Mastering Defensive Driving

To master the art of driving is an achievement in itself and if one can master the art of defensive driving, it indicates an extremely high level of control and concentration on the road. Basic driving skills involve mastery over the vehicle, but defensive driving means a lot more. The main purpose of defensive driving is to ensure that the risk is minimized not just to the driver but to all others on the road, be it pedestrians or fellow drivers.

It is strange why people think of this concept as an art. Why would one like to call it the art of defensive driving? The answer is fairly simple. Defensive driving practitioners care a lot about the safety of others. Apart from the general adherence to the mandatory driving rules of any country, practice of additional driving techniques is undertaken.

The importance of defensive driving is stressed upon by all driving instructors. Their main aim is to ensure safety for the driver, passenger and anybody else on the road. One understands that life is too delicate and frail not to be taken seriously. It does not make sense for somebody to ignore safety rules while driving. Above all, one cannot be careful enough, while on the road. One has to watch out for other drivers as well. Accidents are caused all over the world not because one person was careless; accidents occur because of a combination of activities that choose to occur at the same time. As the saying goes, no one can clap with just one hand. The answer to all this is just to follow the rules of defensive driving. In short this concept uses the common maxim that prevention is better than cure.

Motorists all over the world have encountered some of the strangest phenomena. There are countries where one can find stray animals like cats, dogs and sometimes even stray cows on the road. Having to contend with irritable motorists is one thing but having to put up with uncommunicative animals is not just challenging but is tiresome to say the least.

Adherence to defensive driving practices can make a person a lot more content and happy. Just imagine this scenario. A person starts out from home hoping to reach her office at the scheduled time of nine in the morning. She is a fairly careful driver and is not really aware of defensive driving practices. On the way she encounters a whole crowd of people who are marching towards the mayor's office. They are on their way to protest against the exorbitant amount of tax that has been levied on them by the local administration. The lady fails to observe the warning signal of a policeman who is stationed nearly one kilometer ahead of the protesters. If she had been a practitioner of defensive driving she would have ensured that she took the suggested diversion and landed up at office in time. However, she did not and hence had to face the wrath of her boss. Therefore a defensive driving practitioner understands that it is always better to be safe than sorry.

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