Stopping

As promised, here is a short piece on stopping.  The same day that I was nearly clipped in the traffic circle, I observed some extremely poor stopping behaviors.  I was driving on a two-way street, preparing to make a left turn onto another street.  I saw two cars coming toward me, but far enough away that I could make my turn safely, without causing them to have to slow for me to complete the turn.  There was another car on the street I was turning into.  This car looked to see the other two cars coming, then SPED UP to make a quick right turn so she would not have to stop or wait at the stop sign for the cars to pass.  I was flabbergasted!  I mean, I have seen rolling stops, but this took the cake.

Let's talk for a minute about the right way to make a stop.  Obviously you come to a complete stop, scan for traffic, then proceed.  But just what constitutes a complete stop?  Imagine that you are driving forward, then you make a stop.  You can feel the forward momentum pull you forward in your seat as the car stops.  The quicker the stop, the more pronounced is the forward motion of your body.  A complete stop is when you feel the car settle back, or you feel your body move backward in the seat.  This is often very subtle.  You may want to practice this in a safe, flat area.  Also, when riding as a passenger, observe other traffic as they come to a stop.  You should be able to see the front end of the car dip down as they apply the brakes.  Again, this is very subtle unless they make a sudden stop.

A lot more goes into making a stop than just deciding to stop and applying the brakes.  Suppose there is a stop sign coming up.  You have to be aware of the stop sign, process the meaning of the symbol, then apply the brakes.  Looking in your mirrors to assess what is behind you is a best practice for reducing your risk of being rear-ended.  After a stop, you have to scan for oncoming traffic, decide whether it is safe to go, take your foot off the brake and apply the gas to proceed. 

Have you ever observed someone way up the road who stops, then waits and waits, then pulls out just before you get there?  This may be because their visual processing, visual scanning, decision making and physical reaction time is slowed.  It actually takes them that long to visually process if there is a safe gap in the traffic, then make the decision to proceed, then take their foot off the brake and apply the gas.  By then the gap is not safe, but they are unable to process that they should wait, so they pull out in front of you.

What you can do to stay safe is to be a defensive driver.  Watch to make sure people really do stop.  Watch for that tell-tale dip in the front end of the car.  And always be ready to execute an avoidance maneuver if necessary.  Having the skills to do accidence avoidance maneuvers is something that should be learned and practiced regularly in a safe way.

Well that is all for now.  Next we will talk about some age related changes to watch for and how they affect your driving.

Drive safely and keep the rubber side down

Karen