What separates a good driver from a bad driver? His ability to react to any situation without panicking, in a calm and assertive manner. Driving a car involves more than just knowing the road signs or getting behind the wheel of one. To become a truly good driver, there are a couple of things you should know and/or do.? We?re not even talking about adhering to the speed limits or avoiding driving when sleep.
Here are the best ways you can improve your everyday driving skills to become a better driver.
How to Become a Better Driver
Know when to brake/accelerate
Most beginners struggle with this a lot, but we?ve seen drivers with over 30 years of experience failing to implement it as well. The concept is really simple. Rather than constantly speeding up or slowing down, by looking at the road ahead and monitoring the situation, you?re able to avoid unnecessary braking or sudden bursts of acceleration just to make up for the fact that you just braked. It doesn?t just waste more fuel, but it makes for an uncomfortable ride for anyone inside the car. Smooth power application as well as progressive brake pedal modulation go a long way to making you a driving god.
Understand your car
Vehicles differ greatly from one another, and we?re not just talking about makes or specific models. A pickup truck will have next to no similarities with a low two-seater coupe, meaning you have to adapt to the vehicle you?re driving, not the other way around. The best way to understand how your car behaves is to go to a driving course or even a track, and find out yourself. Front-wheel cars for instance tend to understeer at the limit, whereas rear-wheel drive oversteers. Lifting your foot off the accelerator in a front-wheel drive car for instance, if it starts to oversteer, can just further cause it to over-rotate. Applying the throttle, although counter-intuitive, will get the car back straight. These are things which one can only learn through driving courses and/or track days.
Driving Position
It?s important that you get the driving position just right. It can dictate how well you can control your car in hazardous situations. Make sure you?re sitting comfortably, with your left foot extending almost all the way when depressing the clutch (if it?s a manual), and your hands resting by the wrists on the top of the steering wheel when fully extended. Adjust the side rear-view mirrors properly such that you can see your car at the corner of the mirror, without pointing them too much inwards.
Practice
As with anything, practicing is key. Whether it?s smooth power application, parallel parking or even progressive braking. Keep going at it and eventually you?ll master all the categories.
Make sure to visit East Hills Chevrolet of Roslyn for more great driving tips, and feel free to check out their entire inventory of new and used vehicles at amazing affordable deals!
