Some Driving Tips :)

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BLaZor2

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Now that I've passed my licence, I can drive by myself. I've yet to do it as I don't have enough experience as yet. :) :D

I've been driving at night with my grand dad a few times. This is something they DON'T teach you at your driving school, yet 60-70% of all car major car accidents occur at night. :erm:

Is there any important tips I can bear in mind when I drive on the road? I really could use some from you veteran drivers. :)

One point I know is to drive slow. Just because one idiot on the road wants to overtake you for driving safely under the speed limit, doesn't mean you should speed up. I don't really care if some idiot overtakes me. If the speed limit is 40kmh, I'm bloody damn well sticking to it. I don't see why people want to race at 60kmh in a 40kmh zone. I mean 45 Kmh is acceptable, but even so, it's still wrong to speed.... :mad:

I only give way to Police, Reaction/Armed Units and Ambulances...
 
just obey the traffic signs and use your common sense - then you will be fine.

now you really start to learn driving :)

safe driving !
 
If you are driving at night, make sure your lights are on.

Sounds daft, I know. Took me a while to grasp this though. :p

As dweezil says, time to forget all you were taught, that k53 **** is dangerous.
 
copacetic said:
If you are driving at night, make sure your lights are on.

Sounds daft, I know. Took me a while to grasp this though. :p

As dweezil says, time to forget all you were taught, that k53 **** is dangerous.
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Tell ya what mate. You're right about that.

I did that stupid blind spot check to merge into the left lane and some idiot shot past me only to turn right :mad:

I don't understand why he wouldn't wait. Retard. ¬_¬
 
By far the most important thing is to only drive alone or w/ family members for the first month or two.

Having a bunch of friends in the car freaks out 99% of new drivers. Still unsure & feel under the spotlight etc.

The other thing is to learn that in all situation you either commit or you don't. Anything in between gets people killed. e.g. Taking a gap between cars when turning at a traffic light.

Oh, and might seem self-evident but for the first few months no booze. Even if its only 1 drink.
 
Don't let other things steal your concentration. If you're having a conversation in the car make sure that you don't actually shift your focus to the conversation, that's made me do dumb things in the past.
With all these damn checks that K53 teaches you, remember the most important thing is what's in front of you. Gotta watch out for people coming out of intersections or doing other stupid things which force you to react quickly.

There are some seriously stupid drivers on SA roads, and it's not just the taxis. Like people that will suddenly overtake you on the freeway and then take the turnoff right in front of you, or they'll do an overtake right before their lane ends and you have to brake to avoid them.
 
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a sense of awareness is the most critial thing. which is what k53 tries to force you to do.
when you're concentrating on getting the clutch right (or your cellphone), you can be a hazard to others.
when there's potholes, pedestrians and taxis, you need to know where you are on the road, see where they are going and let them know what you want to do.
 
One thing about driving at night..... distances are not as far as they look :)
 
Most valuable tool you have in order to avoid a crash whilst driving is time. Time gives Space. Space gives Time to Think. Time to Think gives Escape / Avoidance.
 
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just because someone has their indicotor on it does not mean they will turn, wait for them to start their turn. People can change their minds.
 
Drive at night without your headlights. The artificial light reflecting off the road deteriorates your night vision and will inevitably make you crash into a parked Fiat Uno.
 
When a taxi or truck driver hangs there hand out there window it is an equivalent to using an indicator
 
Don't drive at night with your fog lights in front or rear unless it's actually foggy and/or visibility is low such as less than 100m.

Front Fog lights don't help increase forward visibility at night anyway, headlights do that job. Fog lights in normal visibility create ambient light around you in areas you don't need it and will reduce your night vision looking ahead.

And don't ever put fogs on in the rain, the light reflects off the wet road and dazzles oncoming drivers.

And rear fogs when on in normal visibility only serve to dazzle drivers at night due to the extra brightness.

Front fog lamps

Front fog lamps provide a wide, bar-shaped beam of light with a sharp cutoff at the top, and are generally aimed and mounted low. They may be either white or selective yellow. They are intended for use at low speed to increase the illumination directed towards the road surface and verges in conditions of poor visibility due to heavy rain, fog, dust or snow.

Use of the front fog lamps when visibility is not seriously reduced is often prohibited (for example in the United Kingdom), as they can cause increased glare to other drivers, particularly in wet pavement conditions, as well as harming the driver's own vision due to excessive foreground illumination.
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murraybiscuit said:
a sense of awareness is the most critial thing.
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Take it a step further and become aware of what's happening far in front of you (500m or so) which gives you more time to react should things happen. The constant awareness of what's going on around you is something you will pick up with time.
 
HavocXphere said:
Yoda style advice. :)
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lol yes I guess, I was in a bit of a rush.

I should add that you have to create the time by adjusting your following distance and/or position on the road depending on circumstances. According to law you must maintain a 2 second following distance, however, this would only be useful under perfect conditions. Two seconds at 60 km/h = 33 metres, at 120 km/h = 66 metres. For more time to get yourself out of trouble a 3 second following distance would be better, and in wet conditions you need to double that up to 6 seconds.

If you are being tail-gated by some uneducated buffoon (yes there are many such drivers in SA) then I suggest increasing your following distance (on dry road) to around 5 seconds. This will enable you to think and react for the peanut trying to get into your boot as well.

Also as was stated, looking far enough ahead is a good way to be prepared for what is coming at you. The further you look ahead, the more time you create. A rule of thumb is to look at least 12 seconds ahead of you, i.e. a place in the distance where you would be in 12 seconds. Using time to judge distance is far more appropriate whilst driving, as the distance you cover at a given speed, will increase as your speed increases. Instead of pulling out the old laptop to calculate distances for your given speed, it is far easier to train yourself to judge distance using time.
 
BLaZor2 said:
Now that I've passed my licence, I can drive by myself. I've yet to do it as I don't have enough experience as yet. :) :D

I've been driving at night with my grand dad a few times. This is something they DON'T teach you at your driving school, yet 60-70% of all car major car accidents occur at night. :erm:

Is there any important tips I can bear in mind when I drive on the road? I really could use some from you veteran drivers. :)

One point I know is to drive slow. Just because one idiot on the road wants to overtake you for driving safely under the speed limit, doesn't mean you should speed up. I don't really care if some idiot overtakes me. If the speed limit is 40kmh, I'm bloody damn well sticking to it. I don't see why people want to race at 60kmh in a 40kmh zone. I mean 45 Kmh is acceptable, but even so, it's still wrong to speed.... :mad:

I only give way to Police, Reaction/Armed Units and Ambulances...
Click to expand...

Congratulations on the license. Time to forget everything you've learnt and really learn how to drive.

By all means, stick to the speed limit, but please don't be one of those young guys who drive like an old man.. i.e. 35km/h in a 60/80 zone. PLEASE! If you do, you will have the likes of me up your ass/overtaking you while staring through my shades and cloud of smoke!

Please learn to indicate early. There is nothing worse than a driver you've been waiting to pass suddenly puts on his indicator 5 meters before the turn. You're wasting people's time. Indicate early. If you're lost, pull over to look at the map. Don't crawl along at 20km/h. You WILL piss people off. Learn how to use the "circle" intersection. It isn't a four way stop. If you're turning left or right, then stop on that side of the road, not in the middle so everyone has to wait for you to turn! Let traffic flow, be aware of what you're doing and if you're causing **** on the road. Pull off QUICKLY from a traffic light. I'm willing to bet that half of JHB's traffic problems are caused by people waiting 5 seconds or more before pulling off. BE AWARE!

Anyway, those are my thoughts for now. This is your opportunity to learn how to drive WELL, don't become a grandpa at 21. I would go on an advanced driving course.
 
Well my advice would definitely be to avoid distraction. I have had some scary near misses by allowing my concentration to drift. Sounds trivial, I know, but it happens. It is so easy to let your mind wander and then realise that you have not really been focusing on the road.
I agree with PP about not using your fog lights unless in actual fog - you can cause someone else to have an accident.
As per the "Yoda Style Advice" I also completely agree about maintaining safe following distances. The longer your following distance the more time you have to prevent something happening should the driver in front of you slam brakes or do something stupid. Be careful of turning at traffic lights when it is the other drivers' right of way, it can be easy to misjudge a gap.
 
BLaZor2 said:
Now that I've passed my licence, I can drive by myself. I've yet to do it as I don't have enough experience as yet. :) :D

I've been driving at night with my grand dad a few times. This is something they DON'T teach you at your driving school, yet 60-70% of all car major car accidents occur at night. :erm:

Is there any important tips I can bear in mind when I drive on the road? I really could use some from you veteran drivers. :)

One point I know is to drive slow. Just because one idiot on the road wants to overtake you for driving safely under the speed limit, doesn't mean you should speed up. I don't really care if some idiot overtakes me. If the speed limit is 40kmh, I'm bloody damn well sticking to it. I don't see why people want to race at 60kmh in a 40kmh zone. I mean 45 Kmh is acceptable, but even so, it's still wrong to speed.... :mad:

I only give way to Police, Reaction/Armed Units and Ambulances...
Click to expand...

Thats a problem right there...
Keep left pass right!!
You new to the road, dont hog lanes and dont have an attitude and not move for faster traffic.
 
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