The Art of Driving

Alan T. Sherman
August 21,1998

Driving is a complex dangerous activity that involves many skills, knowledge, responsibilities, adventure, and risks. The major elements of driving are:

1. Guidance. Sensing, signaling, reacting, accident avoidance. Defensive driving.

2. Navigation. Maps, directional awareness, reading and interpreting road signs, recovery from wrong turns, trip planning.

3. Maintenance. Responsibility for ensuring car is in safe, legal, and proper order. Carrying out and arranging for maintenance and repairs. This element requires some knowledge of how cars work. Routine inspection and maintenance. Trip preparation.

4. Passengers. Responsibility for all passengers and their behavior and safety.

5. Legal. Know the driving laws of your state.

6. Liability. A car is a heavy, high-speed, dangerous weapon that can cause serious damage to passengers, and to other cars, people, and property. You need to be adequately insured, especially for liability.

7. Health and Alertness. You cannot drive safely if you are tired, ill, have poor vision or hearing, intoxicated, or distracted.

8. Special Operational Skills. Parallel parking, driving in reverse, emergency braking, handling snow and ice, parking on a hill, driving in rain or fog, driving at night, driving in the mountains, defensive signaling, dealing with other drivers who act improperly.

9. Courtesy of the Road. Be aware, empathetic, courteous, and respectful of others. Control your temper and emotions.

10. Emergency Recovery. What to do when things go wrong (accidents, car breakdowns, getting lost, lockouts, flat tires and blowouts, brake failure, being followed by a suspicious vehicle, being stopped by a police officer, how to seek help).

11. Financial. Total cost of car ownership is expensive, and many people underestimate the total cost. Owning a car can cost about $5000 per year (about $14/day, or $0.33/mile assuming 15000 miles/year). This cost includes depreciation (~33%), repairs and maintenance (~33%), other [insurance, gas, parking, tolls, accessories, parts] (~34%), and less tangible costs such as time, inconvenience, downtime. Given these facts, periodic rentals at $35/day can be an attractive alternative to ownership for people who do not need a car frequently.

12. Judgment. Judgment is the most crucial aspect of driving. Bad judgment can kill and cause millions of dollars of damage. The reason so many teenagers have accidents is that they have poor judgment: they underestimate risk and they feel invincible. Safe drivers are conservative, responsible, courteous, and defensive.