Driving School Blog

Here at I Drive Smart, we’re all about Proactive Driving. People throw those words around quite a bit, so it’s probably worth taking a moment to talk about what they really mean. To put it simply, Proactive Driving is about keeping yourself safe on the road. First and foremost, you need to learn how to effectively operate the controls inside your motor vehicle. Secondly, you need to know the rules and regulations that govern how you drive. This is all well and good, but guess what? A young driver can obey all traffic guidelines, execute all maneuvers skillfully, and still be involved in an collision. How’s this happen? Well, you are never alone on the roadway, and while we at IDS work every day to make sure every driver we teach is a safe driver, we can’t guarantee that those other roadway users will be as competent as you are. To minimize your risk behind the wheel, you need to drive in such a way that you will avoid an wreck even if another driver makes a mistake, disobeys a traffic signal, or loses control of his/her vehicle. In other words, you can’t assume that other drivers will drive responsibly. That is Proactive Driving.
 
But it would be unrealistic for us to imagine that mistakes never happen. For any number of reasons, drivers lose control of their car every day. Think of all the scenarios that might cause your vehicle to skid: Rain or snow, icy roads, swerving to avoid a collision, worn tire tread, and many more. It is not enough for us to teach our students only to try to avoid traction loss whenever possible. Instead, we also are responsible for instructing them what to do to avoid a skid. Why? For all of you licensed drivers, try to think back to when you first felt your car lose traction. What did you do? If you’re anything like an average driver, you probably panicked and tried to correct the problem by steering sharply against the direction of the skid. This type of over-correcting can be even more dangerous than the initial traction loss. The most important thing during a skid is to remain calm – and like so many other things, the best way to learn to stay calm is to have experience in a situation.  Example: those with a fear of needles might be less anxious after watching several people get shots. So how do we teach Skid Avoidance and Basic Car Control at I Drive Smart? By allowing our students to simulate a variety of different driving scenarios in a safe, structured, real-world environment. We do this using our specialized SkidCar System Training. The program allows students, working for two hours with our specially trained instructors, to experience a car that is out of control or about to lose control. To learn more about the SkidCar System, to see a video of the SkidCar in action, or to sign up for training, click here. If you want to become a real expert at Proactive Driving, go ahead and sign up today - we can’t wait to work with you! And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to give us a call!