Driving instructions are not for everybody

The driving training industry has been gradually losing its quality over the last 10-15 years, in many ways because law makers are not overseeing how the industry is facilitating under-qualified people to this very important job, also because driving schools in many cases are using 20-30 years old materials and teaching techniques.

Most parents decide and choose the driving school for their teens based on one factor only (the price of the lessons), while the quality of them or years in business seems to be not important. Therefore, most of the driving schools out there are simply offering the minimum instruction needed just to pass the driving test, essentially helping people to get an operator license when they are not ready to safely operate a vehicle, through this very insufficient “quick fix” method.

The sad statistically result of combining poor authorities supervision, low quality instructions aiming to pass the driving test only and parents concern more about getting the cheapest option instead of the best driving school are the deadly stories for sure you have heard.

Average 3500 teens die every year in USA while another teenager was behind the wheel, the crash rate per mile driven for 16-19 years old is sadly four times higher than crashes where the driver was 20 years old or older.

The driving exam can be passed with very basic legal knowledge of driving and very basic skills to control the vehicle. The average time of this exam is less than 20 minutes, making the overall standard low causing our roads highly unsafe.

Sadly we need to admit, the low passing rate in previous years has led to the exclusion of very important maneuvers and unwillingness to implement real changes to the current system, knowing that implementing higher standards to pass the test will translate in a direct decrease of customer in our license offices, and this revenue has clouded the consideration of public safety in general.

Despite vehicles to be equipped with systems like ABS, traction control system, dynamic cruise control, lane departure sensors, blind spot sensors and others, almost 50K people die in USA every year and 5 million get hurt in crashes.

Next time you (or someone you know) is going to use a driving school, keep this in mind, you can help lower these numbers and be a part of safer roads for everybody. Take care.

Fighting with traffic signs and why

It is very common to see new drivers (and sadly many drivers with years behind the wheel) showing clear issues to scan the road properly. The reason is because they experience what is called “tunnel vision”, therefore, no matter how clear traffic signs can be posted these drivers tend to look straight down into oblivion. When teaching how to drive we often ask our students the meaning of the last sign we went through and it is normal for them to turn the question into a guessing game.

Florida Statutes 316.183(2) says that “the maximum speed limits for all vehicles must be 30 miles per hour in business or residence districts” mostly because there is one lane moving on each direction and there is no physical divider or median in such areas. Repeating the same question over and over again, help new drivers to create the habit to keep their eyes moving and scanning at all times.

Without forcing the habit to scan the road side to side continuously, most of the new drivers can be easily confused when they face areas with variable speeds, especially in driving in areas where they are not familiar.

We believe some speed limit signs are wrong in some areas, for example, where the road is open and wide with a median (which is a clear difference when it is compared to any residential area) having a 30 mph sign where it could easily be 40 mph.

In these places the local authorities should make the road continuously higher than 30 mph, and avoid putting variable speed limits for such short distances. Surely, that is making some drivers entering a potential accident zone. It would be nice that our signs are put in place by road engineers and getting some advice from driver education institutions.

There are some really good signs preparing you to reduce speed and these are signs alerting you of a 30 mph to be reduced to 25 or 20 mph. They prepare you to slow down and their are eye-catching with the yellow background color.

The solar powered speed warning signs are becoming more common in metropolitan areas in the USA, they are very effective indeed because of the flashing mode feature to show your speed, and this can just make you ease off the gas if you have just brushed over the limit by mistake.

Until everything is designed better, keep your eyes moving constantly. Better safe than sorry.