Consciously mastering our own accelerations and deceleration is how to maximize efficiency and safety. It requires honest analysis, reading traffic, timing and testing. How often do you consciously work on the timing of your accelerations and decelerations?
Do you actively learn about why someone uses their brakes? Is it because they are maintaining a specific gap or reacting to someone else or because they are trying to maintain a specific speed? Knowing ‘why’ can be powerful information to help increase your efficiency, prevent traffic congestion and even an accident.
The more that this can be prevented, the fewer accidents there will be, which means an increase in efficiency and decrease of congestion for millions of people.
Many experts use their peripheral vision and look in their mirrors a dozen times a minute. Sometimes a lot more. And they do this without taking focus off of what’s ahead of them. The goal is to build your ‘reading traffic’ skills to a level where you can safely look in your mirrors without it distracting you from what’s ahead. Looking over your shoulder is also a viable way to see what’s going on behind you, but as you continue to increase skills with mirrors, you’ll notice that you get more information in a quicker amount of time with less effort, less distraction and less deceleration by using your mirrors properly on a regular basis.
There is no ‘one way’ to set mirrors. What you want to know is where your mirrors are aiming for you. Personally, I like to see just a sliver of the side of my automobile in my side mirrors. The key is to not have to move your head or adjust your body in order to see in any of your mirrors. …To be able to see in each by just moving your eyes so that even when you aren’t consciously looking, your subconscious is still taking in what is going on behind you and next to you. And when consciously looking, you can update and validate information with a glance.
The more you are aware of your surroundings, the less hesitation and unnecessary deceleration that usually occur, which means an increase in efficiency for you and others.
Mirrors are an invaluable, life saving tool. Do you only use mirrors when you need them? Or are they something you continually use to read traffic and learn about those around you?
‘Reading traffic’ is about a lot more than observing and reacting to brake lights. It’s about observing a driver’s actions and reactions, as well as their awareness, timing, communication and handling skills so that you can learn about them and better predict their next action. And in doing so, better calculate your next move.
The more we can be proactive rather than blindly reactive, the smoother traffic will flow, the fewer accidents initiated and the more efficient we can all be.
This has as much to do with safe driving and preventing accidents as it does with being efficient and increasing fuel efficiency!