What Topics Are Covered in a Defensive Driving Course?
When it comes to safety, most safety managers do everything in their power to prevent distracted driving amongst their company drivers. However, they can’t control the behavior of every person behind every wheel on the road. That’s why it’s critical your company emphasizes continuous education on these seven defensive driving training topics.
One of the best ways to keep your drivers safe on unpredictable roadways is to ensure they’re properly trained in defensive driver techniques and proactively encouraged to drive safely each time they get behind the wheel.
Why your company NEEDS defensive driver training for employees
Defensive driving courses have been around since the mid-1900’s. Since then, vehicles have come a long way and so have driving behaviors. Yet training on proactive driver safety has remained almost the same.
This is a huge problem for companies who are serious about effective defensive driver training for employees. As driving becomes increasingly dangerous year after year, it’s important for businesses to act by implementing a proactive driver training program.
Frequent driver training is essential when building a strong risk management program. Even the most experienced drivers need frequent reminders of the importance of these key driving skills.
Not only that, but driver training really shows – business owner auto fleets that do monthly training see a drastic decrease in violations with 25% less than average and half of what fleets that only train once or twice a year!
Check out these seven defensive driving training topics that every company driver should know.
1) Distractions
Driving while distracted has become the leading cause of crashes today. Whether it’s GPS, Bluetooth hands-free technology or texting, today’s vehicle advancements in safety, comfort and technology are encouraging drivers to believe they don’t have to give driving their full undivided attention.
Learning how to manage distractions – whether it’s their own or another driver or pedestrian – is vital to driving safely.
Defensive driving training should include:
- Distracted driving laws
- Managing visual distractions
- Managing auditory distractions
- Managing manual distractions
- Managing cognitive distractions
- Reacting to distracted pedestrians
2) Communicating Effectively
Using your turn signal, lights, horn, lane position, speed and other indicators to ensure vehicles around you know your intentions before making a move or driving your vehicle.
Vehicle communication is such an important part of a defensive driving strategy. They should feel confident that the vehicles around them can see their intentions before they move their vehicle. They should also make sure that the drivers around them have given them enough space or slowed down to show that they’ve seen their signal – this is crucial when you consider how many distracted drivers are on the road.
Drivers should learn:
- How to communicate effectively using their actions and vehicle controls
- How to read other drivers and their communication
- How to predict other drivers’ actions/behaviors
- Proper use of headlights, horn, emergency flashers and turn signals
- Proper placement of warning devices/signals on the roadway
3) Manage Fatigue
Get less than 6 hours of sleep? You’re not alone. In fact, about 35 percent of adults don’t get the recommended amount of sleep each night. What happens after two weeks of little sleep? You have the same mental fatigue of someone who has gone 48 consecutive hours without sleep.
Driving while tired significantly affects a driver’s overall reaction time, ability to read the road and conditions, inhibitions, distractions and even ability to recover from mistakes that other drivers may make.
Drivers should learn:
- How fatigue affects their driving performance
- How to recognize the early signs of fatigue
- Techniques to manage fatigue
- Federal guidelines for driving while tired
- How to establish healthy sleeping cycles
4) Evaluate Your Space
It’s easy for drivers to recognize and maintain their front space, but they need to be aware of the space around all six sides of their vehicle. That includes above and below their vehicle as well!
Your space is like your vehicle’s protective bubble, and it’s there to keep your vehicle from hitting fixed or moving objects. Ensure drivers are aware that they need to maintain enough space around their vehicle at all times, and they can protect themselves from hitting something.
If drivers always maintain their space, they won’t have to worry about collisions because they will actively avoid them!
Training should include:
- How to identify your space cushion
- How to adjust to surrounding traffic
- How and when to change lanes
- Merging with traffic
- Navigating turns
- Intersections and recognizing blind spots
5) How to Navigate Hazards
There are multiple ways to avoid hazards, but sometimes they happen so fast drivers don’t see them coming. Distracted drivers, low hanging bridges, merging lanes, bad weather and hazardous roads are just a few examples of the many hazards drivers will encounter.
When it comes to driving defensively, drivers should know how to identify these hazards and what to do when they encounter them.
Driver training should include:
- How to handle changing road conditions and situations
- Dealing with road users and pedestrians
- What to do when you encounter a distracted or impaired driver
- Avoiding obstructions and parked vehicles
6) Speed Management
Speed is the number one contributor to most collisions. Teaching your drivers how to manage their speed and drive for the conditions will give them the time they need to avoid a crash. Driving doesn’t always mean driving the speed limit. Driving at a safe speed means your drivers have enough time to identify and process everything around them and react if need be.
Speed management training should include:
- Defensive driving strategies for dealing with aggressive drivers
- How to adjust your speed to accommodate weather, traction and road conditions
- Driving faster doesn’t always mean going downhill, how to manage your speed on hills
- Taking your foot off the break can mean speeding through a curve. How to manage speed through curves
7) Plan Essential Items
You should know now that all these defensive driving techniques come hand in hand. Before your driver starts their vehicle, they should already have a game plan. They should know their route, how they will drive to get there, what conditions they may encounter, are they tired, do they have enough fuel, do they have enough time to make it there?
Ensuring your drivers plan for these key information items before they begin driving will ensure they have a safe trip every time.
Essential training items should include:
- Trip planning
- Vehicle inspection and injury prevention
- Defensive driving techniques and strategies
- Parking lots and customer locations
Defensive drivers start with a proactive safety program
Reactionary measures are nothing when it comes to bad driving behaviors, poor road conditions, and inevitable collision risks. However, you can arm your drivers with the right mindset when you establish a positive safety culture with online driver training.