Course Description

Are vehicle incidents impacting your safety results, fleet costs, and bottom line?
Coaching your employees to identify and manage risk while driving is critical to incident avoidance. For this, there is no replacement for face-to-face, in-vehicle coaching and evaluation.

This hands-on in-vehicle course targets the most common risks drivers take that can result in incidents and the underlying factors that may encourage drivers to take these unnecessary chances.

Recognize and understand the RISK, know the DEFENCE and ACT is the key process in incident avoidance. Preventable incidents occur when drivers fail to practice this.

Course Objectives

• A driving risk assessment using the risk management formula

Strategies for minimizing risks:

• At intersections
• While backing up
• In heavy traffic
• When running late

Thinking Drivers Five Fundamentals of Defensive Driving:

• Think and Look Ahead
• How to use vision to effectively scan for existing hazards
• How to clear intersections
• How to anticipate and solve conflicts before they occur
• How to use mirrors effectively
• Anticipate Hazards
• How to apply advanced vision and observation to predict other driver actions
• How to recognize potential hazards in advance to provide time to react
• Keep Your Options Open
• How to create and maintain a vehicle safety zone around your vehicle as you maneuver through traffic
• How to calculate and evaluate the following distance
• How to develop a cushion of space and keep your options open
• Manage the Risk
• How to evaluate situations to assess relative risk and make decisions about how to reduce risk
• How to deal with tailgaters, aggressive drivers, and careless drivers
• Multiple simple tips, techniques, and habits that keep the professionals out of trouble
• Control with Finesse
• Fundamental skills to manage vehicle weight transfer to optimize traction and control
• How to use total control steering, an advanced steering technique
• How to optimize brake use to enhance safety while stopping and extending brake life
• How to manage acceleration to conserve fuel, balance vehicle weight, and move the vehicle forward smoothly.

This course includes a formal “driver quality assurance” assessment with a written report for training records.