok pillar signal towards jafferkhanpet the red light came on and was around 200 meters away and applied foot to brake in 2 short intervals before coming to final halt .

Reason

Saw 2 bikes in my left side view mirror just gaining speed and the short brake acted as a buffer to slow them down else they were all raring to literally swing by and cross over.Incidentally was first line occupant and police guy (surprise) present.

[mittal_v2002]

In UK, for driving license there is a test called HPT (Hazard Perception Test) and the test is exactly about anticipation. Some sample of the same on the below link.

http://www.driving-test-success.com/haz001/haz001.htm

I own a UK driving license and for a fact, I know that most of the Indians are feared of this test and no wonder most of them fail in it even in multiple attempts.

I found this test very interesting and an eye opener towards the road safety.

[Dieseldunk]

+1 to that. Many of us learn hazard perception the hard way. No driving instructor leave alone the school is really interested in creating the artful driver in one.
Like said in the Maruti booklet of owner manual "There is no perfect driver but all of us must strive for the perfection in driving"

Cheers

[dark.knight]

More the people know rules and regulations, the better they drive but the more people know about themselves, the safer they will drive.In continuation of my post in the beginning of the thread I have a few more points to add. I hope this too helps people to understand the finer points of being a driver.

>The general attention span of a literate human being is about 20 minutes, a result of a scientific study. When driving, be it in empty stretches or crowded jams its essential that the mind is given new stimulus to focus better. How? One has to keep reminding oneself that what is happening is "real-time" motion which can change. Complex? Let me explain further.

It all happened in a flash, no time to react - This is usually said by many people after a close shave or a bump. What they fail to describe is that actually in that one moment the attention span comes to terms with the exact second of real time sequences, the reflexes come to life with a surge of adrenaline and even that half a second is seen in slow motion by the eyes. When this happens it means that your attention was not refreshed and kicked in at the last second and compensated for the time-lag. The habitual anticipation when driving, adapting to new situations prevents this from happening as the sensory cortex is geared up.

Another thing that can hamper judgement is emotional reactions. There are 2-3 good threads here about Bhpians admitting to making mistakes because they drove under anger/anxiety. We are humans and not beyond emotions, but we cannot afford to have them when at the wheel as it disrupts the real-time attention span. Man biologically, wasn't made to drive hours at a stretch, he just adapted to it. So this becomes more about mental discipline than physical skill after awhile. This is the reason why every car manual recommends taking breaks, drinking coffee/water to refresh oneself. I've also disciplined myself to come to a halt when I see orange. It may take 2 minutes of my time, that's fine. I get more nauseated than tempted seeing every other vehicle break the signal rules. I write this in the hopes that this country sees a better brand of drivers than be the butt* of driving jokes world over.

[the_skyliner]

"Learn road judgement first then go to clutch, brake and accelerator" were the words from my father during my driving and riding learning days.

I absolutely agree with it. Anticipation is a must on Indian roads simply because no one follows traffic rules and it mostly works based on mutual agreement or disagreement between multiple drivers, riders, pedestrians and even animals on road. Add to that construction sites in the middle of a road without warning boards or barriers. One sad example is the recent accident of an i20 from Pune en-route Kholapur where the driver failed to see the gap between the two bridges.

Following are some more events where without anticipation one is certain to get in trouble (some could be a repeat as paragsachania has already sum it up well):

1. Speed breakers without signs or paint. A miss at high speed can make you lose control over the car or damage car's under body.

2. Objects falling from vehicle in front of you. This could range from fine sand to cement bags. Yes, once a friend of mine had to spend a week in hospital with broken arm because cement bag fell on his bike. He was too close to the truck.

3. Tractor-trolley coming from opposite direction on double lane road without divider trying to avoid an obstacle on road. This is hugely dangerous because the swing is so big and long due to trolley that you will not get enough time to adjust even if you are at moderate speed.

There are many more but those are already covered I guess.

On the other hand I think anticipation does not play a big role in western countries as majority of the public follow rules and that makes it easier.

[Dieseldunk]

Driving is an acquired habit. There is no point in pushing your body/mind when under fatigue. This only will increase the risk of being caught in a wrong decision. Professional drivers never take chances. They know the best sensors and anticipators are between the 2 ears. As the saying goes the eye has to see what the mind has to believe.

[Dieseldunk]

The most common psychology in the human mind is best seen in driving. We seek justice for the wrong meted out to us and compassion when we are at fault. This is a deeply ingrained by evolution attribute and needs to be unlearned with great focus

[Dieseldunk]

Well most accidents occur due to lack of a single most important reason lack of anticipation. Driving sensibily and sticking to the rules is no doubt a virtuous trait. More important is the fact that driving in a 2 way traffic carriageway is diametrically opposite to driving on a 1way traffic carriageway. Recently happened to come across 2 such incidents or rather accidents whilst traveling by a bus and what the driver stated was just the same as what I was thinking. He said overtaking and driving on a highway is not a problem if you are good at anticipating and reflexively reactive. Sadly most of the drivers in today's world want to be ahead at any cost. True but a sad state of affairs.

[Auswechseln]

Originally Posted by Dieseldunk

Driving is an acquired habit. There is no point in pushing your body/mind when under fatigue. This only will increase the risk of being caught in a wrong decision. Professional drivers never take chances. They know the best sensors and anticipators are between the 2 ears. As the saying goes the eye has to see what the mind has to believe.

This is perfectly true. Once on a trip to coastal Karnataka with my college friends in a Tata Sumo, the anticipation level of our driver was such that not once did he use the horn for the whole of 1000 kms or so and never did he speed.