How to be a good driver - Mastering the art of defensive driving

Bad drivers effectively turn their cars into weapons that can cause some serious damage and destruction. So, how you behave while driving and operating a car is just as important as operating it correctly.

The main thing for me is just to always be considerate. If you think about it, driving a car is one of the biggest tests of trust. We are sharing a road with people we don't know. Cars, bikes, pedestrians, cyclists… Everyone is relying on everyone else to be doing the right thing. So you are trusting strangers to abide by the rules and to drive in a correct and considerate manner. All of us need to show up and get into the car with the right attitude.

In essence, defensive driving involves staying alert, anticipating risks and reacting safely to potential hazards. Key principles include always maintaining a safe following distance, adhering to speed limits and never using a cellphone while driving.

For me, probably the scariest thing is that we are living in a motoring twilight zone at the moment - cars are becoming more and more autonomous, in other words, they doing things so it requires less of our attention. This causes people being less vigilant and alert while driving.

And the biggest killer is people on cellphones. How many people do you drive past and you see their heads down, eyes down. If you're so engrossed in your Facebook profile and updating your status and WhatsApp messages, you are not aware of your surroundings or anything that happens up ahead, for example a dog or pedestrian runs across the road, somebody suddenly comes to a stop.

If you're aware of the situation, you can respond and react in the right way and avoid an accident.

When I'm driving, I'm not looking at the car ahead of me. I'm looking 500 meters up the road. I'm anticipating what’s coming.

Be aware. Every time you're behind the wheel, must give it your undivided attention You have to be looking left, right and ahead, check your mirrors, check your blind spots. And that really for me is what makes a good driver.

“Driving a car is one of the biggest tests of trust. We are sharing a road with people we don't know. Cars, bikes, pedestrians, cyclists… Everyone is relying on everyone else to be doing the right thing.”

Another important factor is driver etiquette. For example, where do you position your car when you arrive at an intersection? You’re at a T-junction and want to turn the right. So, automatically, I position my car on the edge of that white line, put my indicator on and I stop. What I've done is I've opened up space on the left for another car that wants to turn left. Now, it's a simple thing. If you do that, think how you're going to help with traffic flow.

It's little things like this that makes you a considerate driver and you’re going to reduce the stress levels for other motorists on the road.

Another alarming habit I’m seeing is that people don’t stop at pedestrian crossings anymore. Make sure you stop at pedestrian crossings and give people a chance to cross the road safely.

South African motorists are notoriously bad when it comes to traffic circles.

Be very, very aware of how you move through the turning circles, especially the little circles that cause all the problems. All that the turning circle is doing is it's making us slow down instead of stopping dead, like at a four-way stop. I have to slow down and get give everybody a chance to navigate through the circle. It works on who arrived there first. If it works, it works really well because you don't have to come to a dead stop. Put your indicator on as well so everyone knows where you’re going.

I think the most important thing for any traffic circle that you arrive at is literally to yield almost to a stop. In that way, if everyone's doing that from all four directions, everyone will be able to take turns flowing into the traffic and the circle works really well.

What happens when you do get to a traffic light that’s not working? It's really quite simple. They work exactly like a four way stop. Whoever gets there first has the right of way, but it's one car at a time. The easiest way to ensure maximum efficiency and get us moving as quickly as possible is that those cars opposite you do the same thing. Wait your turn, be patient, be alert, get moving.

What’s become a real issue now is not only people randomly shooting through red lights. When they arrive at a red traffic light and they're turning, they just go. And then three or four cars take the opportunity to go through the intersection. It’s not just the taxi’s – all South Africans do it. It must stop.

When you merge onto a highway, the idea is that you're merging and coming up to speed. So as I come onto the on ramp, by the time I hit the highway I should be 80 to 100 km per hour, merging up to 120 km an hour. But, you can't do 100 km an hour or so when the cars in front of you are doing 60.

So you're always driving based on what the conditions are, but use the lanes to merge, get up to speed and then you can obviously head off on your journey.

For some reason, the JMPD sets up speed traps on the centre island on the highway. So they're pulling cars over in the fast lane. They expect you to stop in the fast lane. Then, when they’ve written your fine, you must go 0 to 120 km per hour off the grass on the centre island into the fast lane. It is incredibly dangerous.

So my advice, and I've done this many times, is to not stop on the grass in the centre of the island, even though the police is there. Put your indicators on, safely move across and stop in the emergency lane in a safe place.

Highways are not meant to have pedestrians. I am not going to risk my life by crossing the road. So, if the officers wants to risk it, they know where to find me. I'll be safely parked in the emergency lane with my hazards on.

Do you have any clue how long it takes to bring a car traveling at 120 kilometres an hour to a dead stop?

The faster you go, the further it's going to take to stop. When you fill the with another three passengers that's going to increase your stopping distance. The same happens if it’s raining, your tire pressures are incorrect, your tires are smooth, etc. All of those factors have an impact on how quickly your car is able to stop. That’s why safe following distances are so important.

Tailgating is really one of the most dangerous things you can do on the road. And while we have so many accidents, it is impossible for you to see what is happening 300 metres down the road when you're right on a car's bumper.

I recommend working on the three-second rule between cars. What’s really frustrating with South Africans is that a safe following distance is often seen as a gap to jump in front of you.

It’s so important to be aware of a safe following distance - make sure you leave a safe following distance and don’t jump in that gap and cut other drivers off.