Driving Tips From the Police
05-25-07, 04:04 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
Driving Tips From the Police
Some interesting driving tips from the people who do it for a living. While I don't entirely agree with the shuffle-steer one, for the most part part, they are good tips and make sense.
http://autos.aol.com/article/safety/...22141809990001
Drive Like a Cop
By JOE HOLLINGSWORTH
The FBI says police officers are about as likely to be killed in a vehicle crash as with a criminal's gun. Cops drive in a high-threat, workload-intensive environment: blaring sirens, flashing computers, screaming radios, civilian drivers seemingly bent on kamikaze attacks, and, at their destination, angry bad guys who don't particularly respect public servants. All reasons that cops take driving very seriously. With feedback from officers in the field, law enforcement driving instructors have compiled numerous tips to help their students avoid becoming a statistic. Here, we pass those along to you.
Airbags save lives, but many a police officer has been unnecessarily injured because their hands were over the airbag when it went off. At the school for law enforcement driving instructors I recently attended, the story was told of an officer who was driving with his wrist draped over the top of the steering wheel. His attention was diverted by the in-car computer and he smashed into a car that suddenly pulled in front of him: the deploying airbag broke his lower arm and caused his own hand to break out his front teeth. While driving straight, police instructors say that your hands should be at 3 and 9 o'clock on the steering wheel. If you MUST be lazy, try 4 and 8 o'clock. Also, the police instructors say, learn the "shuffle steering" technique where the left hand never ventures to the right side of the wheel and vice versa. To turn right, first pull down with the right hand. Next release the right hand grip while pushing up with the left hand and raising the right hand up to grab more wheel. Repeat. With practice, it's possible to drive as fast as possible through the tightest course without your hands going above 10 and 2.
Side Windows
Side windows should be all the way up or all the way down. Imagine a pane of glass, edge on, banging into your temple. Now picture a side-impact car crash that snaps your neck against a partially open side window. A guillotine is only slightly more efficient. Because few officers enjoy collecting dismembered body parts from the roadway, your side windows should be all the way up or all the way down. For vehicles with side windows that don't go below the top of the door, this means "all the way up all the time." Fully raised is preferable over fully lowered because it's far better to hit your head against the raised side glass than, say, the brush guard of the SUV that T-boned you in the door.
Lock Your Doors
Preventing carjacking is but a side benefit of this tip. A closed car door will help keep your arms, legs and head inside the vehicle. Police driving instructors claim that a locked door is 10 times more likely to stay closed in a crash. The incredible forces in a wreck mean that even belted occupants can be partially ejected if the doors fly open. In secondary impacts, flopping heads can be smashed against the roadway and dangling limbs can be ripped off. Makes a carjacking seem like a desirable experience, no?
Back In
Since about one-third of driving incidents involving officers on duty occur when the cruiser is in reverse, cops are instructed to back into parking spaces when they're not under pressure. You should do the same thing. The main advantage for you is that it's much easier to see -- and avoid -- cross traffic when pulling forward out of a parking space. Ever park between two giant SUVs? As you backed blindly out, your car was perhaps two-thirds into the traffic lane before you could see around the behemoths. When responding to an emergency call, cops can't, or don't, take time to back out slowly. Crunch! Since police have no more right to leave the scene of an accident than you, if their brother officer was getting a butt kicking, he'll have to hope someone else responds to the call for backup.
Back Up
Since so many cop crashes occur while reversing, officers do a LOT of backing up in their driver-training courses. You should, too. Find an empty parking lot. Using traffic cones, PVC pipe, or soft drink cans, mark a 9-foot wide parking space that "T"s into an 8-foot-wide traffic lane. (Hint: Put a little extra fudge room opposite the parking space.) Practice backing down the lane and in and out of the parking space. Police driving courses add a backward slalom. In cop-driving-school, if you're moving backward, you must be looking backward: to check your car's nose or look through the outside mirrors, you must come to a complete stop. (Imagine having a highway patrolman inside your car assessing if all motion has ceased. Trust me, that's pressure.) Here's the technique: grasp the steering wheel between your thumb and forefinger at 12 o'clock (the airbag won't go off in reverse), grab the passenger's seatback with your right hand, and, in order to see well out the rear window, raise yourself up by pushing your left foot against the floorboard.
Right Foot Only
Police driving instructors, seeking ways to reduce the overload, insist that their students brake with only their right foot. The instructors also say that in a panic, some left-foot brakers push both the gas and the brake to the floor; not the optimum technique for a short stop. The other side of the coin is that a vast majority of race car drivers brake with their left foot. The police instructors and I found common ground: Left-foot braking is a legitimate advanced technique, but one that's far too advanced for the vast majority of Americans.
The Fog Line
Ever been driving down a two-lane road at night and the other driver failed to dim his brights? Here's what you do: switch on the blues, take-downs, and hi-lo siren, do a quick U-turn and bust the snap. But, if you lack the authority to do that, instead focus on the white "fog line" along the right side of the road. Keep track of the high-beam birdbrain with your peripheral vision. If you allow the bright lights to ruin your night vision, it will take between four and seven seconds for it to recover. By keeping your eyes averted to the right, you'll limit the damage to your night vision.
Preserve your night vision by turning down the dash lights to the minimum required to safely read the speedometer. It's much more important to see what's outside the car. Over-bright dash lights do nothing save hurt your night vision.
Final Tip
Here's a final tip: if you see blue lights in your mirror, pull to the right immediately. If they're for you, stop immediately. Turn on your interior lights and place both hands on the wheel. Answer all questions with either "Yes, officer." or "No, officer." Have a nice day.
http://autos.aol.com/article/safety/...22141809990001
Drive Like a Cop
By JOE HOLLINGSWORTH
The FBI says police officers are about as likely to be killed in a vehicle crash as with a criminal's gun. Cops drive in a high-threat, workload-intensive environment: blaring sirens, flashing computers, screaming radios, civilian drivers seemingly bent on kamikaze attacks, and, at their destination, angry bad guys who don't particularly respect public servants. All reasons that cops take driving very seriously. With feedback from officers in the field, law enforcement driving instructors have compiled numerous tips to help their students avoid becoming a statistic. Here, we pass those along to you.
Airbags save lives, but many a police officer has been unnecessarily injured because their hands were over the airbag when it went off. At the school for law enforcement driving instructors I recently attended, the story was told of an officer who was driving with his wrist draped over the top of the steering wheel. His attention was diverted by the in-car computer and he smashed into a car that suddenly pulled in front of him: the deploying airbag broke his lower arm and caused his own hand to break out his front teeth. While driving straight, police instructors say that your hands should be at 3 and 9 o'clock on the steering wheel. If you MUST be lazy, try 4 and 8 o'clock. Also, the police instructors say, learn the "shuffle steering" technique where the left hand never ventures to the right side of the wheel and vice versa. To turn right, first pull down with the right hand. Next release the right hand grip while pushing up with the left hand and raising the right hand up to grab more wheel. Repeat. With practice, it's possible to drive as fast as possible through the tightest course without your hands going above 10 and 2.
Side Windows
Side windows should be all the way up or all the way down. Imagine a pane of glass, edge on, banging into your temple. Now picture a side-impact car crash that snaps your neck against a partially open side window. A guillotine is only slightly more efficient. Because few officers enjoy collecting dismembered body parts from the roadway, your side windows should be all the way up or all the way down. For vehicles with side windows that don't go below the top of the door, this means "all the way up all the time." Fully raised is preferable over fully lowered because it's far better to hit your head against the raised side glass than, say, the brush guard of the SUV that T-boned you in the door.
Lock Your Doors
Preventing carjacking is but a side benefit of this tip. A closed car door will help keep your arms, legs and head inside the vehicle. Police driving instructors claim that a locked door is 10 times more likely to stay closed in a crash. The incredible forces in a wreck mean that even belted occupants can be partially ejected if the doors fly open. In secondary impacts, flopping heads can be smashed against the roadway and dangling limbs can be ripped off. Makes a carjacking seem like a desirable experience, no?
Back In
Since about one-third of driving incidents involving officers on duty occur when the cruiser is in reverse, cops are instructed to back into parking spaces when they're not under pressure. You should do the same thing. The main advantage for you is that it's much easier to see -- and avoid -- cross traffic when pulling forward out of a parking space. Ever park between two giant SUVs? As you backed blindly out, your car was perhaps two-thirds into the traffic lane before you could see around the behemoths. When responding to an emergency call, cops can't, or don't, take time to back out slowly. Crunch! Since police have no more right to leave the scene of an accident than you, if their brother officer was getting a butt kicking, he'll have to hope someone else responds to the call for backup.
Back Up
Since so many cop crashes occur while reversing, officers do a LOT of backing up in their driver-training courses. You should, too. Find an empty parking lot. Using traffic cones, PVC pipe, or soft drink cans, mark a 9-foot wide parking space that "T"s into an 8-foot-wide traffic lane. (Hint: Put a little extra fudge room opposite the parking space.) Practice backing down the lane and in and out of the parking space. Police driving courses add a backward slalom. In cop-driving-school, if you're moving backward, you must be looking backward: to check your car's nose or look through the outside mirrors, you must come to a complete stop. (Imagine having a highway patrolman inside your car assessing if all motion has ceased. Trust me, that's pressure.) Here's the technique: grasp the steering wheel between your thumb and forefinger at 12 o'clock (the airbag won't go off in reverse), grab the passenger's seatback with your right hand, and, in order to see well out the rear window, raise yourself up by pushing your left foot against the floorboard.
Right Foot Only
Police driving instructors, seeking ways to reduce the overload, insist that their students brake with only their right foot. The instructors also say that in a panic, some left-foot brakers push both the gas and the brake to the floor; not the optimum technique for a short stop. The other side of the coin is that a vast majority of race car drivers brake with their left foot. The police instructors and I found common ground: Left-foot braking is a legitimate advanced technique, but one that's far too advanced for the vast majority of Americans.
The Fog Line
Ever been driving down a two-lane road at night and the other driver failed to dim his brights? Here's what you do: switch on the blues, take-downs, and hi-lo siren, do a quick U-turn and bust the snap. But, if you lack the authority to do that, instead focus on the white "fog line" along the right side of the road. Keep track of the high-beam birdbrain with your peripheral vision. If you allow the bright lights to ruin your night vision, it will take between four and seven seconds for it to recover. By keeping your eyes averted to the right, you'll limit the damage to your night vision.
Preserve your night vision by turning down the dash lights to the minimum required to safely read the speedometer. It's much more important to see what's outside the car. Over-bright dash lights do nothing save hurt your night vision.
Final Tip
Here's a final tip: if you see blue lights in your mirror, pull to the right immediately. If they're for you, stop immediately. Turn on your interior lights and place both hands on the wheel. Answer all questions with either "Yes, officer." or "No, officer." Have a nice day.
Last edited by mmarshall; 05-25-07 at 04:07 PM.
05-25-07, 07:29 PM
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Since about one-third of driving incidents involving officers on duty occur when the cruiser is in reverse, cops are instructed to back into parking spaces when they're not under pressure. You should do the same thing.
Since about one-third of driving incidents involving officers on duty occur when the cruiser is in reverse, cops are instructed to back into parking spaces when they're not under pressure. You should do the same thing.
05-25-07, 08:47 PM
#3
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I back into parking space whenever I can, you become good at it if you do it often.
Driver's licensing tests in certain jurisdictions actually requires you to back into parking spaces during the test to make sure you're good at it.
Driver's licensing tests in certain jurisdictions actually requires you to back into parking spaces during the test to make sure you're good at it.
05-26-07, 05:28 AM
#6
Super Moderator
I am a left foot braker, but I have been doing that since I got my learner's permit at 15, and was also doing it even on go karts before that and NOT ONCE, have I ever mistaken one pedal for the other.
05-26-07, 05:38 AM
#7
I back into stalls whenver possible. I've just been doing it for years so it is not big deal.
I mostly right foot brake, but I can and do left foot brake whenever I feel like it.
For a while now I changed to the 3/9 hand position because of the airbag. I don't always have my hands in those positions, but is where I try to put it most of the time.
I mostly right foot brake, but I can and do left foot brake whenever I feel like it.
For a while now I changed to the 3/9 hand position because of the airbag. I don't always have my hands in those positions, but is where I try to put it most of the time.
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05-26-07, 06:12 AM
#8
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I don't care for the shuffle-steer method; to me it seems awkwards. However, they are correct that if you don't use this method, it does place your hands, wrist, and forearm more at risk if the airbag pops. Because both of my hands are so big, I usually wrap both hands around the wheel where the spokes come in (On most Subarus it is at 9 and 3 o'clock....the outer spokes serve as an additional grab point) and just flip the wheel over in turns. That's one reason why I don't like control buttons on the outer spokes...my hands would sometimes cover them and press one indvertantly.
I agree that backing in is no big deal, and preferable in most cases to pulling in. Some cars have automatic tilt-down mirrors and cameras to make this easier.....you can always tilt the mirrors down yourself if your car doesn't have these. As Robarapta said, some jurisdiction require you to have a certain amount of back-in skills to get a license.
Just an aside note......on every car I review, when I get back to its parking space, I back it in to test its reverse manuverability.
I agree that backing in is no big deal, and preferable in most cases to pulling in. Some cars have automatic tilt-down mirrors and cameras to make this easier.....you can always tilt the mirrors down yourself if your car doesn't have these. As Robarapta said, some jurisdiction require you to have a certain amount of back-in skills to get a license.
Just an aside note......on every car I review, when I get back to its parking space, I back it in to test its reverse manuverability.
05-26-07, 07:22 AM
#9
I can do left foot braking, but most of the time I don't (cuz my left foot is usually asleep on the dead pedal 
)
If it's appropriate, I can back into a parking space, although I really do need to tilt down the passenger mirror to do so. Most of the time I front park though
.
Driver's ed taught shuffle steering, but I don't like it and don't usually do it in normal driving. In fact, most of my normal driving is done solely with my left hand. Hard/aggressive driving is done with two hands at 10 and 2 (since that's where the spokes on my non-sport steerig wheel fall).
)If it's appropriate, I can back into a parking space, although I really do need to tilt down the passenger mirror to do so. Most of the time I front park though
.Driver's ed taught shuffle steering, but I don't like it and don't usually do it in normal driving. In fact, most of my normal driving is done solely with my left hand. Hard/aggressive driving is done with two hands at 10 and 2 (since that's where the spokes on my non-sport steerig wheel fall).
05-26-07, 11:10 AM
#11
Drive like a cop?
You mean run through red light, make erratic turns whenever I want?
I don't have red and blue sirens to do those!
I kid, I kid...some of those are good tips though.
I can't seem to feel comfortable driving with 2 hands. It's not a cool factor or anything, just never used to it.
The time I use 2 hands is when I'm in the carpool lane close to the wall and the roads are uneven
I don't remember Driver's Ed. class ever teaching left foot braking at all.
You mean run through red light, make erratic turns whenever I want?
I don't have red and blue sirens to do those!
I kid, I kid...some of those are good tips though.
I can't seem to feel comfortable driving with 2 hands. It's not a cool factor or anything, just never used to it.
The time I use 2 hands is when I'm in the carpool lane close to the wall and the roads are uneven
I don't remember Driver's Ed. class ever teaching left foot braking at all.
05-26-07, 01:34 PM
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05-26-07, 02:34 PM
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I don't think I'd pull over to the right for a cop immediately unless it were a marked car. Unmarked car and I'd hit the flashers and then call the station and let them know I'm only pulling over at a brightly lit place.
05-26-07, 03:16 PM
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Aslo,about the shuffle steering, I never dirve with 2 hands because its not comfitable to me. I do ho ever do the shuffle steering when i'm on a track. Anywhere from go-karts to when I'm autocrossing or driting.
Last edited by DriftNsc3; 05-26-07 at 03:23 PM.
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