Written by Don Stewart | 31 January 2009

I’ve been a licensed driver for a little over 53 years. Cars, traffic, and roads have changed a lot during that period but one thing hasn’t changed. My personal passion on the highway has always been to be safe and smooth. In rural settings, I’ll stretch the speed limit as much as the next guy, sometimes more, but only if traffic and the road conditions allow me to establish a comfortable safety envelope. There are techniques for driving fast just as there are techniques for driving in dense local traffic. There are techniques for just about any set of driving conditions you can think of. There’s a lot of overlap among them but when all is said and done, accurate execution results in a safe and smooth driver. Put a Mustang in the mix and enjoy the ride.

 

So saddle up. Here come some of my thoughts, techniques, and an occasional pet peeve. This is some of the stuff that goes through my mind when I’m driving. I haven't tried to connect the dots as I jump from one thought to another. I’ll leave that up to you. Think of it as a typical day behind the wheel where any number of decisions need to be made at a given moment.
Driving is a full time job, not a pastime
Driving is not the time to be talking on the cell phone, texting, looking for something on the back seat, disciplining the kids, or doing anything except driving. Driving is a full time job that shouldn’t be compromised by multi tasking. Just ask Mary how many trips we’ve taken when I hardly talked at all except when we stopped. Nothing personal; just my focus on the job at hand.
While you’re at it, ask her my opinion of the driver that can’t wait to jump into a line of traffic from a side street only to do so and then creep along at 25 mph when traffic all around is moving at 45 mph. Frequently, this totally disconnected driver will be preoccupied with a cell phone or fumbling with something on the passenger’s seat. If that sort of activity is more important than driving the car, then park it!
Traffic rhythm
All traffic has a rhythm whether in an urban setting or on the open road. It may change block by block or mile by mile but there’s a rhythm, nonetheless. You may like the rhythm or you may be frustrated by it. If you like it, just flow with it. If you’re frustrated by it, bite your lip and adapt to it until you can safely break free and establish a cadence of your own. To do otherwise puts you and others at risk.
Avoid wolf packs
Having just said that all traffic has a rhythm, the wolf pack may be an exception because it’s rhythm is chaos. Wolf packs form on interstates and other multi-lane highways when a group of drivers with different agendas bunch up and virtually no one can pass. Usually, a left lane bandit driving the same speed as a car beside it in the right lane starts the whole mess. The left lane bandit won’t complete the pass or slow down to pull over to the right. Other drivers want to pass but they can’t break free so frustration builds and dangerous moves begin.
If you can’t thread your way through a wolf pack in a reasonably short time, break contact. Exit and buy gas, even if you don’t really need it or pull over and stop for a few minutes. Unless you enjoy living on the edge with palpable frustration all around you, get out of the pack. Wolf packs are a very dangerous place to be.
Make yourself visible and make your intentions clear
Let other drivers know that you’re there without being intrusive and let them know what you’re going to do if you plan on changing your position in the traffic flow. Communication of this sort is vital to maintaining your safety envelope.
Use your directional signals when turning or changing lanes. Do so far enough in advance so that others have time to recognize your intentions.
Use your 4-way flashers when there’s a sudden change in traffic flow ahead of you just in case the drivers behind you haven’t seen it. And use them immediately if you personally have an emergency.
Never ride in the blind spot of a truck or car that’s slightly ahead of you in an adjacent lane. If you can’t see the driver’s reflection in his/her side mirror then he/she can’t see you. Hiding in a blind spot is a great way to get run over if the other vehicle suddenly changes lanes not knowing you’re there.
Burn your headlights other than at night. Do it whenever you want to be more visible but especially at dawn and dusk or during foggy or stormy conditions.
Never activate you brake lights unless you’re slowing down or stopping. Meaningless brake lights confuse drivers behind you.
Stay in your lane
On 2-lane roads, it’s a given that you should always stay in your own lane except when passing or avoiding a dangerous situation. My dad had the disconcerting habit of crossing into the opposing lane to shortcut left-hand corners or bends on back roads. I see a lot of the same thing today. It’s a bad practice and when it happens on blind corners, someone has to quickly take evasive action if opposing vehicles meet up on the same piece of real estate. Don’t be the one crossing the line and risking an accident. My daughter would like to know why someone did it to her and forced her off the road and into the woods where she totaled her car.
On multi-lane highways, there can be any number of reasons to change lanes but all moves should be made cautiously so as to not compromise your safety and the safety of drivers around you. And all moves should be accompanied by use of your directional signals. You should consider your “home lane” as the one running closest to your speed. That’s where you can usually create the best safety envelope. Avoid being a rolling road block; i.e., driving slow in the faster traffic lanes. And avoid jumping multiple lanes, when you move from lane to lane; do it one lane at a time.
Braking influenced by reaction time
In a perfect world, braking should be smooth and it shouldn’t upset the balance of the car. Whenever possible, anticipate the need to stop or slow down and execute the maneuver in a smooth and timely fashion. If you’re “reading” traffic and traffic control signals properly, smooth braking can be a normal part of your trip. But what about the imperfect world? In the imperfect world, panic stops or rapid deceleration are sometimes required to avoid accidents and other situations.
Most of our cars today have antilock braking systems. With ABS, an onboard computer prevents the tires from skidding when you call for maximum braking. But how long does it take you to call for maximum braking? In other words, what’s your reaction time? Whatever it is, can you improve it?
I remember a demonstration several years ago where a specially rigged car had three small explosive devices wired to stop watches and the braking system. The point of the demonstration was to show how long it took to move the braking foot (right foot in the demonstration) to the brake pedal and then to measure the time and distance it took to stop from 40 mph. The driver would maintain a steady 40 mph and at some random point the passenger, the person who was officiating over the demonstration, would set off the first charge. The sound of the charge told the driver to hit the brakes hard. When the brake system went to maximum pressure, the second charge went off and then when the car stopped, the third charge went off. Each charge started and stopped the stop watches to establish a timeline and they also shot individual chalk marks onto the road surface.
Using the data from several different drivers, it was found that, on average, it took 0.75 seconds to clamp the brakes after hearing the first charge. At 40 mph, a car travels 44 feet in 0.75 seconds. For the doubters; the chalk marks on the pavement verified the distance. And if you want to extrapolate to 60 mph, a car travels 66 feet in 0.75 seconds. Wow, all that distance before you tell the brakes to stop the car, or further if you aren’t paying close attention to conditions around you. So back to the question: Can you improve your reaction time? And the answer is: Yes you can.
If you’re driving an automatic and you take the time to teach yourself how to brake with your left foot, you can remove much of the 0.75 second component. Drive with the heel of your left foot resting on the floor and the ball of your left foot poised above the brake pedal. Don’t press on the pedal but have your foot poised above it so you can brake quickly if needed. This is especially helpful in rush hour traffic or in wolf packs where you may need to drive closer to the vehicle in front of you than you would normally like. In these situations, driving closer is a defensive action because if you leave too much room, someone will surely jump in front of you and compromise your following distance even further.
If you’re driving a straight drive, your left foot is reserved for the clutch so extra vigilance and constant evaluation of traffic flow are your best defenses.
ABS characteristics
If you have ABS, have you ever stopped hard enough to activate it? Do you know what it sounds like and how it feels? If not, it’s time to make a stop or two with maximum force on the brake pedal. In a safe location, just stand on the pedal as hard as you can and let the computer do its work. Everyone driving an ABS equipped car should do this periodically because that’s the quickest way to stop in an emergency, period. And you should know what to expect if you have to do it.
Don’t be afraid of the shuddering and hammering that you hear and feel. It’s the result of the computer clamping and unclamping the brakes several times a second, doing the job much better than you could ever do it by manually pumping the brakes.
Get familiar with ABS. It could save you from injury or worse. There are cases where drivers, including law enforcement officers, have backed off on brake pedal pressure when ABS kicked in because they thought something was wrong with the car. Usually, the end result was a crash that could have been avoided if they hadn’t backed off. You don’t want to be in that category.
Cruise Control
It’s a great convenience and I use it as much as possible. But watch out for the pitfalls. Never use it if the road is slippery, including wet. Don’t use it in heavy traffic where speeds are constantly changing. And don’t fall prey to the tendency to relax too much when cruise is turned on. It’s easy to become detached from the job of driving when you’re using cruise. You may not be as observant as you should be and your reaction time is likely to suffer. With cruise, it’s relatively easy to fall victim to white line fever, especially on long interstate trips. Don’t get trapped.
Brake Torque Launch
Ok, here’s a little trick for the automatic transmission crowd. It’s a toned down version of a launch technique that drag racers use when their cars are equipped with automatic transmissions. It’s called a brake torque launch.
Imagine yourself frustrated during rush hour because you can’t find an opening to merge into traffic from a side street. Some of the openings are big enough but you know you can’t release the brakes and move your right foot to the accelerator quickly enough to get the job done. Here’s where left foot braking can help you out again.
Hold the brake pedal firmly with your left foot. When a opportunity to slip into traffic is approaching, continue holding the brake pedal firmly and feed some gas to the engine with your right foot. How much gas? The same amount that you would use to pull into traffic under less congested (“normal”) conditions.
When the opening you have your eye on arrives, quickly release the brake pedal and merge into the stream of traffic bringing your car up to speed rapidly. You’ve eliminated the reaction time needed to move your right foot from the brake pedal to the accelerator and the time it would take to feed gas to the engine. And if you’ve timed everything correctly, you haven’t upset the flow of traffic or irritated any drivers around you.
Smooth shifts with a straight drive
To me, one of the most enjoyable things I can do when driving a straight drive is to make the shifts as smooth as possible, no jerking allowed. At least that’s the goal. Don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about granny shifting. I’m talking about rev matching where engine speed is correct for the gear being selected, either upshifting or downshifting.
Smooth upshifting is the easier of the two to master. Whether consciously or subconsciously, over a period of time, you learn the feel and the sound of your car at various speeds in each of its gears. To execute smooth upshifts, teach yourself to feed just slightly more gas than you’ll need when the clutch is engaged after shifting to the next gear. With practice, your shifts can be as smooth or smoother than an automatic.
Smooth downshifting is more challenging because, for a given vehicle speed, the engine speed needs to be higher when a lower gear is selected. And when you shift, the gears in the transmission need to be speeded up too. It’s easy to let the transmission synchronizers do the job for you but that’s accompanied by lurching as the driveline adapts to the new gear. For a smooth shift with less wear and tear on the clutch and transmission, double clutching is the way to go. I’m not going to describe how to double clutch here. I’ll talk about it in a pony trick somewhere down the road. For now, suffice it to say that it’s a technique that has to be learned and requires a fair amount of practice to master, sort of like learning to ride a bicycle. But like riding a bike, once you’ve learned it, you won’t forget how to do it. And once you’ve learned it, your downshifts can be silk smooth.