Sunday 8 March 2020

Defensive driving as a bioptic driver – do it!


A bit of delay on posts these days but nonetheless the good stuff is coming!

Just as I got my provisional drivers licence in 2017 I booked myself into a defensive driving course.  Why? Well I always want to learn anything that will help me with safe driving practices.

This is something I really do recommended to anyone whom first gets their licence – that is EVERYONE!  Probably even good if you get a new car too to see how it handles.

So what do you learn at these sorts of courses?  Check out this website of the course I attended:

As a first time driver I was excited to learn how my car behaves and techniques in common situations I might get myself into trouble.  Just a few things we did:
·      Emergency braking
·      Swerving
·      Braking at speed on the side of the road
·      Behaviour of car on the skidpan – in the wet, with and without traction control.

In addition to these practical matters, we were also taught theory on numerous matters that you don’t get told when you learn to drive and are really valuable!

As an example, did you know that we all (disability or not) have a blind spot in the middle of our eye where the optic nerve connects and that this means when we are at an intersection looking to the right and left, we may not see an oncoming car because it is in our blind spot?  One other blind spot in this scenario you may be aware of is the windscreen side panels.  So to compensate for these you can move your head side to side and up and down so your eyes have different views and this helps mitigate vision loss in those blind spots.  Try it!  Tell me what you think?

So what did we do?

This is a video of me driving up to 60km/hr, then emergency breaking on a bend.  So behind each of these sessions, the instructor would explain what we are doing, the principle learning outputs, how to do the activity and then demonstrate.



Here is a video of me emergency breaking on the side the road, half gravel and half road surface.  You can hear the instructor talking to me about technique.  This activity helped me feel how the car behaves when traction is different on either side of the car and how I need to handle the steering wheel to keep the car stable.



As a person with disability and bioptic driver I have additional challenges.  I recognise this and felt this course would be an excellent environment to be taught some things of what not to do and what to do in a controlled setting.  I also felt tentative.  I knew I would be the first bioptic driver the trainers and classmates had ever seen and just like anything I have done in the mainstream.  I got the feeling the instructors were a little tentative with my presence so I did what I could be open and honest about my vision, barriers and support I needed.  As an example, when at distance the instructor motioned to the driver to ‘go’ I asked they use their whole arm for that motion rather than just a small motion.  This allowed me to see the arm movement through my bioptic at a distance.  You can see this in the above video.

Lastly, the skidpan!  Sure it’s a load of fun!  But it’s also a serious learning platform and boy of boy I did love learning here.  These activities assisted me in learning how to control the car around bends in the wet, accelerating into the corner, braking but not stopping and maintaining direction.  We did this with the traction control on and then off.



You should also be aware sometimes you may be tested as a driver without knowing you will be tested!  At the end of my skidpan session I was asked to park my car, and then asked to move it after I had gotten out and walked inside.  They were making sure I was complying to conditions of my licence, i.e. even though I was moving only five meters, I needed to ensure I put on my bioptic and seat belt.  A reminder all, ALWAYS wear your bioptic and comply with your licence conditions!  Here is a video:



Driving is a privilege, not a right.  We know this just as much as anyone as in many of our cases as people with disability we have had to fight so hard to do something we know we can but just differently. In my view I believe these defensive driving courses should be mandatory for ALL people whom have just moved to their provisional licence.

It also shouldn’t be reserved for those whom have done something wrong on the road too.  In my class one teen driver shared a story where she was driving on a two-lane road, indicated to change lanes, moved over and smashed into the car in the blind spot.  She did not do a head check, was travelling down a slight decline and both cars were written off.  This incident left an indelible mark on her psyche and she was scared to drive.  This stuff does happen, lets make sure as people with disability it is not us whom are doing these things.  Lets also make sure its not us whom were not prepared for the car moving mover into our lane and get hit.  I can say this has nearly happened on the road to me which meant I had to brake slightly in a safe manner being aware of the position of the traffic around me whilst beeping my horn to stop the person from moving over – they heard my horn, obviously got scared themselves as their car swayed from side to side as they over corrected the steering wheel to get back into their lane.  This stuff happens - don’t let it be you.  There are heaps of things we can learn as drivers that impact driver behaviour to create safer driving practices and you’ll learn much by attending one of these courses.

Even if you are just looking for something get to know your car better and testing your driving boundaries, then give this a go.  Might scare the pants off some but, better it happens in this controlled setting so you are taught what to do in case it happens out there on the road.  You’ll love it!


2 comments:

  1. Hi,
    Very nicely captured.
    Could you please let me know that is there any restriction on your drivers licence like day time driving only or restriction to drive from your home up to a certain distance?

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    Replies
    1. Non of the above restrictions. Usually those are applied in the first year or so of bioptic driving or with persons living with a degenerative eye condition. I do have conditions on my licence that I must wear my bioptic and wear tints during day light.

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