Low Risk Driving Courses

Protective driving courses can not only save you money on your car insurance, but if the situation were to arise, can literally save your life.

Why Low risk Driving Courses?

Whether you work as a cab driver, a chauffeur, or are just your own vehicle, a protective driving course may be at the forefront of your mind. The main goal of low risk driving should be to minimize the amount of danger the person driving a vehicle will receive. Let’s take a closer look at the building blocks of a protective driving course.

Defense Driving

Most have heard of a defensive driving course. Understand that when it comes to protective courses, defensive driving is but one layer of the overall protective cake. In defensive driving, the goals are simple. They are usually to train a driver to operate a vehicle’s three controls. Namely the:

  • Gas

  • Brake

  • Steering Wheel

And operate all three with the precision needed to literally drive out of an emergency situation.

The Living Room Couch Syndrome

Defensive driving itself grew out of the living room couch syndrome, a situation where many drivers become complacent while driving. In other words, driving as if they were sitting in their living room. As you can imagine, with all of the unknown variables of driving, this kind of thinking can easily lead to danger.

Evading Danger

Many government studies show that an average driver only uses about 30 percent of a vehicle’s evasive capability. The goal, therefore, of a defensive driving course, is to get the driver to use 80 percent to 90 percent of the vehicle’s evasive capacity. This is usually accomplished through a hybrid mix of classroom theory and practical driving exercises.

Driver Error

Government studies further indicate that 89% of all are caused by driver error. Defensive driving exercises are designed to show levels of:

  • Concentration needed to maneuver in an evasive manner

  • Precision needed to successfully evade danger

  • Awareness needed to escape danger

Final Note

The last two components of protective driving are the vehicle itself and overall safety. In the vehicle portion of the course, the driver is taught a basic explanation of how a vehicle stops, starts, turns and on why sometimes, despite the best of intentions, the vehicle seems to do what it wants to. In addition, weight transfer and tire contact patches are also discussed.

As it pertains to safety, driver awareness is the most stressed upon point. Other factors that are discussed here include:

  • What to do when a vehicle is parked and waiting

  • Warning signals

  • Vehicle security checks

Once you’ve mastered all of these elements of protective driving, you’ll be ready to hit the road - Jason Bourne style!