- Today I'm going to give you one skill,
one skill that will make you
an incredibly safer driver, space management.
Space management buys you time, time buys you options,
therefore you're a safer, smarter driver.
Stick around, we'll be right back with that information.
(bright upbeat music)
Become a safer, smarter driver
with this one skill, space management.
And most important managing space in front of your vehicle,
always, always having that two to three second
following distance, and as the vehicle gets larger,
such as this cube van or a five ton or a tractor trailer,
you increase your following distance behind other traffic.
And when stopping in traffic, always stop
so that you can see the tires of the vehicle in front of you
making clear contact with the roadway.
That way you have approximately one vehicle length,
your vehicle length between you
and the vehicle in front of you.
That way if your attention wanes,
or you get distracted by something along the roadway,
you're not going to drive into the vehicle in front of you.
Now, most drivers are going to say,
oh, if I leave space in front of me, the other vehicles,
the other drivers are going to cut in front of me
because you know, we're dealing with social driving,
and in social driving, the culture states, you know,
hurry up and go, don't impede traffic and me first.
Well, if people cut in front of you,
they're going faster than you
so they're not going to be there for very long.
So you just let them go and then regain your space
in front of your vehicle.
We live in a world where traffic is incredibly congested,
and it's difficult if not impossible, in some large cities
to control the space to the rear of your vehicle
and space to the sides of your vehicle.
And yes, for most of you out there, almost half of you,
nothing annoys you more than people who tailgate you.
Well, if people tailgate you, then simply increase even more
the following distance in front of your vehicle
because, by increasing the following distance
in front of your vehicle even more,
now you can drive for you, your vehicle,
and you can also drive the vehicle behind you
because you're not going to be making aggressive movements.
Because with that space in front of your vehicle,
I can look farther down the road,
I can see the traffic patterns,
and I can predict the movement of individual road users
on the roadway.
Because space buys you, time, time buys you options.
And with options, you can stay safer
as you're driving along the roadway.
And we can see here that the traffic
is really congested in front of us.
And so we're maintaining
our three to four second following distance.
And the way that you measure
that, is the vehicle in front of you
goes past a fixed object.
(beep)
The corner 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004.
We have our four second following distance.
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The other piece with maintaining the distance
in front of your vehicle,
is that you're not being reactionary to other traffic.
You're not on the throttle, on the brake, or brake throttle,
throttle brake, throttle brake, brake, brake throttle.
Because that's exhausting (giggles).
If you have that space, that buffer of space
that you move up and move back and move up and move back,
you're just working the throttle
as opposed to working the throttle and the brake,
and as well, because you have that buffer of space,
you're not hoping on a wing and a prayer
that you can react fast enough
if something goes wrong in front,
you now have that buffer space which buys you options.
The same thing here at the red light.
There's no point of me screaming up there to the red light
because I'm just going to have to come to a stop again anyway.
So I just move up nice and slow.
You're saying, oh you're impeding traffic.
I'm not impeding traffic.
And look, I barely touched the brake,
just enough to bring the vehicle to a stop,
the light turned green and we all proceed again.
And because, in an ideal utopic world,
if everybody managed that space in front of them and stopped
so they could see the tires of the vehicle in front of them,
everybody could move off from the traffic light
at the same time, and we would increase traffic flow,
the number of vehicles per hour
that can move through an intersection
or a space on the roadway.
But (giggles).
You know, we all dare to dream and I, you know,
like to live in my little happy world
that, you know, that might happen, but it won't.
But you want to have
that three to four second following distance.
And the other illusion that we live under is if we go faster
and we get out on the other lane and we change lanes
and those types of things that we're going
to make more time.
You're really not going to make more time.
You're not going to get way ahead of other traffic.
And this truck beside us is a perfect example.
I'm maintaining my three to four second following distance,
and they just cut in front of me, big deal.
I just back off, let off the throttle,
they're still breaking, they're still breaking,
I'm moving up.
I'm breaking here `cause I don't want to stop
in front of the intersection.
And I barely touched the brake
when I had to come to a stop behind that vehicle
to continue my space.
Traffic's moving around me,
space in front of me has increased, the driver's turning,
and I got caught at the light.
It's going to happen.
You're not going to, it's inevitable (giggles).
Thinking you're not going to get stopped at traffic lights
or other traffic is going to do something goofy
while you're driving,
is like going to watch your favorite sports team
and thinking the other team's not going to score.
You know, once in a while, they're not going to score
and that's awesome (giggles).
But for the most part, you know,
like the other team scoring, other drivers and road users
are going to do something goofy on the roadway.
If there's one skill that you can implement
that will greatly reduce your chances of being involved
in a crash, it's maintaining that space
in front of your vehicle, staying back in a queue of traffic
so that you can see the tires
of the vehicle in front of you,
making clear contact with the pavement.
If you can do that, one thing, and it's not easy,
it's a tough skill because everything
in the arena of driving tells you to be uptight
to the vehicles in front of you, follow too close,
you're going to stop being reactionary in your driving
and you're going to be proactive and being by,
by being proactive, you're now predictable,
and you're a safer, smarter driver.
And remember, pick the best answer
not necessarily the right answer.
Have a great day, bye now.
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All the best, bye now.