For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/GL04rI was a driving instructor for two trucking companies for 14 years. Here's what impresses me: 1. Safety attitude. 2. Willingness to learn from mistakes. 3. Willingness to accept you are wrong. >Everyone makes mistakes. Learn from them. If you screw something up, admit it, and the conversation ends. If you don't, chances are the instructor will either give up on you quickly (if he has the option) and go on to other students, or he'll browbeat you into submission. Neither is good for you. A simple "I'm sorry, I see where I messed up" sends a clear message that you learn from your mistakes, and that you can therefore avoid making the same mistake in the future. > Here's what will make or break you as a driver, and you'll never learn it from your instructor because we only teach this to truck drivers, which is a real shame: 1. Look as far in front of the vehicle as you can, usually the horizon. This is called high aim steering, and it will optimize your reaction time. If you're like most people, you're looking a few feet in front of the vehicle. Not good. There's no reaction time. Look a mile or so in front of you - when you can. You'll see a traffic problems with plenty of time to react. Unlike the jerk in front of you, who's only looking at the back bumper in the car in front of him. Also, you'll find yourself consistently dead center in your lane - and the steering wheel will barely move. Looking too short in front of you means that you're hunting in the lane - following one stripe, then the other. Over the road, I could tell where a student was looking just by feeling the truck lurch from side to side. 2. Following distance. The state says 2 second following rule. Take 4 or 6. Same reasons as above. You need the reaction time. If you rear end someone, it's your fault in the eyes of the law - no excuses. That means: when the car in front of you passes a fixed object, start counting ("one one-thousand, two one-thousand ...") and then note when your own front bumper passes the same mark. After a little while it becomes automatic. Take it from me (1.6 million miles of perfect safety driving in a big truck) - the most important piece of real estate you'll ever own is that chunk of road right in front of your vehicle. Don't let anyone take it away from you. EVER. 3. Make sure you know what's going on around you. I always told my students to think like a fighter pilot: the other cars were bogies and targets. Keep a mental inventory of what's around you. BOOM! Cars stopping right in front of you! Is it clear on the right? On the left? You're not going to stop in time, you need to shift lanes to avoid the collision! That's why you keep track of what's around you. ALWAYS plan an escape route. I avoided a multi car collision once doing that. I ended up on the shoulder, overlapped the car in front of me by a foot, but not a scratch anywhere. (There was an overturned semi in front of us). When passing a big truck, give us plenty of room - a hundred feet at least. If you can't see my face, I can't see you. And you have no idea how scary it is to have a car disappear beneath my front hood! Always remember, I'm 80,000 lbs and no matter what the law says, I win in an accident. Stay away from me. 🙂 Don't hang near the trucks - it's very dangerous. We don't have much room in the lane, and if a tire blows, you don't want to be near it. Pass and don't linger. ------ Good luck on your driving. You'll do well - just pay attention. You're driving instructor will love you....
Show More