Car safety – the need for defensive driving schools

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People often get into trouble when they’re driving if they’re trying to show off (this is a part of teenage driving). This is where defensive driving comes in, you have to get across the point that there isn’t anything to prove. Many race drivers teach defensive driving for the simple reason that they are often defensive drivers when they drive on our public highways.  This is unlike the picture movies like Days of Thunder paint of extremely aggressive and dangerous race car drivers.  Many NASCAR drivers and team  members like Darrel Waltrip and Kyle Petty are actually religious and born again Christians that routinely practice very safe defensive driving on the street.  They also support and help out organizations that promote driving safety. 

The philosophy behind defensive driving is that driving is to get you from A to B, it’s no race, and it’s certainly not a competition. There’s simply no point in getting so annoyed and get a little bit of road rage, the chances of you ever seeing your supposed competitor again are very slim.  Its just not worth it.  Not only could you get a expensive ticket from the police (which would most likely increase your auto insurance too), but you could also get into an accident and get hurt or worse.

Often the defensive driving classes are broken into two parts, first a classroom based session teaching about tactics and theory. Then a hands-on session driving cars around a race track or safe closed off road or parking lot.

The classes focus on how to keep control of the vehicle. It is important to distribute the weight as evenly as possible across all four of the tires. If you accelerate hard then the weight will be shifted onto the back tires. If you can get your head around this then there should be a better chance of you staying in control of your car.

This is why harsh breaking and certain sudden steering shifts the weight of the car, and so affects the handling.

Basically the students are re-taught all of the basics again, they’re even taught how to hold the steering wheel correctly (many of us take this for granted and routinely drive with one hand on the steering wheel – this is dangerous as it makes it much harder to react correctly to a sudden danger).