Introduction

- Hi there, Smart Drivers talking to you today about situational awareness.

Not what's going on in your driving environment, but your actions and the impact of those actions on other traffic.

Stick around, be right back with that information.

(upbeat music)

- Hi there, Smart Drivers, if you're new to Smart Drive Test, my name's Rick.

I'm a licensed driving instructor teaching cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles, and, air brakes.

And, we can help you pass a road test and be a smarter driver.

Today's situational awareness, I've got a couple of clips here I want to show you, particularly relating to pulling trailers and larger vehicles.

And, this applies to anybody who's got a larger vehicle, driving an SUV, or a van, or small bus, or whatnot.

So, in the first clip here you can see the driver pulls off the road with an RV trailer and there's a tarp on the back blocking the lights, for one thing, so, you don't know whether they're turning or the 4-ways are on.

And, the driver's waving me to go past and it kind of annoyed me cause I could see the oncoming traffic around the blind corner but, the driver wasn't off the road far enough, didn't understand where the vehicle was in space and place, but was still waving me to go around.

So, that's one thing you need to understand is where is your larger unit in space and place on the roadway.

Because remember, as I say, one of the forms of communication is the position of your vehicle on the roadway.

So, when driving a larger vehicle, you're going into a parking lot, you want to drive down the back if you're driving an RV unit or whatnot, because you don't want to park out the front or you're going to block or impede traffic, and, cause unpredictable actions on the part of other drivers.

So, know that.

As well if you're graduating to pulling a trailer, know that the trailer dictates where you drive on the roadway, not the towing unit.

And, I tell that to truck drivers all the time.

The towing unit, the truck, or the car, whatnot, can go anywhere on the roadway so long as the trailer stays in its lane.

And, that's a bit odd for drivers when they graduate to start pulling trailers.

As well, tractor-trailer drivers on multilane roads, if you've ever been passed by a tractor-trailer driver, they go way past you, two or three truck lengths, and, the reason for that is they're creating a margin of safety.

And, this is what you need to do when you're driving larger vehicles.

The driver in this next image did not do that and parked the unit, and the trailer still's hanging out on the roadway.

And, I had a little bit of incredulity, which means like, what the heck? When I drove down there because it's overcast, difficult to see, it's a black trailer, it's low.

And, the trailers hanging out on the roadway.

So, know where your vehicle is in space and place.

And, if you graduate to a larger vehicle, an SUV pulling a trailer, a van, or whatnot, go down to the parking lot, do a bit of work with the slow speed maneuvers, work with the pylons, and understand where your vehicle is in space and place.

Because, if you execute unpredictable actions on the roadway, you increase your chances of being involved in a crash, exponentially.

Exponentially increase your change of being involved in a crash with unpredictable actions.

So, know where your vehicle is in space and place.

For another video, click here.

And remember, pick the best answer, not necessarily the right answer.

Have a great day, bye now.