Defensive Driving Courses on the Commute - By: Terry S Vostor

What can be said about safety planning for high speed highways trips and even routine commutes? First of all if you are unfamiliar with the route, prepare for your highway driving trip ' and even ordeal by studying a road map beforehand. In 2010 its modern methods for modern safe drivers. A GPS with a large screen ' which you find easy to use, may be your ticket. Alternatively some professional drivers and truckers prefer USB computer gps's with laptops being used for their large screens. It pays to be able to spot data and changeovers rapidly. Many commercial laptop up to date and current mapping software can be easily obtained for these laptop GPS units at big box stores ' for example Microsoft's Maps & Streets 2010.

If you pre-plan your route you will not have to rely completely on sometimes misplaced or even misleading road signs, which can well distract you from safely paying attention to the road. Tailgaters are an annoying and dangerous hazard. Move to the right lane, reduce your speeds and signal the vehicle to quickly pass. Do not brake, instead switch on the emergency flashers to activate your break lights. With hands free cell phones you can easily call phone numbers on the go - Passing on the right can be dangerous and downright illegal. Instead of waiting for other vehicles to return to the right lane, a most impatient motorist may well have inadvertently slipped to the right side. Amazingly and unwittingly the other motorist may well be in his or her direct blind spot.

As you drive down the entrance ramp or ramps to enter a highway via acceleration lanes, signal your intention and intentions to best merge with highway traffic. If there is a car or vehicle ahead of you, don't make your move until that driver has merged fully and successfully. Trucks - especially those with wide or heavy loads, are far far less maneuverable than a novice or non professional driver might think. Truck tractor trailers require much more and additional distance and distances to stop than automobiles or even pick up trucks or SUVs . As a defensive driving motorist it is always best to increase your following distance and distances an extra truck length or second or two behind large commercial trucks. In addition beware of loose cargo and cargoes - and not even then. It's just too dangerous. Never mind the other driver. Imagine your vehicle - Professional tractor trailer drivers , and driver training schools advise to place flares and / or along with brightly burning flares well back from the auto ,car , truck ,SUV or bus.

This is routine and standard practice notes Kirker Stevens of Ace Employment Safety Truck Safety Training Driver School at the fish farm in Winnipeg Manitoba. Lastly it is standard accepted semi trailer truck professional driving school teaching not to slow down to rubberneck. Imagine being hit by a train and even your full size vehicle being reduced to a pancake - with you and your family inside.

It may not be a major highway you are traversing say a California freeway or a New York toll road. Indeed it may be a lonely stretch of the Alaska Highway - you being asked to deliver a Dodge Ram truck to Whitehorse or Yellowknife NWT north of Edmonton Alberta. Indeed it may be the caribou and elk on the road or the Wood Bison which may well be your the greatest safety road hazards during nighttime driving. At least 1 mile (1.55 km) before the exit. Always signal your intention and intention long and well ahead of the turn off. A merging vehicle must always as a matter of standard freeway safety routine always yield to highway traffic. Sadly this is seldom the case in real life highway and turnpike driving . Take care that when you approach an "entrance ramp", move one lane to the left if it safe to do so. According to the BC traffic safety school it is always best if not essential to plan an actual "escape " route just in case the merging automobile swerves directly in front of you. Take care behind gravel trucks - especially those with uncovered beat up loads. It may be the law in your area for sand and gravel trucks to have their loads covered by canvas. Yet why risk a pitted or smashed windshield needlessly and for no apparent reason ? It may not even be the tractor trailer that you are following behind the do the damage to your glass. It may even be a stone tossed into the air by a truck on the other side of the highway that hits your window - being thrown by a truck tire - all the while smashing your window. By the time you have turned around to chase the vehicle in the opposing traffic lane they may be long gone - and you are left with a needless MPI glass damage claim - so notes well known friend of MPI autopac William S Simpson. Vehicles entering and exiting high speed highways and roads are often forced to merge into a "weaving lane". Lane straddling is often caused by inattentiveness or even intoxication or intoxicated drivers. Indeed officers may often directly ask the driver of a auto that is straddling lanes "Have you been drinking ?".

If you must pass a vehicle that is weaving from side to side , give it an extra wide berth. Take direct care to signal well in advance. Flash your lights and tap your horn briefly if necessary or possible - A hitchhiker anxious for a lift has one foot on the side of the pavement. When driving on a highway scan the shoulder for such smaller hazards, not just cars and trucks. Never stop unless it is an obvious emergency or you may well be a victim in a multi vehicle pileup. No doubt about that. After all shinder says "Drive Safe".

You can never play it too safe on the roads for yourself and your family - Drive with the flow of traffic, unless the cars and vehicles around you are speeding. Check your speedometer frequently even if you routinely turn on "cruise control". A clear stretch of highway or a steep downgrade often invites speeding and speeders as your roadside companions. Be a loner in highway traffic. Drive defensively.

About the Author

Terry S. vostor Fort McMurray Car Dealers Brandon Canada Auto Financing

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