Spencer McDonald

One driving attitude that can get us into trouble and stress us out is an obsession with getting around the guy in front of us. Do you need to be at the front of the line? Common sense tells us that there really is no front of the line to reach, so to try and get there by weaving through traffic and passing anyone in front of us is a losing proposition.

I'm a liar. There, I said it. I lie. I lie sometimes when I'm in a social situation and my line of work is questioned. If I know I’ll never see these folks again, I might just tell them that I'm a painter. “I paint houses” I might say.

I never made a conscious decision to take up this line of work. In fact, it all happened by chance and coincidence, as so many of life’s bigger decisions do; you reach a crossroads, a path opens up and you think, why not?

One driving attitude that can get us into trouble and stress us out is an obsession with getting around the guy in front of us. Do you need to be at the front of the line? Common sense tells us that there really is no front of the line to reach, so to try and get there by weaving through traffic and passing anyone in front of us is a losing proposition.

When we survey drivers during our training courses, we regularly have over 90% of participants rating themselves as better than average drivers. You probably fall into this group too. It’s almost certainly true; most of the time at least. I have conducted thousands of driving evaluations over 25 years and have run across very few really bad drivers.

There is only one fundamental goal in vehicle control for driving excellence whether it is for performance and racing, fuel economy and reduced wear and tear or enhanced safety. That goal is: drive with smoothness and finesse.

We used to play a video game called space invaders where you had to destroy little spaceships as they appeared on the screen. While it pales in comparison to today’s games, it was pretty hi tech for its time. Space invaders can be a problem when we are driving, too.

I'm not clairvoyant, but I can see into the future and so can you! The second Thinking Driver Fundamental is ANTICIPATE HAZARDS. (Editor’s  Note:  Visit www.ishn.com for Spencer McDonald’s  blog on the first fundamental, “Think and Look Ahead.”)