Both are spoken regularly in driver education as being important.
Emergency braking and fast reactions.
I can’t entirely agree with both. Or maybe it’s time someone can convince me of both. With my extensive driver education expertise, I am always willing to become a beginner once again.
Until someone saves my misunderstanding, let me talk about full gas and full brakes.
Emergency braking relates to full brakes, and both relate to fast reactions.
Emergency braking is taught in many advanced training programs and is considered a critical skill.
Fast reactions are also regularly discussed as a factor when discussing senior driver’s risks.
Here is why I disagree with both.
1. Several times every day, I sit in the passenger’s seat of my car while unskilled drivers sit behind the steering wheel. Heavy traffic, complicated downtown and fast highways are my classrooms.
Fast reactions nor emergency braking are tools I depend on. However, they are in my basket of tricks, both while teaching. I will discuss this in another post.
2. My hands first touched a car at the age of Six. I love driving, and to this day, I still do. I rarely use emergency braking nor fast reactions to stay out of trouble while driving for forty+ years. And I have driven constantly throughout North America, China, Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia.
3. Another point to consider is how often I use full gas versus full brakes. Every day I use full gas. Full brakes are near never used; however, strong braking is used for yellow lights but near never to avoid a collision. I cannot recall using emergnecy baking nor fast reactions when driving on my own in the last fourty plus years.
4. Both are used when you are already in trouble. I must prefer to avoid getting into trouble thru a strategy of holding space and keep away, as far away as possible, from trouble.
Should not then full gas be taught?
Plus, teach how to stay out of trouble versus reacting when you are split seconds away from trouble.
Often while teaching I watch many new and old drivers, join the party, as they get closer and closer to obvious situations where potential collisions are present!
Rather than depend on emergency braking and fast reactions I strongly suggest DON’T JOIN THE PARTY!
Were you taught full gas by your driving instructor?
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