Driver Education

1
Driver Education

• Day 9
• Light and Weather Conditions
• Sharing the Road

2
Low Light and Night

• Ability to see and be seen diminishes with lower
  light levels
• Curves and off road areas are hard to see at
  night
• Glare of other headlights can be distracting and
  blinding
• Lights required 1/2 hour after sunset and 1/2
  hour before sunrise

3
Low Light and Night...

• Leave more distance between you and others
• use bright lights only when no one else is around
• Dont overdrive your headlights
• Look beyond your headlights

4
Bright Light and Glare

• Sun is most dangerous in early morning or late
  afternoon
• Makes it harder to see and be seen
• Make sure you windows are clean
• Have sunglasses available
• use you SIPDE
• Use hand signals in conjunction with turn signals
  and brake lights

5
Rain and Snow

• Snow and Rain can severely limit visibility
• Prepare by making sure car is prepared
• Allow and extra margin of safety
• Drive in the tracks of vehicle ahead of you
• Give plenty of advanced notice
• Be alert
• use low beam headlights
• accelerate, decelerate, turn easily

6
Rain and Snow...

• Plan in advance and anticipate situations that
  can create skids
• 1st 10-15 minutes the roads are the slickest due
  to moisture mixing with dirt and oil to form a
  slippery film
• Hydroplaning is when the car completely loses
  contact with the road
• Reduce hydroplaning by cutting speed by 1/3

7
Other Hazardous Weather Conditions

• Fog
• must use headlights
• can occur without warning
• may fog up the inside of windshield
• Dust
• Use headlights
• avoid driving if possible
• Wind
• Bridges, trucks, tunnels can cause problems

8
Pedestrians and Animals

• 8000 pedestrians killed 80000 injured each year
• Jaywalking is crossing without regard to traffic
  rules or signals
• Children are harder to see and less capable of
  judging when to cross
• Adults assume cars always will see them
• Use SIPDE to help manage pedestrians

9
Pedestrians and Animals...

• Pedestrians are more likely to be killed in the
  rural areas than urban areas
• Small animals- consider consequences of avoiding
  them verses hitting them
• Large animals may kill you if struck
• Use SIPDE to help with animals

10
Motorcycles and Bicycles

• Two wheeled vehicles are harder to see
• They are less stable
• Give them plenty of room when passing
• Cyclists will react differently to road
  conditions than cars
• Cyclists have less protection in accidents
• Motorcycles can accelerate and decelerate faster
  than a car
• Cyclists follow the same rules as cars

11
Other vehicles

• Trucks can be 120 feet long and 60 tons
• Trucks can see for long distances ahead but have
  large blind spots along the sides, behind and
  immediately in front of the truck
• Watch for pedestrians and children around buses
  and bus stops
• School busses
• Small cars have less power and less control

12
Other Vehicles...

• Emergency vehicles - must pull over when you see
  flashing lights
• Snowmobiles- are like cycles
• RVs - difficulty in high winds
• Ice Cream trucks - watch for little kids
• maintenance - keep you distance
• SMV - try to anticipate actions before passing

13
Railroad Crossings

• Stop no closer than 15 feet of tracks when train
  is approaching
• Must stop when lights are flashing
• Can not go around gates
• If car stalls check for trains and push car off
  tracks.