Something we do every day right? Drive to work, got to make a turn at the intersection, gotta change lanes to do it.
Sounds such a simple thing, yet if I was to ask how do you do it I wonder how many replies I would get?
I can still remember the system my first driving instructor told me. Mirror, Signal, Mirror, Maneuver
BUT
That’s after you’ve done something else first. It’s after you’ve made sure there’s nothing ahead, and you can see where you’re going!
How far ahead can you see?
“Always read the road ahead”
And he wasn’t talking what the car or truck right in front of me, he was talking three or four vehicles ahead. Why? Because that’s what tells you where the problems are!
See I drive heavy commercial vehicles for a living, and I’m constantly shocked (and saddened) at the way some folks treat the road. I’m in heavy traffic, pulled over but not off the road and people come screaming past as if I wasn’t there, and they’ve no idea what awaits them!
A kid fallen off their bike, or an elderly person struggling across a pedestrian crossing, a child just broke loose from Mum and run into the road, Mum frantically giving chase, and none of them seeing the vehicle coming up my outside, worse yet the vehicle can’t see them and is totally oblivious to the hazard!
Only once you know what’s ahead, and you know it’s safe can you do the rest.
Mirror. Check the rearview, make sure no one’s barreling down from behind, oblivious to what’s ahead.
Signal. Put the indicator on, give anyone behind a warning you’re about to change lanes. A good rule of thumb is between four and six seconds warning. That gives them time to adjust what they’re doing
Lawrence's letters 