Defensive Driving 101 - Consideration and Awareness Go Hand in Hand

Consideration is defined as: thoughtful or sympatheticYou will be amazed, that once you are in the habit of
regard or respect; thoughtfulness for others: If youletting people in front of you, suddenly as if by magic,
have been reading our editorials on defensive driving,other drivers will suddenly start letting you in front of
then you know that Awareness is a recurring theme inthem. Don't believe me? Try it for 1 week and then tell
many of them.me it doesn't work. Not everyone will respond to your
Making a connection with the above 2 states of mindthoughtfulness, some people can still be jerks. But most
is easy. If your aware, then it is simple to take thewill, a smile a wave... pretty good feelings for you too.
short step to being considerate. Consideration of otherThe secret chemistry behind this is likewise pretty
drivers is a trademark of great drivers... drivers I thinksimple. When the other guy is treated nicely, your deed
of as Pros.becomes part of their awareness. So instead of
Of the many issues that separate good drivers fromhabitually pulling in front of others, many will remember
bad, a lot if not most of them take place inside the car.your letting them in and reciprocate to the next person
Things like keeping the distractions to a minimum. Andin the sequence. Like rings spreading from a pebble
let's not forget the phone. A car is not the new phonedropped in a pond.
booth... regardless of what others may tell you.Why not take the one week challenge and give it a
Add this to your attitude while driving. Are you in ashot. The absolute worst that can happen is you might
good mood? Are you upset about something? Here isfeel good about your driving. Once that happens, you
a good test of whether you should be driving rightare on your way to becoming a Pro... in fact your
now; are you able and willing to be considerate toalmost there!
others? If not park and cool down.Your evolution moves quickly when you look for
If you insist on a personal standard of politeness, aopportunities to be thoughtful. It takes attention... once
number of critical emotional components line upyou "get it" then everything else falls into place. All the
perfectly. None of us can be considerate when wedistractions inside the car take 2nd seat to what's
are focused inside of ourselves... not paying attentiongoing on outside... where the real action is.
to what's going on around us. It's OK in your bedroom...Focus on this and you will shortly find that all your
it is not OK in a moving vehicle. Let's go back to thedriving skills have mystically improved. And the final
attention word again. When you pay attention, youbonus is you will be proud of yourself for becoming a
automatically think ahead and notice those constantgood driver... in fact, better than most :) right?
opportunities that occur to give the other guy a break.