DRIVE ON promotes safe and courteous driving as a skill that can dramatically reduce accidents. It advocates that, by becoming a safer and more courteous driver a person can enhance their quality of life and even refine their own character.
The book is not a compendium of information that you can obtain from your state's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) or Motor Vehicles Administration (MVA). It starts where drivers' manuals leave off. It sensitizes you to critical safety issues of which you may be only superficially aware. It explains how being courteous is an essential safety measure. It offers numerous techniques and examples that you can use to become a safer and more courteous driver.
DRIVE ON has a lot to offer all drivers, including:
• New
• Novice – less than one year experience
• Prospective – taking driving lessons towards earning their license
• Experienced
• Professional
DRIVE ON has seven sections.
Section I – Safety in a Nutshell - discusses why accidents happen and what it means to be a safe driver. It explains the connection between driving 'style', character, and quality of life. It emphasizes the attitude needed to improve and the value of refining or updating your driving skills with a professional instructor even (long) after you obtain your license.
Section II – Vices and Virtues - describes good and poor manners on the road. It discusses how courtesy and etiquette are essential safety measures. It offers examples of thoughtless and rude behaviors.
Section III – Skill Building - aims to develop good driving skills such as situational awareness, alerting yourself to potential risks, employing safety margins, and driving defensively. It briefly discusses the role of current and emerging safety technologies.
Section IV – Accident Prone - describes circumstances that make the driver prone to accidents. It addresses the importance, yet difficulty, of gauging and communicating intentions, both yours and those of other drivers. It describes distractions and situations where distractions are common. It details dangerous behaviors and their good counterparts.
Section V – Keeping Others Safe - discusses how to keep pedestrians, cyclists, highway workers, and security and emergency personnel safe. It presents many examples of common driver behaviors that jeopardize their safety.
Section VI – Driving Improvement Planning - provides practical advice on how to improve your driving. It includes recognizing that when you drive, you are role modeling behavior, whether you intend to or not. It describes how to put together an improvement plan and chart your progress. It gives guidance on how to overcome obstacles to improving.
Section VII – Epilogue – provides parting guidance and perspective.
