18 tips to driving defensively
- Be prepared for anything. Expect the other driver to speed up, slow down, pull out or cut across a lane.
- Keep your mind on the driving. Eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel. You may not hold a communication device while driving.
- Look well ahead for changes in the traffic and the road surface. A row of brake lights in the distance is a reason to slow down now.
- Keep checking your rear view and side mirrors, so you know what is behind you before you need to.
- Learn where your mirrors do not see. Turn your head and check the blind spot before changing lane, particularly for motorcycles.
- Keep a following distance of one vehicle length for every 15 km/h you are doing, and stretch it in rain, dust and darkness.
- Give way to the driver who is determined to get there first. Being in the right is no protection.
- Watch the edges of the road for sudden movement: pedestrians, cyclists, dogs and stray livestock.
- Keep to the left, and move right only to overtake or to turn right.
- Obey the limit. It is 60 km/h in an urban area, and on the open road 120 km/h for a light motor vehicle and 80 km/h for a heavy one. A limit is a maximum, not a safe speed in every condition.
- Obey the signs, the road markings and the robots. A police officer directing traffic overrides all of them.
- Signal early and clearly, at least 50 m before a turn in town and 100 m on a main road.
- Do not drive under the influence of alcohol, drugs or fatigue, and read the label on any medicine you have taken.
- Match your speed to the weather, the light and the traffic, not to the sign alone.
- Walk round the vehicle and look underneath it before you move off, and behind it before you reverse.
- Carry the kit: a jack and its accessories, an inflated spare wheel, a first aid kit, a reflective jacket and warning triangles.
- Lock the vehicle and take the keys with you when you leave it.
- Use the hooter only for safety, never to hurry somebody or express an opinion.