Defensive Driving and Safe Driving Practices
The mindset
Defensive driving means assuming other road users will make mistakes and leaving yourself room to survive them. The classic five-step routine - Scan, Identify, Predict, Decide, Execute - is worth memorising as a phrase, because items often ask what a defensive driver does first: observe and anticipate, not react with the horn.
The tools you actually use
- Following distance. Use the three-second rule in good conditions: pick a fixed object, and when the vehicle ahead passes it, count three seconds before you reach it. Increase to four or more in rain, at night, behind trucks, or when being tailgated.
- Space cushion. Keep a gap on all four sides where possible; have an escape route planned before you need it.
- Mirrors and blind spots. Check mirrors frequently, and turn your head to confirm a blind spot before changing lanes. Signal early, then move.
- Scanning. Look far ahead and side to side, not just at the bumper in front. Watch for pedestrians, cyclists, parked cars and side-street traffic.
Risk multipliers
Speeding, distraction (phones, eating, adjusting devices), fatigue, alcohol and overloading all lengthen reaction and braking distance. Fatigue is best handled by stopping and resting - coffee and open windows are not solutions, and items often test that point.
Trap
A question may offer "sound the horn and maintain speed" as an answer when a hazard appears. The defensive answer is to reduce speed and create space, then communicate.
Worked example
You are following a car at 60 km/h. It passes a lamp post; you count only two seconds before you pass the same post. Your gap is too small - ease off the accelerator and rebuild a three-second gap rather than braking sharply, which risks a rear-end collision from behind.