Safe & Defensive Driving
Defensive driving means expecting the unexpected and giving yourself time and space to react. By managing your following distance, scanning ahead, and adjusting to conditions, you can prevent most collisions before they start.
Following Distance and the Three-Second Rule
Keep a safe gap behind the vehicle ahead using the three-second rule. Watch the car ahead pass a fixed point such as a sign, then count 'one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three.' If you reach the point before you finish counting, you are following too closely and should drop back. Increase the gap to four seconds or more in rain, fog, on ice, or when following motorcycles and large trucks.
Scanning and Blind Spots
Good drivers keep their eyes moving, scanning far ahead, checking mirrors every few seconds, and watching the sides of the road. This early warning gives you time to spot hazards and plan an escape path. Mirrors cannot show the blind spots beside and slightly behind your car, so glance over your shoulder before changing lanes or merging. Signal first, check mirrors, then take a quick shoulder glance in the direction you are moving.
Adverse Weather and Hydroplaning
Rain, snow, fog, and ice reduce your traction and visibility, so slow down and increase your following distance. Turn on your low-beam headlights in rain and fog to help others see you. Hydroplaning happens when tires ride on a film of water and lose contact with the road; if it occurs, ease off the gas and keep the wheel steady until traction returns rather than braking hard. The first rain after a dry spell is especially slippery as oil rises to the surface.
Night Driving
Darkness cuts your visibility, so reduce speed and never overdrive your headlights, meaning never go so fast that you cannot stop within the distance you can see ahead. Use high beams on open roads, but dim them within about 500 feet of an oncoming vehicle or when following another car closely. If an oncoming car fails to dim its lights, look toward the right edge of your lane to avoid being blinded. Keep your windshield and headlights clean to cut glare.