Do It Yourself Space Cushion Driving

"A man who does not think for himself does not think at all" ~ Oscar Wilde

Everyone who has gone through Driver's Ed has most likely had the Smith System or a similar doctrine drummed into them. This starts at latest on the fourth day of the classroom phase and continues until the last minute of behind-the-wheel. Even old timers who were young during the '70's can remember at least one or two of the 5 keys of safe driving.

I don't want to list those keys here as they are registered trade marks of Smith Systems, Inc. If you want to review them all you have to do is click on the link above and they'll be there for you. Geez..I just checked it out. Even 5 keys is registered!

Anyway, of the 5 main points (see I stopped saying 'keys') my favorite is - Leave Yourself an...OOPS! Almost said the forbidden phrase!

Well, the gist of that particular forbidden phrase is to fight to keep a space cushion around your vehicle. The reason being that if you are not driving near anything you can't hit it and it can't hit you. Sounds like a good deal to me. One of my favorite sayings is:

"Space is your friend. Vehicles and objects on the roadway are your enemies. Stay away from them!"

So I'm really big on a minimum following distance of 4 seconds and I'm fast to get on a kid's case if her following distance gets any shorter than that. I'm also big on not travelling beside other vehicles for longer than necessary. After I've been working with a teen for two hours all I have to do is point at a car riding next to us and she'll respond with:

"Yeah, I know. Get rid of them." Then she eases off the gas pedal and let's it pull away from us and go bother someone else.

Now I discover in KICKING TIRES: THE BLOG FOR CAR BUYERS that Volvo is developing a system that monitors a car up to 19 feet in front of you at speeds of up to 18 mph and will either pre-charge the brakes so you can avoid the accident yourself or, if the car in front brakes suddenly, the system will fully apply the brakes for you.

I'm all for safety systems. I just hope that when "City Safety" is fielded that it doesn't create a sense of complacency in either younger or older drivers. I can just hear the kids now:

"I don't have to worry about following distance! The car will do that for me."

Yeah, right. Now tell me what happens when the driver behind you doesn't have the system.