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PostPosted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 14:54 
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Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2004 23:42
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As you can gather - the first week - mornings in the classroom and afternoonson the road with one draconian instructor was spent on.. distractions which affect mental attitudes ... pedestrians (the pretty girl in her mini skirt), shop windows, rubber necking at road accidents...unruly kids, mobile phones, etc... and the message was that these are not excuses for errors. It is the driver's repsonsibilty to elimninate them or develop a strategy for dealing with them legally and safely.

So ... by the end of the first week of my training we established that the critical issues lie in hlding the right attitude and maintaining an aprrpriate state of mind.

But how on earth do we achieve this?

The key starting point has to be our own self-awareness: we must always think hard about the consequences of our actions and howit affects others. Paul's diary idea would certainly help here.

Ask yourself:

1. What did I notice about that stretch of road?

2. How did it affect another road user?

For example - you negotiated a busy town centre last Saturday. Did you feel impatience towards another driver? Try to think why he made you feel like this towards him, and then try to think about how your gesture may have made him behave even worse. Did this unsettle your passengers?

We were encouraged in my course to be self-critical and to discuss our driving and attitudes on certain stretches of road with our crew: this becomes part of the culture and in turn leads to self awareness and development.

maybe you only need to ask yourself this question after just one manoeuvre... maybe after a series of bends you could ask yourself how well you judged your speed and position. Did your passage through those bends alarm anyone? cause someone to brake? Did you choose the right gear? Was the steering controlled? Couldyou have stopped in the distance you could see to be clear at each stage?

How could I have improved myself here?

Something will always be less than perfect and the next similar situation should give an opportunity to improve.

Shall look up[ my notes on observation and planning. Trying to put them into bite-size chnks so that they can be discussed and added to by others...

Regards

Charles


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PostPosted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 22:36 
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Location: Victoria, Australia
Love the posts, keep them coming.

Surely this is the sort of training that EVERY young driver should have to do. I think I would be fairly safe in saying that the majority of the members of the forum believe that attitude is probably the single most important aspect of driving.

If you respect other drivers, pedestrians, the road conditions, your car, your passengers and yourself you are already a long way down the path of being a safe driver. Once the attitude is right the speed you choose will most probably be right too, regardless of the posted limit.

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Ross

Yes I'm a hoon, but only on the track!!!!


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