"RoseGarden" - - - - - - - from - nscave

Today a safe driving tip that has been around for ages, but drivers tend not to do it.  Could explain a lot of today’s crashes. They looked but didn’t see.

Distractions Are Many

Distractions like cell phones, GPS units, entertainment systems and even talking passengers are some of the reasons our accident rates are increasing. Having trained a lot of large vehicle operators, "looked but didn't see" is one of the common things I have observed, both in new drivers/operators as well as experience ones.

Commentary Driving

Years ago they had a technique called "commentary driving" where the person driving was to verbally speak out every hazard he/she observed as they were driving through various traffic conditions. The instructor of course recorded on his note pad, every hazard missed. Quite often there were a lot of them.

Try It Prove It

This a good exercise for you and a friend to try. Take turns recording each other's missed hazard observations, then compare when you are finished. You will be amazed how many you miss, and you thought you were a good driver. You can also throw in road signs if you like, for example, "What did that last sign say?"

You will be surprised how much you looked, but didn't see.

See Hazards More Quickly

If you question the theory of keeping your eyes moving, here's a site that proves the point very well. The yellow dots are your hazards.

Motion Induced Blindness:  http://www.msf-usa.org/motion.html

Keep Your Eyes Moving

Most people stare straight ahead while  driving looking at a little patch of road a short distance ahead. Don’t ever stare at one area while driving.

Keep Your Eyes Moving!

This work by NSCAVE is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License