North Carolina Driver
Education Resource Guide
North Carolina Department of
Public Instruction
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
1
UNIT FIVEDRIVING SYSTEMS
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
2
Skills of the driving task
Physical-coordination with the vehicle
Social-interaction with other highway users
MentalUnderstanding the motor-vehicle
Perception based on stored knowledge
Understanding traffic laws
Judging time/space relationships
Concentration on task
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
3
Causes of most motor vehicle
accidents.
Of the three components of
the highway transportation
system, 90-95% of
accidents are caused by
human error.
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
4
Steps of the Smith System
A. Aim high in steering. Look 12-15 seconds ahead of your vehicle.
B. Keep your eyes moving. Move your sight to critical areas in an
orderly visual search pattern.
C. Get the big picture. Know everything around your vehicle that may
affect you.
D. Make sure others see you. Many accidents are caused by
inattention. Make sure
other highway users see you by using your lights, horn and even
driving a bright colored vehicle. Studies show daytime running lights
reduce accidents by 7%.
E. Leave yourself an out. Make sure to avoid collision traps. Do not
leave your safety up to other drivers. You should always be able to get
away from other highway users. Always leave an escape path for any
mistakes you or others may make.
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
5
Safe driving
Traction
Time
Space
Visibility
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
6
Unsafe driving acts
•driving too fast
driving too close
inattention/distraction
right of way violations
sign non-observance
over estimating their ability while
under estimating the risk
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
7
Eye lead-time
how far you are looking down the road
When aiming high in steering, you are keeping
track of 12-15 seconds in front of your vehicle
most drivers look only 3-5 seconds down the road
research has shown that 80% of collisions could
have been avoided had drivers had one more
second to react
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
8
Safe following distance
Following distance should be at least two to
three seconds behind the vehicle in front
under ideal conditions.
As the vehicle in front passes a fixed object,
your vehicle should not get to that spot for
at lest two to three seconds.
In poor weather or road conditions, increase
the time and distance between you and the
other vehicles.
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
9
Ways to deal with vehicles
following too closely
A. Move over/change lanes
B. Slow down/pullover encouraging
them to pass
C. Tap your brake lights to alert the
driver behind
D. Signal your turns early/slow down
early
E. Don't anger the following driver
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
10
Orderly visual search pattern.
An orderly visual search pattern consists of looking at all the
traffic information in a systematic fashion.
Look 12-15 seconds ahead of your vehicle, to the front and
sides, scanning for anything that might come in front of your
vehicle.
Check mirrors on a regular basis.
Keep track of all vehicles behind and around you in other lanes
of traffic.
Check your vehicle instruments as necessary. This means
knowing what the gauges and controls should be and what to
do when a gauge is not reading normally.
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
11
IPDE process
The IPDE process is a way for highway users to better process
the information available to them.
I - Identify With your eyes moving and getting the big picture,
you learn to identify potential hazards in the traffic scene.
P - Predict Predicting potential conflicts are critical to collision
free driving. Many drivers do not realize the risk of a collision
until it is too late. Drivers must always be vigilant, predicting
"worse case scenarios".
D - Decide Decide what to do if the worst case comes true
E - Execute Execute your decision to slow down, change lanes
or flash lights. These are other actions to minimize the risk of
a collision.
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
12
How drivers sort information
Drivers must sort information as to
importance and then decide what things to
deal with first.
This ability to differentiate hazards is critical
to collision free driving.
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
13
Perception
Perception is the brain's
interpretation of what the eyes see.
We interpret based on previous
experience and knowledge.
That is why experience is critical to
perception.
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
14
Separating hazards
Separating hazards is
predicting hazards ahead of
you and adjusting your speed
or direction to get to them
individually instead of all at
once.
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
15
Compromising lane position
Compromising lane positions
is to change lanes or even
moving over to give more
clearance between your
vehicle and other highway
users.
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
16
Ways to communicate with
other HTS issues
Horn
Lights
Hand motions
Turn signal
Brake lights
Hazard lights
Unit 5 Driving
Systems
North Carolina Driver and Traffic
Safety Education Association
17