Are your parents always worried when you take the wheel? Do your driving instructors keep emphasising safe and responsible driving habits? Simply knowing safe driving skills like indicating and checking mirrors is not enough. New drivers should also have the ability to think independently, react quickly, and take control in a stressful moment. The triad of mental skills: Responsibility, Focus, and Quick Decision-Making is crucial for any driver. Even driving instructor course, like TLI41222, put special emphasis on teaching aspiring instructors how to make their students responsible, focused, and decisive drivers. In this post, we will break down these skills and the need to master them, learn how they’re connected, and explore some tips for learners.
Not Just a Licence: The Weight of Responsibility
Your driving license is not just a certificate for driving. It’s a lifelong responsibility of road safety that you must take on. According to a BITRE report, over 1,300 people died on Australian roads last year. These may be numbers to you, but for those involved, they were friends or families lost to a single choice of a driver. That’s why new drivers must understand the consequences of breaking rules or losing focus. And it’s the job of driving instructors to teach them to be responsible and accountable when driving. They act as co-pilots, guiding the learners in the right direction while making them realise their responsibility.
Why Total Focus Is Non-Negotiable
When driving, having complete focus on the road is non-negotiable, no matter your driving experience. Even a 2-second distraction while driving can double the risk of an accident. So, if you’re driving at 60 km/h, you’ll be driving blind for 33 meters - the approximate length of an Olympic swimming pool! According to the Transport Accident Commission, drivers who are distracted are 10 times more likely to get into an accident. Distractions can be of any type, whether it’s using the mobile phone, fiddling with the radio, setting the navigation, or talking to the passengers in the backseat. Driving instructor courses can teach instructors specific techniques and exercises to increase focus and improve hazard perception and peripheral vision. With these techniques, drivers can learn how to stay active, alert, and aware of the road at all times.
Steering Through a Crisis: Quick Decision-Making
Quick decision-making is another important skill that all drivers must cultivate. When on the road, a driver will have to face various sudden challenges. A car ahead of you stops suddenly, or a child runs onto the road unannounced - what will you do? If you’re a new driver without much training or experience, you’ll likely panic. However, trained and experienced drivers can stay focused and calm, assess the situation quickly and then decide what to do. And that too in mere seconds, because often that’s all you get!
Attentive and alert drivers aware of their responsibility to road safety know the importance of making split-second decisions. Driving instructor courses like TLI41225 prepare instructors so that they can provide structured training to their students. From simulating accident situations to building muscle memory and improving focus, there’s a lot that an instructor can do to help students become quick decision-makers.
The Synergy: Why These Skills Are Connected
Responsibility, focus, and quick decision-making are three essential skills crucial for safe, reliable, and confident driving. They are interconnected and dependent on each other. The feeling of responsibility encourages drivers to stay focused and aware of their surroundings and avoid accidents. Staying focused helps them be aware of the road conditions and environments around them. This helps them avoid accidents and make quick but informed decisions. Driving instructors can further instil these skills in their driving behaviour through various techniques.
Ready to Master These Skills? Practical Tips for Learners
Mastering these essential skills may sound easy, but it is a tough task for any driver. Here are some practical tips to help you out:
Follow Traffic Rules:
Obey all the traffic rules and regulations properly. New learners should especially follow this advice as they are not experienced enough to handle the consequences of breaking the rules while driving.
Put the Phone Away:
Mobile phones are the biggest distractions for drivers today. So, keep your phones away and avoid any other distractions that can make you look away from the road, even for a second.
Practice hazard perception:
Hazard perception is a must-have skill for all drivers. So, to become safe and responsible drivers, you should improve your perception skills. Learn to predict possible hazards on the road, or take help from your driving instructor.
Final Thoughts
Mastering the three skills - focus, responsibility, and quick decision-making - is the difference between a novice and a safe and confident driver. However, mastering these skills is not something you can just inculcate. They must be deliberately and carefully nurtured daily. This is where driving instructors come in - offering guidance, expertise, and experience to help new learners become master drivers. At the Academy of Road Safety, we have a wide range of driving instructor courses and a team of certified expert instructors to help aspiring instructors learn the right techniques for good driving instruction. They can help you go beyond passing the driving test to instilling essential skills in our future drivers. Because the goal of driving education is to create safe drivers for life.
Ready to become skilled instructors adept at teaching crucial mental skills to new learners? Join today to learn more about our courses and how we teach these crucial skills.
FAQs
Q: Why is it important to stay focused while driving?
A: Losing focus even for a few seconds can be dangerous and put you and others on the road at risk. That’s why staying focused while driving is non-negotiable.
Q: Why is decision-making important to safe driving?
A: While driving, you may have to face various challenging situations where taking split-second decisions is essential. Having the skill of making quick decisions calmly is much appreciated in such situations.
Q: Why is making responsible decisions so important?
A: As a driver, the decisions you take affect not just you but other road users too. That’s why it’s important to make responsible decisions.
Q: What is your main responsibility when you're driving?
A: Ensuring the safety of your passengers and others on the road is your main responsibility while driving.
Q: How to be more focused when driving?
A: Keep your mobile phone away, avoid distractions, and stay alert and aware of the road. This will help you focus on the road and stay away from any type of distractions.