Risk Management 5: Be Predictable
This is the 5th in our series of tips from Stephen Haley, author of ‘Mind Driving - New Skills for Staying Alive on the Road’.
If you surprise someone, they are more likely to hit you.
Signalling is the basic way to inform, but should not be used ‘automatically’ as the information you want to give may be too early, too late or confusing. Position, the vehicle’s ‘body language’, gives vital indications too. This helps to explain the reason behind a lot of what safe drivers do. (Editor: Why is it, for example, these drivers don’t always signal (they know to signal at that time would be confusing or superfluous), yet other drivers know exactly what their intentions are?).
The aim is to actively help other road users to anticipate and adjust safely. It gets the driver more involved in what other people need to know, and being predicatable is readily under a driver’s control and relatively easy to improve.
