Detecting hazards
Most crashes could have been avoided by drivers keeping their
crash avoidance space free.
If your learner tried the activity Judge crash avoidance space,
they’ve had some practice noticing vehicles and pedestrians that
might move into your car’s crash avoidance space.
When they start practicing, they will probably be looking for
hazards in the area just around your car’s crash avoidance space.
Help them learn to see hazards earlier by helping them become a
hazard detector.
Activity: Learning to be a hazard detector
- Ask your learner to notice things that could enter your car’s
crash avoidance space, using the sentence “The next hazard that
could enter my crash avoidance space is…”
- Talk about how many seconds it takes for this hazard to reach
you. It will probably be three or less.
- Now, ask your to detect hazards that could enter your crash
avoidance space that are at least five seconds away, then 10
seconds away, then 15 seconds away. If they need practice
calculating seconds, try the activity Judging distance.
- Now, ask them to detect hazards that are in the whole situation
ahead (not just your crash avoidance space) up to 15 seconds
away.
Good hazard detectors know that often there is too much around
them for their brains to take in. That tells them to slow down.
Next activity: Developing X-Ray
vision
