Making Driving Easy: Approaching Traffic Lights with Confidence

Making Driving Easy: Approaching Traffic Lights with Confidence: "Whether you are just learning to drive or you have many years experience behind the wheel, it’s likely that you feel a tension when approach..."

The Theory Test -- Top Tips to Pass it First Time

There is a particular reason behind 'the theory test', and until the student understands this concept there is a high possibility of not getting the pass. The fact that people can, and regularly do, pass the test without 'getting it', raises legitimate questions about the method of testing, but let's look at passing it first and leave changing it for another day.

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What DSA are actually trying to do with this test is to influence the way we think about driving, they are trying to generate the right mindset in learner drivers.

The purpose of the theory test is to guide the next generation of drivers towards an attitude of safety first.  This can be seen clearly in the way that the questions are phrased and the slight differences between some of the possible answers.

This awareness of the direction that the test is designed to guide us in, gives us a clear and logical basis to work towards when considering the possible answers for the individual questions.

We must bear in mind that the test is a multiple choice test, we are given a number of answers to choose from, but the catch is that once we say “yes” to one of the answers we are in effect saying “no” to the others.

This concept can really help us, especially when taken in context with an awareness of the purpose of the test in the first place.  It is a simple matter to identify individual words and phrases that would indicate the type of responsible attitude that DSA is looking for, for instance:

In good time

Appropriate

Well before

Safely

Reasonable

All these words and phrases are things that DSA would like to see within the attitude of every driver on the road, and the way that the theory test works is that if you don't choose the answer that says you will choose the appropriate gear, you are in effect saying that you will not choose the appropriate gear.

If you don't say that you will deal with a situation safely, DSA will take it that you will not deal with a situation safely. This is the way that all multiple choice tests work, and if we are switched on to this concept we can really use it to our advantage and make the process of passing the theory test much less stressful.

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This principle will be relevant for about half of the questions you are likely to be asked, so of course there is more work and research to be done, but this concept coupled with the right assistance will make preparing for the theory test much more manageable.

Approaching Traffic Lights with Confidence

Whether you are just learning to drive or you have many years experience behind the wheel, it’s likely that you feel a tension when approaching a junction controlled by traffic lights that may be about to change.  This tension is unnecessary, and with a little bit of thought and practice you can approach these situations confident in the knowledge that you have it under control.

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The general view on traffic lights is that once they change you must decide whether to carry on going or to stop behind the line.  Unfortunately the main consideration for most drivers is whether or not they can ‘get away with it, some drivers look upon it almost as a challenge.

There is however, a simple technique that we can use to ensure we deal with traffic lights safely and confidently. Essentially the idea is to completely remove the need for a decision.  If that sounds stupid ask yourself this question:  Do you trust every other driver on the road enough to believe that they can make a decision about the appropriate course of action, in the time it takes between the lights changing and them crossing the stop line?

No me neither.

It’s pretty obvious then, that minimising the amount of decisions in driving is something that would make our roads much safer.  So how do we take the decision out of an approach to traffic lights?

It’s quite simple really; you must know what you are going to do before the lights change.  What’s more is that you know that already, if I were to say to you “you are approaching traffic lights, the lights are on green, are you planning to go through”?  The obvious answer is that it depends on how far away you are.

So there is clear knowledge that from a certain distance away it is not the right thing to plan to go through the lights.  Conversely though, if the distance from the lights was only a couple of car lengths, most drivers would agree that it would not be safe to stop from any sort of speed over such a short distance.

There is a wonderful logic to that approach and even more importantly it gives us a clear course of action.  Up to a certain point it would be the wrong thing to do to plan to continue after the lights change and after a certain point it would be the wrong thing to do to plan to stop after the lights change.

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The point at which the plan should change from “I’m going to stop” to “ I’m going to carry on going” is dependant on a number of things which will take a little more thought and possibly a little more research, but essentially you should approach traffic lights with the intention of stopping until you get to the point where it would be safer to carry on through the junction.

Keep it simple, it’s not a decision’ it’s a commitment.

Control in Driving -- Doing it the Easy Way

When people speak of control in driving quite often they miss the point.  Everyday drivers seem to associate the important aspects of control with being able to perform a handbrake turn in the tightest of spaces or weaving in and out of narrow gaps at high speed.

Personally I blame Clarkson and his cohorts, along with Hollywood and the Playstation.  Their sort of driving is spectacular and it cannot be denied that there is certainly a large degree of control involved, but in order to demonstrate that type of control  with any degree of safety, the first thing that must be controlled is the environment.

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The only safe places to display these boy racer tendencies are the Top Gear test track, a Hollywood film set or in a virtual world via your own living room.  You see the problem is that if you do this kind of thing in the real world, one mistake could severely affect the lives of other people, and regardless of how unlikely it is that you will make a mistake, you just do not have the right to take that risk with another person’s life.

So what type of control is relevant in real driving?  Well of course you do have to have a certain degree of control over the vehicle, but vehicle control is truly irrelevant when compared to the concept of exerting your control over the situation.

This is a massive issue and once it is understood in the right way driving becomes much more of a stress free task, confidence will start to build and the whole thing becomes much easier and more enjoyable.

So let’s look at the level of control each driver can have over a situation.  Is it possible that one driver can control the intentions and actions of any other driver?  Well no that would be impossible, we are not looking to dictate what anybody else on the road does.

So what does that leave us with?  It seems that we must concern ourselves purely with our own actions; we must drive in a way that gives us control over how our vehicle interacts with other road users.

Basically this means that if the plan we have for the route ahead is reliant on another road user doing anything that is not standard practice then we need to change our plan.  Even if the thing that we are relying on is standard practice but it requires another road user to take action, we should approach the area at a speed that gives us control over the situation.

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The full understanding of these points may take some more research and a degree of consideration, but with the right attitude and a little bit of help, driving should become a far more enjoyable experience in no time at all.

U.K. Road Signs -- The Easy Way to Understand Them

There are a lot of signs on UK roads these days, well not literally of course, that would be stupid; generally signs are to be found at the side of the road or on odd occasions even above the carriageway.

To the average everyday motorist some of these signs are an absolute mystery. Of course everyone understands those signs which could cost money if not understood, speed limits and give ways and the like. However take the average motorists outside of their comfort zone, and anything more than the basics can begin to look like quantum physics.

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New signs are designed and used on a regular basis and motorists are responsible for keeping up to date with signs, but the reality of the situation is that people have far better things to do with their time than watching for announcements of new signs.

As with most things there is a common sense approach to road signs, and so long as the people who design the signs use this common sense approach there is no need to stress about keeping up to date.

Firstly and most importantly, there are three basic shapes of road signs, with only two exceptions to the rule. With a clear understanding of what the shape implies, the signs become much more user friendly. The three shapes are:

Circular Signs – give orders.

Triangular Signs – give warnings.

Rectangular Signs – give information.

Circular Signs.

Just as Mums have two basic orders for children, “you'd better tidy your bedroom” being an example of one, and “you'd better not poke you little sister in the eye with that kebab skewer” being an example of the other, the powers that be have the same two types of order, “you must” and “you must not”.

Thankfully those Johnny's up at sign writing HQ have come up with an ingenious way of helping us to get a grip of differentiating between the two. They made them different colours!

The circular signs with the red borders mean 'must not' while the circular signs with a blue background mean 'must'. Simple really, if you see a circular sign with a blue background and an arrow pointing to the left, you must go left.

There are a few signs that do still require a bit of memory, such as 'no stopping'. This particular sign is awkward because there isn't an obvious logical connection between what you see and what it wants to tell you, however with an understanding of the implication behind the shape and the colour, the memory part is not so daunting as it otherwise would be.

Triangular Signs.

Triangular signs give warnings. The thing about a warning is that it is useless unless the thing that it warns about is ahead; no use warning of something right where that something is, and no use warning someone of something when that something has been and gone. No two ways about it, if a warning is to be given it must warn of something ahead.

So whatever you see on the sign within the triangle, say what it is then follow it with the word 'ahead'. Pedestrian crossing ...ahead, tunnel … ahead, elderly people crossing … ahead. With the vast majority of warning signs the little pictures come quite close to being foolproof in most cases, it's like that old TV show Catchphrase, just “say what you see”.

Rectangular Signs.

There's not really a great deal to say about these particular signs, they simply relay information that the motorist may need to know. So for instance, road layout signs will always be rectangular, bus lane information, one way street signs and parking information, that sort of stuff.

There is one everyday situation which clearly illustrates why the difference between the shapes is so fundamentally important. Where there are bollards and a raised kerb half way across a road as a traffic calming measure, and signs either side of the bollards designating priority

The side that has to give way has a circular sign meaning it's an order, it means that you must not take priority over an oncoming vehicle. The other side has a rectangular sign, it informs the motorist that they have priority, but it doesn't say they must take priority over a oncoming lunatic.

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Finally, those two exceptions to the '3 shape rule' are the stop sign and the give way sign, it's only because these two signs are so important that they require a clear and distinct difference from all other signs, in case the snow covers the sign in freezing conditions.

That really is it, stick to the basics and it becomes easy. But make sure the basics are fully understood.