A Hurricane's Forgotten Danger - Driving Conditions

Pro Driver Shares 5 Ways To Be a Safer Driver Even in the Worst of Weather Situations

ATLANTA, July 8 -- They're Baaaackkk!

It's already a replay of the 2004 hurricane season: the Southeast targeted by tropical storms... headline winds, rain and damage... plus road conditions which even the most experienced drivers may have faced once or twice in a lifetime -- if ever.

Joe Foster is a veteran international race car driver and chief instructor for not only the Panoz Racing School but also the street driving school and teen safety programs at Road Atlanta in nearby Braselton. "Inexperience and inattention are two of THE major causes of accidents and driving fatalities -- and it's worse in severe weather."

If you can't stay home and ride it out, there are some things Foster says drivers can do to maximize their safety.

Lights on. Completely.

Daytime running lights typically are headlights-only. Full "lights-on" means drivers behind may see you earlier and from a greater distance -- in rain or broad daylight -- because your taillights are on, too.

Count "3."

A trained engineer, Foster teaches that "Following at safe distances triples your ability to escape danger by leaving precious room to maneuver left or right and for emergency braking." His rule-of-thumb is leaving one car length for every 10mph, a three-second interval between cars at highway speed. "Mathematically, rear-enders don't have to be driver error necessarily," he says. "In a string of 11 cars and assuming perfect braking reaction time of .3 seconds (to the brake lights directly in front of you), the 11th car inevitably must strike the 10th. Usually, these crashes begin at car three or four and the pileup continues, a combination of reaction times and insufficient interval."

Eliminate blind spots.

Adjusting rearview mirrors CORRECTLY for full 360-degree awareness eliminates that legendary "driver blind spot." Foster says "We're taught to adjust outside mirrors to see the edges of our car, but to eliminate blind spots and the need to check over our shoulder during a turn (more dangerous in severe weather), move the mirrors out and away just a bit. Sweep your vision left to right. You'll be able to see a full 360 degrees without turning your head. Practice to get used to the new technique before hitting the road."

Drive like a Top Gun

Combat pilots scan EVERYTHING, gauges included, every 5 to 7 seconds. "Try driving like a Top Gun," Foster says. "Drivers with a full 360-degree view, together with regular sweeps of the mirrors, gauges and the road ahead are gathering recent, complete data and taking in massive amounts of conscious information." Foster knows the technique delivers a hidden benefit. As a pro driver and racer, he knows that the Top Gun approach breeds a "subconscious situational awareness" which can result in quicker reaction times bordering on reflex which can "buy" a driver fractions of a second and precious margins of safety.

Look where you drive.

Foster says "We're drawn to stare at what we're afraid of or fascinated by. IN an emergency, that can be the car or tree just ahead. Because people subconsciously steer where they're looking, looking as far down the road as you can while making your Top Gun scans and then try to drive where you want to go."