National Traffic Safety Institute

Enhancing individual responsibility one attitude at a time.

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What is the average driver's reaction time?Reaction times vary greatly with situation and from person to person between about 0.7 to 3 seconds (sec or s) or more. Some accident reconstruction specialists use1.5 seconds. A controlled study in 2000 (IEA2000_ABS51.pdf) found average driver reaction brake time to be 2.3 seconds.

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What is the definition of defensive driving?The standard Safe Practices for Motor Vehicle Operations, ANSI/ASSE Z15.1, definesdefensive driving skills as "driving to save lives, time, and money, in spite of the conditions around you and the actions of others." This definition is taken from the National Safety Council's Defensive Driving Course.

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Why is it important to be a defensive driver?The Importance of Defensive Driving and Safety. One important piece of safety on the road is defensive driving. ... Reducing risk through the avoidance of dangerous situations helps maintain driving safety on the road. Most people are taught techniques for reducing risks on the road during their initial drivertraining.

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What is a safe driver?Defensive Driving is essentially driving in a manner that utilizes safe drivingstrategies to enables motorists to address identified hazards in a predictable manner. ... Such decisions are implemented based on road and environmental conditions present when completing a safe driving maneuver.

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How do you become a good defensive driver?

Following these defensive driving tips can help reduce your risk behind the wheel:

Think safety first. ...

Be aware of your surroundings — pay attention. ...

Do not depend on other drivers. ...

Follow the 3- to 4-second rule. ...

Keep your speed down. ...

Have an escape route. ...

Separate risks. ...

Cut out distractions.

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Read about distracted driving, the consequences of texting or using cell phone while driving and other distracted driving statistics.

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Learn how to handle vehicle emergencies.

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Learn the days of the year with the most fatal traffic accidents.

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Learn what road rage is, what causes road rage, view road rage statistics, and how to deal with road rage incidents such as aggressive driving and tailgating.

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These Red Flags Can Mean Your Brakes Are Failing - State Farm™ - Simple Insights®

Brake safety should be every driver's concern when it comes to maintenance. State Farm says looks for these red flags to help you keep brake failure to a minimum.

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Teen Driving and Texts - State Farm™ - Simple Insights®

Texting while driving can be more dangerous than drunk driving, but teenagers still haven’t gotten the message.

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Protect Backseat Passengers with These Simple Steps - State Farm™ - Simple Insights®

Child car seat safety experts say car seats should always be placed in the back seat. Here are several more backseat safety suggestions from State Farm.

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Night Driving - State Farm™ - Simple Insights®

Tips for driving at night, information about differences between day and night driving, glare from other drivers' lights, etc

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Safely Share the Road with Large Trucks - State Farm™ - Simple Insights®

Driving near large trucks can be scary, but fear not: These tips can help you safely share the road with large trucks.

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Reducing Driving Distractions

Remember back when cars didn’t even have cup holders? No? Neither do I. But at one time, cars were just cars. These days, cars have on-board computers, GPS systems, satellite radios (bababooey), sub woofers that make you sound soooo cool (seriously though, you don’t look or sound cool), and even flat screen televisions. And let’s not forget how many people eat and drive at the same time, text and drive, or even get distracted by passengers in the vehicle. From people driving pets around to screaming kids in the back seat and acts we can’t really talk about on this site, distracted driving is everywhere. Some of those distractions we can control, while others we can’t. Here’s how to deal with such driving distractions.

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Maintaining Proper Following Distance

Here is one of the most commonly broken defensive driving tips in the history of driving. A safe following distance is just as important, if not more important, than keeping a safe speed. After all, you could be going 120mph but as long as there is enough space between you and other vehicles, you’ll never hit anyone. For some reason, it is human nature to hang out in packs and that is very evident with driving patterns. Everyone tends to drive from stop light to stop light in packs and if you leave too much space between you and the vehicle in front of you on the expressway, be prepared to get cut off. So how, exactly, do you keep a safe following distance? This defensive driving tip could literally save your life.

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Have An Escape Plan

Here is a skill that is learned over time. In order to be one of the safest drivers on the road, you must always have an escape plan. While you may be a great driver, you can’t always predict what other drivers around you will do. In addition, factors out of your control could change a routine driving situation into a driving emergency very quickly. Say a dog runs into the roadway and everyone slams on their brakes. Or maybe someone has a tire blowout and begins spinning out of control. Where will you go? What will you do? And more importantly, how can you possibly plan for every possible driving emergency at every possible time? In this article, we share with you how to properly have an escape plan at all times.