Rule No.8

Keep calm.

Fear is not an option, especially when driving a car. The only way to avoid an accident is to remain calm. By this I mean not losing control when faced with a difficult or aggravating situation. It's more important to do the right thing and this sometimes requires thinking and quick reflexes, abilities that will be incapacitated when fearful or agitated.

The adjunct to this is anger, which I know could require a book to discuss. I know how easy it is to become furious with idiot drivers who seem to be driving without brains. They do stupid things like pull in front of you without signaling, pass on the wrong side, or pull out of a side street or driveway without looking, or follow too close, or . . . you get the idea. The problem with anger is that it robs you of reason and good judgment, and that could lead to an accident.

So, how does one remain calm in these typically aggravating situations? That's not easy to answer, but the best way is to remember that the only thing that matters is not getting into an accident. When you react violently to an idiot driver you only compound the situation.

The best way to avoid losing your cool is to not be in a hurry. This sounds stupid but it's true. Benjamin Franklin once said: Haste makes waste. This is particularly true of driving. Having to be in a hurry often leads to poor choices and risk taking, both causes of accidents. The best solution to not having to hurry is to start out earlier and take your time. Your blood pressure will remain lower and you won't do stupid things behind the wheel.

A major part of driving calmly is to anticipate other drivers' mistakes. This takes experience, but with time you will learn to know when some idiot is going to do the wrong thing, and the best part is that you will adjust to accommodate his or her mistake.

Now, we come to the inevitable, which is driving in bad conditions like snow or heavy rain. I would throw in fog and high winds (especially with a high profile vehicle) into this discussion. The worst problem that a new driver faces is driving on snow and ice covered roads. Unfortunately, these weather conditions are a fact of life for those of us living in climates that have true winters. Here again, it takes experience.

How you handle steering on ice or snow depends on what kind of car your driving. If it's a rear wheel driven car, you must adjust for the fact that the back of the car will swing out depending on how you're trying to turn. This kind of situation is called over steer, which means the car has a tendency to swing out too much and go into a spin. You adjust this condition by backing off of the accelerator and turning into the direction of the spin.

A front wheel driven car will under steer, which means that the car doesn't want to turn and keeps sliding forward. The only solution to this situation is to try to stop so that you can turn the car's wheels in the direction you want to go.
The best way to learn how to drive on ice and snow is to go to an empty parking lot and practice doing it. The main thing is to remain calm and let your instincts work for you.

Heavy rain requires trying to maintain vision ahead. Make sure your windshield wipers are in good shape and slow down. Most places require you to have your lights on when using your wipers.

Heavy fog is especially dangerous. Heavy often has this same blinding effect. The only solution in this case is slow down but never stop on a highway. Get off if you can't see where you're going. The last thing that you want to do in the above conditions is stop on the road. Other drivers won't see you and you'll get hit from the rear. Always get off the road when you have to stop for any situation.

Thanks for reading.