Defensive driving

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Defensive driving… people had mixed reactions when I told them (animatedly) that I was attending the seminar. My officemates asked why I still needed to attend the class… the same one is offered at work. And a friend had a good laugh. :D

Anyway, there was no big reason why I attended it: I just went there for the fun of learning something new. For instance, there’s no such thing as beating the red light. It turns out that it’s impossible to beat the red light. Drivers beat the yellow light! But I digress from the point. The seminar turned out to be a refresher course to everything that I’ve learned while on the road; only this time, I was sitting in a classroom with other drivers who have driven for a longer time (and yet they were attending the seminar). And I was taking time to listen to a formal lecture about it.

So, what did I actually get during the seminar? The most important point of the lesson, aside from being reminded about proper behaviour on the road, was how to avoid being fooled by the officer who may flag me down in the future. No less than the chief of operations of the Land Transportation Office (region 4) provided us with a list of fines for specific violations. Thus, if a traffic enforcer flags me down and wants exorbitant fees, all I have to do is refer to the list… although I would rather prefer that I don’t get flagged down, ever!

Then, for the defensive driving part, the most important lesson I learned was NEVER INSIST ON THE RIGHT OF WAY. That’s when you know that doing so can put you and your passengers, and the other people on the road, in danger. Might as well yield or fully stop at an intersection than have a collision with another road user. :D

This morning proved to be fruitful. And I was able to remember, and to practice, that I should maintain a car’s length distance for every 15kph reading. So, when I had to drive at 75kph along the South Luzon Expressway en route from Alabang to Calamba this evening, I had to drive five cars’ length away from the vehicle in front.

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