Hazard routine is a fundamental aspect of safe driving skills when earning to drive in the UK. These are important to know for your driving lessons. As hazards appear as irregularities in the road, they should be anticipated properly and contextually. These include when you need barriers on the road, parked vehicles, junctions, particular events, and so forth. The best anticipation is to practice the hazard routine as a drill when learning to drive on the road. You can find excellent resources including driving instructor lesson plans to help you learn to become a good driver. There is also a learn to drive app available from Google Play store.
Dealing with hazards safely requires a set of manoeuvre skills you should comprehend in sequences. The basic set is the Mirrors Signal Manoeuvre(MSM) with the main goal of making the right turn over the hazard. You’d learn it from driving lessons but you need to practice it.
Mirroring
Mirroring refers to the first action you should take once you notice the hazards on the road before confronting them at an even closer distance. You have to check your mirror to quickly observe any vehicle or object behind you. It takes one or two seconds so you can decide whether it’s safe to perform your particular manoeuvre. Don’t take any manoeuvre without checking your mirror as you’d never know whether a vehicle is passing yours.
Signalling
As you’ve checked your mirror and found it safe for manoeuvre, figure out whether there are other drivers or road users you need to inform about the action you want to perform. You can use brake lights, emergency lamps, arm or other appropriate signals that are relevant to your actions. This way, drivers behind you can get the first warning and can anticipate your next moves. It’s not necessary if you’ve found your
behind is clear but it’s still a good practice. You should recheck your mirror to see whether other drivers accept and react towards your signaling.
Positioning
When checking the mirror, the safety measure should cover the direction or position of where you want to move to. At this point, you need to ensure that you can move into that position safely considering what you’ve found and judged in the first, second, or even third mirror checking.
Gearing and Speed Management
Footbrake allows you to manage speed before you can change into a lower gear to get the advantage of the engine brake. This way, you can maintain a safe distance before the hazard in front of you. There are chances that your speed is too high as you realize they’re rushed. Before performing your manoeuver, do the final observation of your surroundings. After this set of actions, you can complete your manoeuver.
Actions in Sequences
The best practice of hazard routine is to comprehend actions in sequences like taught at any driving school in the UK. You need to constantly look out for other drivers and road users regardless of what vehicles they’re riding. While there’s no exact number of mirror checking, you should do it at least three times in a quick manner. Despite what you do, you should practically weigh how other drivers react to your manoeuvre and vice versa. With this practice, you can comprehend all necessary information to make and execute proper actions when dealing with any hazard in front of you.