Teach yourself to think like a driver
Even though you haven't driven a car yet, you will know lots
about traffic and roads from being a pedestrian, a car
passenger, or bike rider.
Now you just need to learn to think like a driver. As a
passenger, you can switch off and it doesn’t matter. As a driver,
if you switch off your attention you could be in big trouble.
Drivers have to watch closely what’s happening in the situation
around them and make lots of decisions. The more time you have to
make decisions, and the more practice you’ve had at it, the better
you will handle driving.
Begin to think like a driver now. Here’s how you can
start:
- Before you drive, picture in your mind where you are going and
what route you are taking to get you there.
- Now think more deeply about the route. Try to picture the
actual streets and intersections in your mind from start to
finish.
- If you do not know the way, use a street atlas or
an internet map. If you have a navigation aid in your car,
don't use it for this activity.
- Work out if you have lots of time to get there, just enough
time, or not enough time. Notice how this affects how the driver
drives and what passengers say.
- When your trip starts, look well ahead. In your mind decide
when you would slow down, speed up, merge with traffic, change
lanes, and turn. Do it as if you were driving.
- Keep doing this and try to think about nothing other than
driving. You could time yourself with a stopwatch and test how long
you can attend to driving before your mind wanders off. It won’t be
very long because it’s actually very hard to do. But practice
increases your concentration time.
- When you arrive, think back over your trip. Can you remember
noticing how feelings may have affected how someone drove?
The more you do this, the more you are thinking like a driver.
You will be much more prepared to drive than someone who never
thinks about it at all.