Control Your Driving Speed & Distance

The two most important factors in Safer Driving...

Speed

It takes a great deal of confidence to control your speed within the legal limit at all times, but it often results in the tailgater dropping back in the belief that you know the location of the next speed camera! Try it! On the motorway it is your average speed that determines your journey time - not your top speed on any particular stretch of road, or the distance you keep from the vehicle ahead! - You will also save fuel, and the planet.

Space

A collision occurs when two or more road users try and share the same space at the same time"Controlling your space takes a little lateral thinking, we all know that we should keep a safe gap from the vehicle ahead, a minimum of two seconds if driving a car on a dry surface, but what about side space? You should avoid travelling alongside another vehicle if at all possible, for if you do then the other driver can "Carve you up" instead just drop back so that your front bumper is just behind his rear bumper you then both have side space and can see each other and any indications given, and of course if they get it wrong then there is no harm done and you can pat yourself on the back and say "I knew that".

Contributer: Roy Rees ADI

Roy lives in Hampshire, and is one of Driver Skills Fleet and Advanced Driving Instructors covering the South Coast. He has enjoyed 41 years of high mileage driving combined with many years of instructing experience.