Learn the Secrets to Drive Defensively & Avoid Accidents

Here we teach you the secret strategies & techniques to avoiding accidents! What is Defensive Driving? Learn here to be a smarter, safer driver. Get DEFENSIVE DRIVING CHECKLIST: https://www.smartdrivetest.com/landing-pages/dd-checklist SUBSCRIBE TODAY! ► http://youtube.com/c/smartdrivetest

Rick August, PhD’s Autobiography: https://www.smartdrivetest.com/contact-us/rick-august-phd

COULD YOU PASS A DRIVER’S TEST…PROBABLY NOT! https://www.smartdrivetest.com/pass-drivers-test/could-you-pass-a-drivers-test

TAKE YOUR DRIVER’S TEST IN THE WINTER – https://www.smartdrivetest.com/winter-driving-smart/take-your-drivers-test-in-the-winter

Click for DEFENSIVE DRIVING SMART COURSE – https://www.smartdrivetest.com/defensive-driving-course

We Should All Be More Afraid of Driving: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/05/car-accident/618766/

Join the Smart Driver’s Mastermind Group: https://goo.gl/h5Q8Vd

How to Parallel Park on One-Way Streets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cxi6UitSTc&list=PL0x-bChcUvwFT3AUV-F13kqDUAhieIH2v&index=10

3 Tips to Drive on Unfamiliar Roads: https://youtu.be/A7xgbhP1xeo

The key to successful highway driving is managing space.

Maintain a minimum following distance of 3 seconds in a passenger vehicle, and more if you’re driving a larger vehicle.

And an important component of space management is driving in the spaces between the clusters of vehicles.

Learn about mile markers and know where you’re exit is and the exact exit number when driving on freeways.

Good luck on your road test.
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Hi there smart drivers talking to tonight about smarter Defensive Driving skills and abilities and techniques that you need to put in place to become a safer smarter driver and today we’re going to give you those skills abilities and techniques so that you can significantly reduce your chances of being involved in a

Crash Corey is here Corey is the moderator does an excellent job of getting up the videos I suggest you have a look at uh for the questions you ask and and as well does an excellent job of keeping out the bad people uh Elevator Fan tuning in from Montello Indiana if

You’re just tuning in let us know where you’re tuning in from let us know what class of license you’re going for uh we’re doing the live stream tonight on Monday as opposed to Tuesday because I got a bunch of things I got to do tomorrow and unfortunately I can’t be

Here at the time of the live stream so we’re doing it tonight and we’re giving you skills and abilities to be a smarter safer driver significantly reduce your chances of being involved in a crash especially for those of us in the northern hemisphere right now and of course test test

Test things are not going well just bear with me one sec I know that the mic microphone’s not working um test test test test okay so it looks like the microphone is working I get a little afraid there uh retired is here how are you and Elevator Fan

Congratulations to your parents on their anniversary uh yes defensive driving I was having some technical issues because uh had some issues getting the camera hooked up one of those days some days you just sit down uh to the live stream and everything is working and there’s

Other days you sit down to the live stream and nothing is working you have to reconnect the camera reconnect the microphone everything else so uh Corey says the audio is good thanks Corey I Elevator Fan I saw two left turn lane squatters on the interstate today one of

Them was a big truck yes and they’re going to do that I don’t know what it is people get out there velocitization which is they get kind of lulled into a sense of uh you know Jedi mine trance while they’re out on the highway and uh they forget to get back

Out of that out of that lane uh road test tomorrow any uh tips for first time never driven before uh hopefully if you’re doing a road test you have driven before uh I’m thinking what you’re saying is is that you haven’t done your driver’s test yet okay

Uh retired I just brought bought uh four new tires after putting 55,000 miles on my original tires good purchase awesome and retired I think we were talking about that a few weeks ago a couple two three weeks ago about where to pick up tires where did you end up getting your

Tires from uh 55,000 Mi that’s a good uh that’s a good uh length of time for a set of tires so you’re doing well there awesome awesome yes so tips for driver’s test you need four components in place to pass your driver’s test the way that everybody else drives on the road is

What is termed social driving they don’t come to a complete stop at stops sign intersections they speed they follow Too Close those are just some of the major characteristics of social driving and if you drive the way that everybody else drives on the roadway you will not pass

Your driver’s test so the four components that you need in place Space Management observation communication and speed management speed management is down at the bottom Space Management is the most important okay because if you’re not near anything it’s less likely that you’re going to hit anything

And if you’re far enough back and create that space in front of your vehicle that 3 to 4 second following distance you’re going to be able to read traffic patterns and interpret the actions of individual Road users that’s what you need to do that is the most important

Thing for uh test day all right and Cory’s put up the playlist for final days thank you for that Corey uh Space Management observation you need to have a forward scanning pattern far down the road in look at your instrument panel far down the road Center mirror far down

The road and then each Wing mirror okay and repeating that every 10 to 15 seconds uh your scanning pattern is tied into your speed control so if you’re not adjusting your speed every 10 to 15 seconds it tells the examiner that you are not scanning correctly because those

Two things are linked they work in tandem all right uh changing lanes shoulder check shoulder check shoulder check I cannot stress shoulder checking enough you don’t know how to shoulder check Cory will put up the video for you on shoulder checking all right Space Management uh observation uh 360° scan

Around the vehicle before reversing for parking okay out through the back window you can look at a backup camera you can look at your mirrors but you can’t use them as your primary line of sight communication okay what I’m going to talk about today in terms of smarter

Defensive driving you need to have a backup okay we’re going to observe we’re going to look but there’s lots of people who believe that if there’s nobody else around they don’t have to Signal they don’t have to communicate with other traffic so if we miss something we want

To have a backup so we’re going to communicate effectively the five ways that we communicate with other traffic the position of our vehicle on the roadway or where the road user is on the roadway lights and signals hand gestures eye contact and lastly the horn in North

America the horn is seen as a sign of aggression so use it sparingly I mean if you’re on a residential street and there’s some kids running down the road or whatnot then yeah light tap on your on your horn or somebody’s looking at their phone sitting at the traffic light

And they’re not going then yeah light tap on your phone or on your horn rather not your phone that’s not going to do you any good uh your horn to tell them that needed to get going and then last is speed control okay Post-it speed limit or the flow of

Traffic whichever is less those are the four components Spa Space Management observation communication and speed management that’s what you need in place to pass your driver’s test Francesca how are how are you my friend Mr dfield uh defensive driving I prefer offensive driving it’s like defensive driving but

Uh with more profanity yes and I’m sure there are a lot of people who do that I know that I engage in that profane use of language while I’m driving uh rosson hey Rick I pass my driving test on Friday with a perfect score in Ohio and

That is awesome news rosson thank you so much for dropping back and letting us know and I know that you have done the work luck favors the prepared so congratulations on all your hard work and passing first time uh Jason I’m Curr currently working on getting my driver’s

License now awesome uh do you have your learner license Jason is that where you’re at uh retired purchase tires at trusted local tire shop awesome and the thing that I like about tire shops retire uh retired is that free tire rotations and as well uh usually free puncture repair the last

Time I went to a tire shop and I found out why because they sold the tire shop uh they started charging $4 for a repair on a tire which is not cool because the more reputable tire shops if you purchase the tires at that shop and you

Get a puncture in the tire and take it back they will fix it for free so this is one of the reasons why I always like taking it to a local tire shop as you just said free tire rotations and free uh puncture repair on your tires that

You purchased at that shop dfield awesome uh Elvin I need example about how to do the pullover uh Elvin which pullover you talking about the emergency pullover in Ontario is that the one you’re talking about elevator I flashed my high beams at the left lane squatters

And my mom told me not to flash at left lane squatters uh Elevator Fan yeah yeah keep them honest flash your lights at them honk your horn Okay evan uh today is Monday usually do live streams on Tuesday by the way how many house lengths is your stopping distance on icy

Roads also how can people get a license by just taking a test uh Evan how many house lengths uh totally guessing I know for a I know the fact is is that it takes 10 times more distance to stop on icy roads uh than it does on regular surfaces like

Ashphalt gravel those types of things so ice is even more slippery and snow tires for the most part are not going to help you out uh on ice and snow close hello Rick and all viewers from raw rosenheim County Southeast Bavaria hello my friend we are awesome and thank you for tuning

In close I know that it’s early in the morning for you so welcome welcome and uh yeah let’s get over to the presentation here and then uh we’ll come back presentations about 10 or 12 minutes then we come back and we spend the rest of the remainder of the hour

Answering any questions you have about passing a driver’s test or being a safer smarter driver and yes as I mentioned uh usually do these on Tuesday we’re doing it on Monday today because I have some stuff I can’t get out of tomorrow that I need to do so unfortunately I can’t get

To the live stream tomorrow so we’re doing it today okay and we’re all here all right so talking about smarter defensive driving and Spade if you want to boil down the smarter defensive driving into its core components it’s it’s just two things all right and those

Two things those two things are space in front Okay three to 4 second following distance and stopping in traffic so that you can see the tires in front making clear contact with the pavement that’s your landmark and it’s approximately one vehicle length behind the vehicle in

Front of you as well you need a backup okay every time you do something backup so you’re going to observe and your backup is communication you’re going to Signal you’re going to position your vehicle correctly on the roadway you’re going to get eye contct with other Road users you’re going to have

Hand gestures to tell them whether you they should stay put or that they can cross or those types of things so defensive driving space Space Management if you’re not near anything it’s less likely that you’re going to hit something oh goofy thing there we go there’s my controls

All right for those of you new to Smart drivve test my name is Rick August I was a truck driver in the 1990s hauling Freight between Ontario Canada and the United States I was in most of the lower 48 except two states I believe I wasn’t

In New Mexico and I haven’t been to Utah so two states I haven’t been to uh drove buses for Greyhound in the regional one of the regional Bus Lines in Australia uh while I was going to University at the University of Melbourne uh 2006 graduated with my

Doctorate in legal history uh became a licensed commercial driving instructor in 1998 most of my driving instruction has been with bigger vehicles semi- trucks uh and buses coaches transit buses those types of things and uh air brakes log books as well so uh you have to know all the lower class

Stuff to take a higher class license so if you’re going to get a license to drive an ambulance to drive a bus a small bus for charity uh semi-truck dump truck those types of things all the lower class stuff is fair game they’re going to ask you class five questions

They’re going to ask you right away and all of the other questions that you had to answer uh when you got your first license all right uh my doctorate in legal history is the study of policing uh legal history is the study of police in courts and prisons and my expertise

Is in policing as it relates to traffic and if you want to know more about me uh you can check out the complete story over at the Smart drive test website and it’s kind of funny too there’s some funny stories about an Australian bloke

Uh that I drove buses with and uh when I first got there he trained me and then he gave it up to go and be a posty and I met him a few years later and uh he gets on my bus and he’s like like oh what

Happened to be in a posty and he gets off the bus and he looks back and me Smiles he’s like oh I gave that the ass so it didn’t work out for him and he was back uh driving buses all right uh new videos this week uh parallel parking on a oneway street

Have a look at that if you’re in the bigger metropolitan cities and going to parallel park on the driver’s side as well three tips for driving unfamiliar roads and those three tips would be pay attention to the road signs if you are slowing down to look for an address or a

Sore or shop or something like that turn on your four-way flashers to indicate the other traffic that you’re doing something unpredictable and if you know you’re close but you just can’t find the address uh have a look at the video on Spain when I drove from the airport to

The hotel downtown I went past the hotel I knew I was close to the hotel couldn’t find it was tired had just got off a 20-hour flight and parked the car and walk to the hotel which I found out was two blocks from the car park where I was

At so if you’re tired fatigued or you just for whatever reason cannot find the location that you’re looking for park the car and walk all right what is driving driving is both an art and a science and the art part is your ability to to interpret traffic patterns and determine the actions of

Individual Road users this is what is going to keep you safe you need to have calm awareness when you’re driving and as was said here uh I believe it was Mr dfield that said uh aggressive driving where you know it’s calm awareness with profanity we we want to try and not have

The profanity piece we just want to be like hey oh yeah you cut us off go and have your crash somewhere else have a nice day all the best bye-bye okay we have poor forms of communication and one of the theories about that is the nose

To tail Theory or the uh boot to Bonnet as I like to call it where we’re looking at the back end of the vehicles in front of us and this is the reason we fail to communicate think of it like standing in a line at the grocery store we’re not

Communicating with the people in front of us because we’re looking at their backside and we’re not going to start chatting them up when we’re looking at their backside and it’s the same thing with cars and traffic it’s nose to tail maybe if we had some sort of open

Communication that within you know uh 100t radius of the car cars around us we could all communicate effectively with the drivers in those Vehicles wouldn’t that be kind of cool if they come up with new cars where we could all talk to one another hey dumbass uh what are you

Doing there let’s go let’s go come on hurry up but you don’t want to say that so let’s say code Mr Dumas Mrs Dumas which is code for you know anyway rudimentary communication and also with the smarter defensive driving as I was saying previously you always always want

To have a backup you want to double check so you want to shoulder check twice before you change directions of the vehicle and the backup that you’re having is signaling when you’re changing directions of the vehicle to indicate to other Road users that you were in fact changing directions of the vehicle in

Case you missed seeing them when you were driving all right proactive driving okay and this is without the profanity social driving this this is the way that everybody else drives in the driving environment in which you drive where it doesn’t matter where you are whether you’re in Europe Australia China uh

Maybe China’s a little bit different but for the most part uh you know North America it is all the same people follow Too Close they speed they don’t come to complete stops at stop signed intersections they drive over painted Islands they do all kinds of goofy crazy

Things and one of the reasons that I say Space Management space in front is your your biggest tool for driving is because the number one crashes in North America is rearend crashes rear end crashes We are following too close to other traffic and hoping on a wing and a prayer that we

Can get our vehicle stopped in time and we don’t okay speed management Post-it speed limit are the flow of traffic whichever is less I advocate that you keep up with the flow of traffic it makes you more predictable but Spade trumps speed every time even if you’re doing 100 miles hour you still

Want to be 4 seconds behind the vehicle in front of you for those of you driving on the Autobon like klous and other very fortunate people that can drive on the Autobon you still want that space behind other traffic on the roadway because as I say if you’re not near anything it’s

Less likely that you’re going to hit something and as well space buys you time time buys you options options reduce the chances of being involved in a crash communication we talked about this this is the same as the skill and technique you need for getting your license position of your vehicle on the

Roadway or the position of the road user in relation to the road or on the road is going to communicate intent for example if you’re stand if you’re in the left turning lane there’s a high probability that you’re going to turn left if The Pedestrian is standing near

The crosswalk there’s a high probability that he or she is going to cross the roadway all right uh lights and signals eye contact hand gestures don’t tell another Roeser that they’re number one all right and then finally use of the horn in some countries the horn is going to be a form

Of communication if you’re in Italy uh yes indeed or you’re in China yes indeed the horn is going to be seen as a sign of communication here in North America the horn is going to be seen as a sign of aggression all right so that’s communication observation forward scanning pattern shoulder checking

Shoulder checking shoulder checking this is a skill that you should not lose ever okay it’s not going to save you today maybe not even tomorrow or next month or next year but in five years shoulder checking may see you finding somebody that you completely unexpected in your

Blind area when you’re going to change directions of the vehicle so shoulder check shoulder check shoulder check as I say not shoulder checking is to driving what not checking to see if a weapon is loaded is to gun safety you would never pick up a gun and not check to see

Whether it was loaded okay and if you uh just ask Alex Baldwin about that always always check to see if a firearm is loaded the same thing with a motor vehicle why any in any on any Planet would you drive a 2500lb vehicle at speed change directions and not check to

See whether somebody was in your blind area all right so observation shoulder checking uh reversing 360° scan use all your tools available able use your backup camera use your mirrors look out the back windows all of this is going to keep you safe when you’re driving minimum safe distance and you can always

Manage space in front of your vehicle everything else is beyond your control the other three sides okay and most defensive driving models were created prior to 1970 when traffic was pretty light on our roadways now we need different tactics techniques and skills to keep ourselves safe on the roadways okay stay

Away from other Road users other fixed objects the fixed object is light standards anything that doesn’t move on the roadways that you could potentially run into and strike okay and to repeat again space buys you time time buys you options options prevent crashes and significantly reduce your chances of

Being involved in one went on highways freeways and interstates Drive between the clusters of vehicles for whatever reason there is some Magical Force out there on the highways that causes groups of drivers to drive up and down our roadways and you can see the cluster

Here in this image off to the right here all the vehicles are just grouped right up together and there’s a vehicle out there and a vehicle out there and there’s all this space here where you could drive in and be much much safer okay speed management will allow you to

Control space and always have a buffer of space between you and other Road users all right rear end crashes uh this is stopping behind other traffic one vehicle length and you’re going to have be able to see the tires of the vehicle in front making clear contact with the

Roadway that is your landmark and there are several reasons why you want to do this once it’s a defensive posturing against being rended by other traffic uh if you change your mind where you’re going to go and you want to go somewhere else you can move out and around without

Reversing because you do not want to reverse in traffic that is just a no no that is a golden rule all right uh if the vehicle in front of you rolls backwards if it’s a manual transmission for all of you driving in Europe then this vehicle in front of you is not

Going to strike you and in some magical utopian world of which I dream at nights when I’m under the covers dreaming of popsicles and other tasty treats uh you could all the traffic could move off together and this would actually help to reduce congestion in our roadways but

This is not going to happen Okay people are going to pack up their tight bumper to bumper one foot off the bumper in front but that is not your best defensive strategy all right if you’re following too close you are giving up your power you giving it to the other person in

Front of you and you’re hoping on a wing in a prayer that you can react fast enough that you don’t rear end the person statistics say otherwise you cannot react fast enough so you want to create that space in front of your vehicle so that you respond accordingly because

Space gives you time time time gives you options and you want to respond with different choices okay and if we have predictable actions according the road rules and cultures of our roadways we are going to be less likely to be involved in a crash okay predict traffic

Patterns and this again is another tool another uh result of having space in front of our vehicles because we can predict traffic patterns and interpret the actions of individual Road users turning Lanes you need to be in the outside turning lane looking for Rubber neckers and anything out of the ordinary

One of the things that you can know for certain in terms of traffic patterns if there is an emergency vehicle pulled over on the side of the road whether a police officer has a speeder pulled over or there is a crash an emergency crews are responding traffic is going to slow

Down because everybody is rubbernecking and wants to see what’s going on okay know the characteristics of other vehicles and Road users in the spring it’s going to be motorcycles in the summer it’s going to be RVs and camp camper units and in the winter time it’s going to be snowmobiles and then of

Course if you’re in the country it’s going to be farm machinery if you’re in an industrial area it’s going to be forklifts and other types of industrial Machinery out on the roadways so think about your driving environments and we talked about this last week in terms of situational awareness interpret the actions of

Individual Road users by looking farther down the road interpreting Vehicles movements paying attention to your driving and maintaining a space the space buffer that space and front of your vehicle and the reason we want to do that is because defensive driving just isn’t to compensate for the other

Goofy people on the road we to make mistakes when we’re driving and defensive driving is for us to put in place habits and develop habits that are going to keep us safe even when we’re tired mapping and tracking intersections uh mapping intersections and tracking Road users at those intersections 40% of

Crashes occur at intersections where are the intersections who is going to cross our path of travels and scan intersections before entering because that opening statistic 40% of crashes happen at intersections all right good luck on your driver’s test and remember pick the best answer not necessarily the right

Answer all right Maran is here hello Marian how are you my friend uh antics I passed my driver’s test today congratulations on passing your driver’s test today that is awesome my friend thank you for stopping back and letting us know that you were successful on your driver’s test uh Lorina aiming to pass

My road test by the help of your helpful guides and tips uh Avid viewer here in Regina S scatch one that is awesome thank you so much Lorina for your kind words and you’re going to do it you’re going to get your license my friend uh

Rosson I still watch your videos and I will always drive like a normal driver not sure there’s such a thing is a normal driver smarter driver drive like a smarter driver rosson you’re going to do awesome my friend uh failed my first driver’s test here in Regina

Last Friday and I have my second road test schedule for the 19th of January hoping it will be my last driver’s test uh excellent yes and Lorina Corey will put up the video for you on passing your driver’s test in the winter time why it’s going to be easier so don’t get

Freaked out just because there’s a bit of snow on the road it’s actually going to make it easier for you and help you out Maran uh being late uh last 30 minutes and call to a company I feel you I feel you Maran uh there’s nothing I love more than knowing

I have to call Tellus uh I know that it’s going to be at least two hours any big company you get stuck in that phone tree uh you keep punching the numbers hoping for some humid person to talk to you on the other end uh you know I yeah

I hear you I hear you Queen K uh thanks for all your teaching I passed my driver’s test yesterday after three tries in massachus Metts awesome Queen K congratulations on passing your driver’s test there in Massachusetts that is awesome my friend uh elevator do you teach your students to flash their high

Beams and honk their horns at left lane squatters uh Elevator Fan I do not if we were doing remedial training after they had their license and they already had their license and didn’t have to do a test yes uh maybe but not as a rule no that’s generally something I do when I’m

Driving ding a sports car like uh the Audi of Tracy’s Audi yeah uh Marion I’m doing well thank you you are most welcome I am awesome awesome awesome on a Monday uh it’s been busy busy busy uh Tracy’s dad died on the weekend and so she went to Calgary

And she had she was moving uh from a one bedroom apartment to a two-bedroom apartment in the same building and so I have been doing that this weekend and actually that’s what we’re going to finish up tomorrow and that’s why I can’t be here for the live stream

Tomorrow that’s why it’s on Monday instead of Tuesday so yes doing really really well uh endless music over and over again yes um and it’s it’s not music Marian is it it’s that musac or or did they play a radio station for you uh I love it when you get that musac that

Elevator music that you’re playing on when you’re listening on hold it’s almost like ah we got you on hold you you can’t do anything you’re just stuck here oh it’s so demoralizing uh rosson hey question can you accidentally stall an automatic transmission uh rosson uh can you automatically you would need

To work pretty hard at that uh actually yeah yeah you would I don’t think you can but you know I cave it to that students can Amaze you in some of the things that they can do with an automobile or with a truck or anything

Else uh yeah there are I I’m not going to say no but not as a rule are you going to be able to stall an automatic car no uh close what’s your tips for driving in India that’s a serious question yeah um clous I can’t really I can’t comment on that

Authoritatively because I haven’t been to India I have been to China and I have to say it’s just a matter of doing what they do okay you can try and manage that space in front of your vehicle but you know there is just so much traffic there

Are so many vehicles on the roadway and so many different kinds of vehicles India I am guessing is similar to China when I was there in Beijing uh late early 2000s I was in China and they still have oxen and cart going up and down the roadways they still have horse

And buggy they still have horse riders uh not to mention all the other you know the tricycle the motor size tricycles the bicycles the tricycles everything going up and down the roadway so it’s going to be really tough to drive on those streets you’re just going to have

To do what other people do make sure you have insurance on the vehicle if you’re renting a vehicle okay awesome uh nope it’s the music musac and it is slightly Out Of Tune as well which makes it worse awesome Yep uh yep over and over excellent okay uh elevator do you teach

Your student okay no I already answered that question uh passed my road test yesterday after three tries awesome congratulations all right uh oh rosson what is the buggy the buggy is my 1998 Honda crb sorry about that uh yeah I need to keep saying that uh that

It is my Honda 1998 Honda CRV which is in the shop yet again and I hope that they get it fixed because I’m getting really annoyed with the buggy in and out of the shop all right okay so defensive driving space in front of your vehicle that is the most important part

Of keeping yourself safe on the roadways and other traffic is not doing that you have social pressure okay within the arena of social driving social pressure is is real and that social pressure when you’re driving especially for new drivers who are susceptible to that are always saying oh hurry up and go hurry

Up and go hurry up and go hurry up and go I don’t want to get in the way of other people and have them honking horns at me and telling me I’m number one okay so this causes us to conform to the way that everybody else is driving and we

Think and we’re led to believe by the tenants of social driving that if we leave space in front of our vehicle that other people are going to honk at us we believe that if we manage that 3 to 4 second following distance that all your friends who participate in Social

Driving like 12 cars are going to all of a sudden come and they’re going to move in front of that space in front of you all of that is a myth and a misbelief it’s not true I drive like that every day I stop back one vehicle

Length from the traffic in front of me when I’m stopped in traffic and I always have a 3 to four second following distance in front of me I will not will not give up that space in front of my vehicle and this is it doesn’t matter what kind of traffic I’m in

Whether I’m on the highway I’m in congested traffic uh you know and I tried this out and unfortunately I didn’t catch it on my dash cam I was hoping to I was in backed up traffic for an hour in Vancouver and I tried that keeping that

Kind of 10 car length between me and the car in front of me so that I could just stay in first gear and just chug along in the congestion in the hour two vehicles moved in front of me two vehicles okay so know that it can be done I know that

It goes against everything else that the driving environment is telling you and if there’s one thing that we need as human beings we need to fit in we need to fit in we need to conform and be what do what everybody else is doing but Defensive Driving smarter

Defensive driving is you doing something different than what everybody else is doing because that way it’s going to keep you safe and significantly reduce your chances of being involved in a crash on our roadways and I have tried this smarter driving skills abilities and techniques all over the world North America Europe

Australia okay I have driven in all these countries and it works okay and it will keep you safe car o hello my friend it is important to leave even more space than one normally leaves in front of one’s vehicle if you have a gator behind you a tailgator yes A

Tailgator behind you was the gator I’m like what like an alligator a tailgator yes indeed because now you need to drive for yourself you need to drive your car and you need to drive the car for the goofball behind you as well yes indeed okay uh Mar and that’s exactly what I am

Finding here at the moment I feel I need to move so people don’t get mad at me I do sometimes feel lots of pressure while out there on the roads and yes Maran that’s going to that’s going to happen you’re going to feel like other people

Are like they’re glazing at you oh you evil driver conform conform that’s what they’re saying to you and we feel it we feel it we feel the pressure all those people looking at you going conform do what we do okay and they’re not they couldn’t give

A rat bum what you’re doing they really couldn’t a hater uh how do you trade Lanes change lanes stfly and Highway when people uh trying to exit and people trying to merge okay hater those uh those don’t exist anymore there are a few of them and I don’t know what the names of

They are where the on-ramp and the exit Lane are the same one and the same okay those are dangerous and they’ve gotten rid of them because they’ve caused a lot of crashes so know that that gotten rid of those all right okay but again it’s about managing space it’s about observing correctly

It’s about interpreting traffic patterns and understanding the individual actions of Road users on the roadway and having a backup shoulder checking shoulder checking moving your head okay you cannot be static in the car you can’t be sitting there like this you got to be moving your head moving your head and

Sometimes because you’ve got the a pillar here at the front and the other one on the passenger side sometimes you got to be moving forward you got to be moving back you got to be looking around the mirror because there are blind areas in the vehicle so know that when you’re

Driving you’re moving your body it’s a full body experience all right and where all of this came from is my years of driving tractor trailer okay the bigger the vehicle the more critical space becomes when you’re driving because we want to be lazy truck drivers think of

It as being a lazy truck driver we’re doing the lazy truck driver Defensive Driving move space in front so we can keep the vehicle moving all right you want to control that space in front of your vehicle using the accelerator not the brake if you’re on the brake all the

Time you are too close to the cars in front of you there’s an indicator right there just start thinking and being aware of how much you’re touching the brake pedal if you’re touching the brake pedal going downhill on a highway you’re probably too close to the traffic in front of you

Okay you shouldn’t be touching the brake you should be anticipating traffic understanding traffic patterns and being able to use the throttle using the accelerator to control space in front of your vehicle if you can do that again that is another piece another detail in the puzzle of defensive driving that is

Going to significantly reduce your chances of being involved in a crash uh hey or there’s some of them in your area where you live yes there are a few of them left around but as I said they’re getting rid of them as they’re uh reconstructing the roads

Because they know that they’re not safe there’s just simply too much going on uh when you’re driving uh when the onramp and the off-ramp are one and the same but again you got to keep in mind you know you got to be aware you got to be scanning shoulder checking looking

Picking your spot so if you’re going to merge out onto the highway way and this is one of the most frequently asked questions that I get is how do I merge out onto the roadway if nobody’s going to let me in people don’t have to let

You in okay they are under no obligation to let you out on the highway the oness of responsibility of merging safely out onto the freeway is on the merging driver so when you’re coming out on the on-ramp and you can see the highway you can see the lane of traffic where you’re

Going to be merging into pick your spot okay there’s a red car and a blue car and I’m going to merge in between those two cars if you have a spot to aim for it’s going to be easier to get your vehicle up to speed so you can move into

That spot so pick your spot early and merge into that spot if there’s a semi- truck out on the roadway merge behind the semi- truck don’t try and race the semi- truck okay merge in behind it that’s a lot safer and then get out around the semi- TR and take off all

Right uh Caro if an intersection someone honks at you and you know it is not safe to go is important to ignore the Honker and only go when they know it is safe to go yes absolutely because the onus of safety is on you not the person who’s

Honking tell just give them the finger and tell them to go and pound salt as my mom likes to say I’m not sure how you go pound salt but you can tell them to go and do that uh problems too if I don’t move fast enough I get honked at has

Happened a few times yeah just ignore people uh who are honking at you because you know they’re going to do it anyway way they’re going to do it regardless um you know because they got nothing better to do and they need to get their frustration out and uh so that’s what

They do uh Ross and his shoulder checking and blind spot check the same thing because I call it blind spot check uh Ross and yes they are the same thing my friend thank you for asking that blind spot checking your blind spots and shoulder checking shoulder checking shoulder there check my shoulder check

My shoulder yes those are one and the same thing my friend thank you for clarifying that for us uh Elevator Fan if I had a truck speed up while I was trying to pass uh if someone else is passing you do not increase your speed yes okay and

Actually uh you know you can just let off the accelerator a little bit and slow down and let the truck pass you so that they can get back in uh Corey in Winnipeg we have them acceleration to deceleration combos on their perimeter intersection bridges yeah I’m not sure

Corey why they do that anymore we have know that these things aren’t safe they confuse drivers uh there’s simply too much going on on acceleration uh uh on ramps and ex exit ramps one and the same thing I know there’s a name for them I’ve seen them in the handbooks before

And I’ve been on them and they they are they’re a bit tricky for sure especially for new drivers I can’t imagine uh new drivers having trouble merging yes challenging for sure uh hater let’s say the Middle Lane is empty you in the right most Lane there’s another car in

The most left lane both of you decided to change lanes in the middle how to how to avoid something like that shoulder checking shoulder checking shoulder checking Hayden so you’re going to shoulder check you know there’s another car over there okay you’re in the right hand lane

The car is in the leth hand lane and the the Middle Lane is empty you’re going to put your signal on Signal’s on this side not on that side of the steering wheel it’s on this side of the steering wheel okay shoulder check check your mirrors look forward again three flashes minimum

On the signal you’re going to shoulder check again as you’re moving and you’re going to shoulder check okay and you see that other vehicle starting to come over then you’re going to abort okay one of you is going to abort one of is you’re going to give it up now saying that and

This comes back to Defensive Driving skills abilities and techniques and this is an advanced information all right if you have the choice in a crash crash is imminent and you have a choice between a head-on crash and a sideswipe crash pick the sideswipe crash every time sideswipe crashes almost always result in property

Damage just damage to the vehicles okay you are going to survive a sideswipe crash you are not going to survive a head-on crash and there’s an article down in the description have a look down in the description there uh why you should be more afraid of driving which

Is an article uh I think it’s in the Atlantic post and and it was a journalist who was involved in a crash and swerved to miss somebody who pulled out from a side street and instead of sideswiping the car that pulled out cuz he could have sideswiped this car he

Swerved into oncoming traffic hit a big jacked up 350 Chevy and the jacked up 350 Chevy come up over the hood and basically crush the dash onto his legs and he spent months and months and months convalescing and learning how to walk again had he just sideswiped the car

That came out of the side street uh it would have been just property damage and he probably would not have been injured so this is another piece of the smarter Defensive Driving model always pick the sideswipe crash because you’re going to survive the sideswipe crash uh Cory us

Yeah the usual rule of thumb on combo the one decelerating tries to get behind the one that’s accelerating yes and that is a good rule of because the cars are coming out they’re accelerating they’re taking off you want to get off the throttle get in behind them and then go

Into the deceleration Lane and in and exit off onto the roadway okay so Cory’s put up the video on how to correctly merge onto the highway uh rosson some people don’t check their blind spots Yes actually rosson if you want to know the truth most people don’t shoulder

Check and contrary to what they tell you on the polls on the community tab here on the smart drive test website or on the YouTube channel rather uh they don’t okay if 60% of people tell you that they shoulder check they don’t uh I would guess that the number for shoulder

Checking is probably below 20% that would be my professional opinion about people shoulder checking uh Caro thanks for this awesome live stream on Defensive Driving got to go to meet some friends but wanted to say thank you Caro you are most welcome my friend thank you

For dropping in and being part of the smarter driver Community all best my friend uh Maran there’s one of those intersections in Vancouver it is very short on-ramp offramp and it’s just after a corner as well so stick to the left lane to pass the offramp yes uh

Goofy things goofy things they’re an invention left over from the 1950s 1960s uh when traffic was not as heavy as it is now and uh you know they worked well at the time when you didn’t have as much traffic because the chances of three cars coming onto the the highway

And three cars getting off at the same time was nil to none okay it rarely happened there might have been one or two cars at the same time but now we have so much traffic that these this type of road infrastructure simply doesn’t work uh weird but some other drivers are like

E on musk just ignorant uh yes um I don’t like to speak ill of people but I used to think to myself that Elon Musk must be really smart he’s got lots of money he’s got a rocket ship company he started Tesla and whatnot and blah

Blah blah uh but you know the more that I go on it’s like oh now he’s bought Twitter uh you know forly [Laughter] Twitter the X thing did not catch on I’m sorry to say the X thing has not caught on I don’t call it I don’t it’s formerly

Twitter it’s now it’s now like Prince the artist once formerly known as Prince uh the social media platform once known as Twitter is what it is formerly Twitter that didn’t work out at all for him that just is not caught on people don’t say x they’re like formerly Twitter it’s

Twitter I sorry I digress I digress moving on Defensive Driving we’re talking about defensive driving today now the other piece uh about defensive driving and speeding is is that uh people believe that obeying traffic laws will keep you safe okay obeying traffic laws will not keep you

Safe okay I will say that unequivocably okay traffic laws no more prevent crashes than criminal law prevents crime it doesn’t it doesn’t work it doesn’t work so if you think that you’re going to go out there and you’re going to drive and you’re going to do everything

According to the law it’s not going to keep you safe it’s not going to make you a safer driver okay so keep up with traffic flow be a predictable driver what can I say about Defensive Driving okay there are Gustaf two things that you need to do to be a safer smarter

Driver and to be a better defensive driver space in front three to 4 second following distance you should be controlling space in front of your vehicle with the accelerator not all the time obviously but as much as you can 80% of the time you should be controlling space in front of your

Vehicle using the accelerator okay so you’re reading and interpreting traffic patterns in front and you’re adjusting your speed accordingly with the accelerator if you are too close and on the break all the time you are not Reading and Responding to traffic patterns in front of you you are

Reacting and you’re following too close and the number one crash in North America and I suspect most of the world world is rear end crashes Number One Insurance reported crash is rear end crashes even more so than windshield damage so okay know that increase your following distance stop and traffic one

Vehicle length back from the vehicle in front of you and your Landmark for that is to be able to see the tires of the vehicle in front making clear contact with the pavement this works for every vehicle cars buses trucks we used to teach it in the semi-truck it works for

Every vehicle and there’s several reasons why you can do that but if you can put those two simple skills in place it’s going to improve your overall driving okay uh Ross and I do get a good habit of applying the parking brake in an automatic I know most people don’t but

It’s a great habit uh do it to secure the vehicle and it won’t yeah it won’t run away it’ll still be there when you get back absolutely okay so apply the parking brake every time you park the vehicle not just in a manual car but also in an automatic car okay and

People say to me well that’s what parks for in the in the transmission no it’s not the brakes are designed to hold the car and this is why in new cars the parking brake applies automatically when you put the the car the transmission into park because the

Brakes are designed to hold the vehicle not the transmission the transmission is a backup we want backup in our driving this is why we use uh observation and communication in tandem okay looked around we observed but then we turned on our signal to communicate to other traffic just in case we miss

Somebody okay so we want to have a backup that’s why we shoulder check twice that’s why before we pull out into busy traffic from a minor Road onto a major road we’re going to look twice okay we’re going to make sure if we’re making a leftand turn uh from a side

Street out onto another road just before we cross that Center Line we’re looking again to make sure that there isn’t traffic coming that we missed so we have a backup so space in front stopping in traffic one vehicle length back and having a backup when you’re driving is

Going to make you a safer smarter driver close uh Tesla is a car you can buy if you have a million dollars or Euros because it has so many issues with the electric and suspension systems yes it does uh the kid’s mother had a Tesla and the steering was it the steering yes

The steering pump went out of it uh they put it on a diesel truck they shipped it 5 hours to Vancouver they fixed it they put it back on a diesel truck and they shipped it another 5 hours back to Colona to have it repaired and uh just basically couldn’t get their car

Repaired here where we live in the interior of British Columbia uh it had to be shipped to the coast to Vancouver to have it repaired uh rosson okay awesome excellent and yes and if if we’re all complaining about inflation talking about cars uh Tracy just recently came back from Italy and in

Italy a Volkswagen Gulf was 65,000 Euros which is $100,000 Canadian so that would be 60 $65,000 $65,000 would be about $80,000 us so we’re not the only ones dealing with inflation and inflation in Europe is actually even more so than it is here uh in North America uh Maran I love

Watching traffic ahead of me if traffic is stopping ahead you see their brake lights coming down in the line I take my foot off the pedal and by the time I need to stop him M stopped excellent yes Maran and the other piece about that Maran and the advanced skill about that

Is you see the brake lights coming on as they’re slowing down also the other thing is is they start all the traffic all the vehicles Bunch up that’s the other uh indicator in tandem with brake lights coming on is the spaces between the vehicles actually get smaller as they slow

Down uh rosson have you thought about getting a new vehicle uh rosson yes I have thought about getting a new vehicle but the engine in the buggy just keeps going everything around the engine is falling off of it but the engine keeps going uh elevator I was tailgated today

And I got frustrated with them I did a quick tap on the brake uh yeah and a lot of times that will get their attention and they will usually back off again I find um I don’t get tailgated a lot when I’m driving but I do find that what will

Happen is that people will come up and they’ll be right in behind you and you look in the mirror and they’re like you can’t see their headlights they’re so close behind you and then you know you’re driving with the traffic flow so you you’re in a 30 mph

Zone and you’re doing 35 or 37 M hour and then you look and they’ve backed off okay because they’re not tailgating anymore so I find that a lot of times when I’m driving and I’m being predictable and I’m keeping up with traffic flow that’s what’s happening uh that

They just they kind of come up misjudge the space and then they back off and they regain that space afterwards electric cars uh are should be the future not so fast yeah electric cars close we are not ready for electric cars and it’s interesting I was talking

To somebody about it the other day in terms of you know right now on YouTube and the internet and everybody’s talking about ai ai is the big fad right now it’s like oh my God you got to get on board with AI and have this and do this

And look at these tools and this and that blah blah blah AI on the internet right now is what electric cars were in 2018 okay everybody was like oh my God electric cars electric cars electric cars cars they’re going to fix the future they’re going to be the the next

Wave of the next Revolution it’s like no electric cars are gone I mean people are still going to buy them and those types of things but really hybrids are the way to go because they they work together in tandem you get your regen breaking uh you get uh

You know you can work on fuel you can work on electricity and the two of them work really well and I mean the Prius has proved that I mean the Prius has been around forever and taxi cabs and whatnot yes hybrids right and I there is

A place for this but we cannot we’re not ready for fully electric we just do not have the Battery Technology uh in place yet and they just they got a little ahead of themselves uh with electric cars and unfortunately what’s happened is they’ve made people who were Advocates of the electric car move

Against them right it kind of backfired because now a whole group of people that would have supported the move towards Electric electricity and electric cars and alternative fuel sources are now like oh yeah that doesn’t work at all so this is what’s happening and the other

Thing is is that what we need to do is we need to promote choice right uh unfortunately public transport public transportation does not work in low density uh populations where I live for example you cannot get around here without a car you have to have a car the

Public transit is terrible okay okay you have to have high density cities New York City Chicago uh you know stutgart Germany uh you know Paris all these places in Europe they trains work public transit works because you have a high density population and when you have a high density population public transit

Works when I lived in Melbourne Australia for example for 5 years I never owned a car if I needed a car I went and hired a car uh I rode my bicycle I took public transit because I never looked at a transit schedule the entire time I was in Melbourne because

You would just walk down to get on the tram and a tram came every eight minutes so why would you why would you need a car you take rail or whatnot right just hire a car whenever you needed to go out of town and those types of things so we

Need to promote choice we need to get people with choice right and we need and in North America they need to learn how to build bike paths because the you know their bike paths are terrible I would most of them I wouldn’t even ride on uh stabby good evening uh why do other

Road users get angry when you’re driving defensively in St John New Brunswick there are so many people driving that are quite crazy uh staby it’s not just uh St John’s or St John Rather you’re New Brunswick my apologies it’s St John uh not just St John my friend it’s

Everywhere it’s everywhere everybody is engaging in Social driving so it’s not just you my friend uh marrying the electric car battery is more expensive in the car it’s crazy yes indeed uh close buy another Honda CRV and put the engine from the CRV in the other Honda

CRV yes I was thinking that the other day that I needed a Honda CRV sitting in my backyard for parts H but that’s not attractive that’s not attractive uh Cory there are uh perhaps still the car of the future just a far more distance future than initially advertised it seems yes and uh

There’s there’s a video here on the channel I talked about self-driving cars because think it was 2017 that Elon mus said that by 2020 uh we would all be driving around in self-driving cars well that hasn’t come to fruition either and it’s uh self-driving cars is a little

Bit like AI uh it is not as advanced as people think it is okay and I tried AI when it first came out to generate uh multiple choice questions uh for the uh different states uh for the learner permit and they were rudimentary at to

Say the least and most of them I you know I had fact checked quite a number of them they weren’t they weren’t even reliable in terms of the facts that they were putting forward or the information that they were putting forward for the different states in Ohio and those type

You know the state of Ohio for example uh you know they it wasn’t it wasn’t couldn’t even rely on the facts the multiple choice questions they were generating uh staby what’s the difference between and CVT transmission engine uh I would need to look into that for you staby in terms of a CVT

Transmission I just don’t know enough about it to be able to tell you that I know that most Transmissions automatic transmissions are hydraulic so maybe somebody else one of the other smart drivers could tell us what a CVT transmission is uh but uh let me look

Into that send me a an email stabby Rick smart driv test.com and I will look that up for you and let you know what the difference those different kinds of transmissions and whether they’re reliable or not uh Wilson how do you drive safely on Snowy roads is uh while

Applying brakes most of the time the vehicle slips okay so Wilson uh I suspect you’re driving an automatic transmission one of the things you want to do in an automatic transmission when you’re driving on slippery conditions ice and snow is you want to pop the transmission into neutral and if you

Have a column shift you just push the column shifter into neutral it will only it will stop at neutral it will not go into reverse okay and that disconnects the drivetrain from the engine and you don’t have residual power pushing you forward and that way you can just use the brakes if the

Vehicle starts to slide release the brakes allow the tires to spin to turn not spin turn and then reapply the brakes again okay and that’s how you’re going to keep maximum control of your vehicle when you’re trying to bring it to a stop okay do not gear down contrary

To what everybody else says not everybody else but a a few people who every time I tell them this have a go at me you can gear down blah blah blah blah blah blah blah well if they’re telling you not to use cruise control on slippery conditions because you could

Potentially lose control of your vehicle why would you gear down it’s the same thing as using cruise control okay so don’t gear down just use your brakes push the transmission into neutral and this is why those of us who drive manual cars find it easier to maintain control of the

Vehicle in the winter time uh is because when you start to break and you push in the clutch you completely disconnect the drivetrain from the engine so you don’t have any residual power pushing you forward when you’re trying to break uh why when the stop sign is before a stop

Line do you stop at the sign or the line hope that makes sense yes it does Wyatt always stop behind the stop line doesn’t matter where the the sign is uh makes it’s behind the stop line behind the crosswalk or sidewalk if those two conditions don’t exist then at the edge

Of the road just before entering the intersection those are your three stopping positions at stop signs and other controlled intersections all right and Cory will put up the video for you on that awesome live stream my friends smart drivers uh if you know the answer for ivt and CVT transmissions let us

Know down in the comments uh hit that Thumbs Up Button uh if you want to become part of the smarter Drive Community uh subscribe to the channel definitely check out past your driver’s test first time course package over at the Smart drive test website uh on sale

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Remember pick the best answer not necessarily the right answer have a have a great night bye now