Calm CyclingPedalling down the bike path, suddenly, a runner pops out from behind the bushes to my right. I swerve as he cuts tight to the grass area. Luckily I was at a low-speed! Cycling uses the exact same decision-making and visual scanning as driving a car. My swerve, without a left blind spot check, […]
My best friend ran a stop sign partially covered by a tree at age 19. The dump truck nearly killed him as it smashed his 550cc motorbike into unrecognizable pieces. He spent the next five years relearning to walk and talk. We had been driving everything motorized since the age of 12. We thought we […]
This is found at on-ramps as you accelerate to highway speeds of 80 plus. Usually, you come from a residential 50 zone and must speed up to 80 BEFORE you enter the highway’s first lane. Drivers often notice this sign for the first time during their driving test day during the test! You see the […]
https://www.icbc.com/driver-licensing/new-drivers/Documents/driver-experience-log.pdf Your First Twenty Hours The fine muscles in your ankles and wrists take time to develop and give your foot and hands accurate enough control to move the car smoothly. Merging your hands and feet with your eyes so they all work as a single unit also takes time to develop to move smoothly. […]
Valuable Strategy to Avoid Trouble While Driving Three problems appear at the same time in the same space on your way to work: narrow roadway + fella unloading his car standing in the street side + bike rider coming towards us. Split the problems apart so you can deal with them one at a time. […]
You will face this tremendous internal conflict when preparing with your driving school for your big ICBC test day. The scene is Granville bridge, currently under construction with posted speed maximums at 30 km/hr. Let me set the stage first with the facts: Your driving test is five days from today. You have driven for […]
They drove me to an area I had never driven in before. In one 30 kph zone along the side of a large school, I did 37 kph. I instantly fail. I had never driven in that area before so I didn’t know there was a 30 zone there. Speed is probably the biggest cause […]
DRIVER A Runs the red light. It’s daylight and the driver can see all four directions for two blocks each way. No other road users’ insight. It’s free and clear to go. The driver keeps their speed constant and drives straight through the red light. DRIVER B Runs a red light. It’s daylight and the […]
A very good video showing several examples of tires losing traction on the roads. You cannot steer – you cannot stop! WHAT DO YOU DO? A wide variety of slippery surfaces from dry pavement to sheet ice. Watch how different vehicles handle the situation. In one instance you will see a truck with chains on […]
SAFE DECISION Speed fails are based on going more than 54 in a 50 or 33 in a 30. Speed fails also include too slow and going 42 43 in a 50 WHEN ITS TOTALLY CLEAR and there are no issues to justify slower than 45. Speed fails also include too fast for conditions, such […]
When learning to drive we face 3 significant challenges. Safety, learning how to drive life-long staying away from trouble. Habits, patterns entrenched into our minds may oppose safety. Change, adopting the new material when the safe practices disagree with our habits. Time and time again, people pay me hours of their hard-earned money to change […]
Generally, as we learn, we can hold about 5+ pieces of information at the same time in our attention or in our short term memory. hold the steering wheel push more on the gas track the speedometer to keep it at 50k scan far ahead to see the green changing to yellow track the lines […]
LCR SCAN Left Centre Right Before driving through an intersection on a road test, you must check LCR. WHY? WHAT’S THE CONNECTION TO SAFETY AND SPENDING ICBC’s MONEY? While driving down a residential street, a car pulls out of their driveway, and you collide. Not that many drivers pull out of driveways, and when they […]
INFORMATION OVERLOAD Many clients come to me from other trainers, confused and frustrated. The instructors dumped everything they knew onto the new driver, nonstop talking and feeding endless lists of things to do. Where are the priorities? What are the stages of learning? In what order does the learning need to occur? Is not each […]
Send them to a top trainer first. Find a high-quality trainer… a trainer motivated by life-long safety and not by fast profits a quality trainer and not a complacent corporation let the trainer decide when it’s best to send them to a complacent corporation and discuss with them the best next steps. Together choose when […]
