[electric_eel]

I am a big fan of defensive driving, I find it the most pleasurable way to drive particularly when the roads are interesting (high range; winding roads). But if I were to pick and highlight a particular precaution that I think has saved me (and other users) a lot of grief it would be this: whenever I start off, whether it is from a traffic stop or from the side of a road, I do it as slowly as possible. Granted, this leads to a lot of honking from impatient fools particularly at signals but to hell with them; I don't care nothing about nobody.

Do you have such favorite rule/precaution for defensive driving ? Please let me know.

[kosjam]

The cardinal rule I follow is (apologies in advance for the politically incorrect words)

Everybody on the road driving is a FOOL and only my safe driving will lead to a safe accident free drive.

Obviously everybody isnt a maniac on the road, but this helps in ensuring I do not leave any chance for a mistake to cause an accident, however minor.

[electric_eel]

Originally Posted by kosjam

Everybody on the road driving is a FOOL and only my safe driving will lead to a safe accident free drive.

What I am looking for is one "actionable" idea ? Can you suggest one ? I agree that defensive driving is a "way of life" and cannot be summarized in on rule. But it helps to know the rule most dear to one self.

[MyLife_MyCar]

Originally Posted by electric_eel

whenever I start off, whether it is from a traffic stop or from the side of a road, I do it as slowly as possible.

Just curious - how does this help you and other drivers?

My favorite would be to leave enough gap between the vehicle in front of me, whether on city roads or highways.
Even in bumper to bumper traffic or standing at a traffic signal, I always ensure to leave a sufficient gap.
I see a car entering the road from a resident parking or vice versa, I leave enough gap for them.
Sure, some bikers will try to fill that gap, but I don't mind that.

And if I am on an incline (say, coming out of a mall's basement parking), I leave half a car's length in case the car ahead rolls back for whatever reason.

[Samba]

Originally Posted by electric_eel

whenever I start off, whether it is from a traffic stop or from the side of a road, I do it as slowly as possible. Granted, this leads to a lot of honking from impatient fools particularly at signals but to hell with them; I don't care nothing about nobody.

When you are starting from a standstill, you need to check the ORVM/IRVM, & when there are no vehicles behind you only then you should start. In case there are vehicles, you need to start fast by not blocking the traffic behind you.

Starting very slowly when the signal turns green by slowing down the whole traffic behind you, how does it make you safe?
What am I missing here?

For defensive driving, for me there is no single most favorite rule. The right rule needs to be applied at the right place.

[Divya Sharan]

Breathe and have patience!

Enough oxygen in the bloodstream and to the brain would limit us from taking poor decisions, if we are being conscious about the same.

[Axe77]

No 1 Rule: Slow down sums it up.
This doesn’t mean I drive slowly - in fact I am reasonably fast and often a bit faster than mean traffic speed. But in general, I apply defensive driving techniques to slow down in varying situations where many may continue driving at the edge.

It’s applied based on other defensive driving principles. Anticipate, expect the unexpected, etc etc but in each of these cases - [b]slow down[b]. There are many different scenarios when I might apply this. Some examples that come to mind off the top of my head:

# When I’m passing a bigger vehicle, I slow down in case someone runs across. This specially applies to buses that pull over and park at bus stops.
# On B highways, I will always cut speed when I think there is a cut in the highway or a lane on the left from where people could come.
# Not darting off when the light turns green (I know it’s not “slowing down” but sort of the opposite - don’t start off fast)
# Braking well in advance and gradually when coming to a halt so people can catch my brake lights turn on early enough.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by electric_eel

I am a big fan of defensive driving...
...whenever I start off, whether it is from a traffic stop or from the side of a road, I do it as slowly as possible. Granted, this leads to a lot of honking from impatient fools particularly at signals but to hell with them; I don't care nothing about nobody.

This is no defensive driving at all. If anything, this is obstructive and DANGEROUS driving. Let me explain:

Defensive driving is a holistic method to keep both yourself and other road users safe from crashes, while keeping the traffic flowing. Yet, here you are, obstructing other (admittedly impatient, and perhaps foolish) drivers from proceeding to their destinations by moving as slow as possible. Someone can bump into you from behind or from the side, you can initiate road rage, and slow down traffic movement in a chain reaction.

Practise (on an empty road) moving off from a standstill within 3 seconds (this will be from the moment the traffic light turns green), and reaching city cruising speed (say, 40 kmph) within another 5 seconds. Continue to maintain 40 kmph, and not speed up further. Use a stopwatch and a friend beside you to test yourself.

Originally Posted by electric_eel

Do you have such favorite rule/precaution for defensive driving ? Please let me know.

There is no single most important rule of defensive driving. All rules and techniques are equally important!

[electric_eel]

Originally Posted by MyLife_MyCar

Just curious - how does this help you and other drivers?

1. Even after you have done all the mandatory checks (mirrors and blind spots), out of no where someone, might jump in front of you.

2. Crowed and chaotic places like markets. A human can at most keep track of 6 things in his mind. So when there are more than 6 things around it becomes next to impossible.

3. Locations like schools, residential areas (during evening time and early morning) when a lot of children, old people are on the roads. Particularly that neighbor's naughty son can appear and disappear like Vishu Bhagavan.

I am not saying you should not do the mandatory checks, you should. This is over and above those checks.

Originally Posted by Samba

When you are starting from a standstill, you need to check the ORVM/IRVM, & when there are no vehicles behind you only then you should start. In case there are vehicles, you need to start fast by not blocking the traffic behind you.

I knew someone would object. So here goes the reason.

1. If you are first at the signal, there is invariably some fool who thinks that red signal does not apply to him or it is okey to cross it after x-seconds into the red light (for varying value of x). If you are taking a right turn at a signal then the said person will come from some angle that probably is in your blind spot (thick A pillar). You might get away by slamming the brake but there is a high chance of getting rear ended (see point 2 below). Another problem is some fool cutting into your lane.

2. If you are not the first person then one should allow the gap build up between you and the vehicle in front . Remember 2-sec rule and other rules for following. Numerous times it so happens that the vehicle slams the brake (for reason see point 1).

Admittedly these are situations where "somebody else" is the problem but defensive driving is about being safe when others are not playing by the rules of the game. So take off slowly and build up the gap and don't ever close the gap till one reaches open roads.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

This is no defensive driving at all. If anything, this is obstructive and DANGEROUS driving. Let me explain:

Sorry I did not mean stop. I meant accelerate slowly (and smoothly) building up gap in front (and not closing it out).

There is no single most important rule of defensive driving. All rules and techniques are equally important!

Completely agreed.

Mod Note : Please use the EDIT or QUOTE+ (multi-quote) button instead of typing one post after another on the SAME THREAD!

To know how to multi-quote, click here.

We advise you to read the Forum Rules before proceeding any further.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by electric_eel

Sorry I did not mean stop. I meant accelerate slowly (and smoothly) building up gap in front (and not closing it out).

I did understand that you did not mean stop. So don't accelerate slowly and trail back from the car ahead, just drive according to conditions and not inconvenience others. If others want to jump traffic signals, there is no need for vigilantism. Let them jump signals and let the traffic police do their job.

I believe you'll never be convinced about sane advice, and will continue to drive (and exhort others to do the same) exactly how you want to.

Good luck.

[electric_eel]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

I did understand that you did not mean stop. So don't accelerate slowly and trail back from the car ahead, just drive according to conditions and not inconvenience others.

If others want to jump traffic signals, there is no need for vigilantism. Let them jump signals and let the traffic police do their job.

All I am saying is accelerate slowly. And I am not sure why did you read vigilantism on my side. I am not stopping any one from jumping signal. I just do not want to hit them (or they hit me for that matter) and damage my car. They are more than welcome to hit any other car or the lamp post. If you are talking about my comments on honking, then people start honking when the traffic light is 5 secs away from turning green and expect you to do a drag race style take off. I will not do this at any cost.

As to the building up of gap instead of closing it; it is a direct consequence of two rules governing gaps (1) The min distance to keep (in stopped condition) is governed by the tyre+tarmac rule (2) In moving condition this gap needs to be larger (governed by 2-sec rule). So when you take off (at a signal) you should be increasing the gap and not closing it.

Here is a short video on how to deal with cross roads

https://youtu.be/lM2eRT8W_yE?si=tB-hWg_g5ifEfuuC

And SLOW is part of the deal of handling cross roads and traffic lights.

[ron82x3]

Defensive driving to me is keeping buffer and being mindful of when to use them.
Like being aware when there is a gap, and when to use that (hard braking is not always the only option to avoid an unfavourable outcome)

Another rule is that I don’t allow anyone to overtake me at the wrong time (like in blind turns). I feel this can jeopardise my safety. However I let them pass, when I feel it’s safe for an overtake.

[M@y@vi]

When I plan to overtake I slow down first leaving at least a gap enough for 2 cars in front of me. Then slowly move towards the right of the lane to ensure safe overtaking. If all is well, I accelerate. Overtaking is done in a jiffy safely. I drive a taigun 1.5 DCT. Period!

[cryptarchy]

In my opinion the single most important rule of defensive driving is maintaining a safe gap from the vehicle in front of you. Maintaining a safe gap gives you time to react to sudden changes also reduces probability of getting rear ended.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by electric_eel

. But if I were to pick and highlight a particular precaution that I think has saved me (and other users) a lot of grief it would be this: whenever I start off, whether it is from a traffic stop or from the side of a road, I do it as slowly as possible. Granted, this leads to a lot of honking from impatient fools particularly at signals but to hell with them; I don't care nothing about nobody..

Maybe you should elaborate a bit why you feel this makes for safe driving. Because I don't think it does. I can tell you for sure, that if you drive like that in a country where they perform proper Driving Examinations, you will fail. Because you need to be able to show that you are able and are confident merging in and out of traffic in different conditions without causing disturbances in the traffic flow

The fact that you get a lot of honking is indirectly also a bit of a give away; you are annoying people for what they perceive as no good reason. Under those circumstances people might decide they want to overtake you no matter what. I can't judge without having you seen do in it, but it sounds the opposite of safe to me.

You don't need to pull away with wheel screeching, but you have to able to pull away in such a way to merge into ongoing traffic swiftly and without causing other driver too slow down a lot. If you can't or won't do that, you are not safe I believe. Quite the opposite in fact.

Merging safely into fast moving traffic requires fast acceleration, not slow! Very dangerous.

Maybe you would like to explain your slow pull.

Jeroen