Manage Your Speed - Manage Your Risk
This section is devoted to tips on managing risk in relationship to speed. Different traffic situations dictate the safest speed at that moment. Knowing where to look versus where not to look would be the first step towards learning how to manage speed in these different situations. Here is the first example. If you are driving in stop and go traffic in a major city then it is absolutely critical for your visual search pattern to shrink in size. Your ability and need to look far down the road is reduced. In this situation your eyes will almost stay fixated on the car or cars in front of you looking for them to put on their brakes. Also, in this situation try and look through the windows or around the car in front of you so you might be able to see the brake lights of cars further down the road. Think about it. If they are braking then ultimately you will too. The sooner you know about it, the sooner you can react to the situation. Next, notice cars beside you and in your side view mirrors. Are they possibly trying to come into your lane? What are you going to do about it? Notice the head movement of the driver in front of you. If his head is not facing straight ahead then he may not be focusing on the road ahead. He is distracted. Keep your distance. Finally, what about the driver behind you? Is he tailgating you? If so, increase your following distance so you can slow down slowly and not surprise him with a sudden stop. A sudden stop in this situation usually results in a rear end collision. This would not only damage your car but it will leave the tailgater very angry. Remember, tailgaters are willing to endanger you, your car, themselves and their car. They are fairly dangerous and extremely out of control. They are not thinking while driving. In stop and go traffic your visual search pattern involves all four sides of your car so taking your eyes, hands or mind off the job of driving is reckless.