Driving Schools Need to Educate on Driver Fatigue

A study by Virginia Tech Transportation concluded that driving fatigue is the major villain behind 20 percent of traffic mishaps. Feeling exhausted while driving is a situation most drivers have experienced at one time or another. Driver fatigue often hits us during long drives through monotonous stretches of roads.

Driving tired makes a driver unresponsive or poorly responsive to situations developing on the road. Drivers must be made aware of this danger and media and other agencies need to educate people about the dangers of driving while sleep deprived. Luckily, there a few tricks to recognize and avoid drowsy driving and keep fatigue under check.

The most obvious remedy for drowsy driving is to ensure that you have adequate rest before starting off on a long drive. Try not to overeat before you drive. If you don't have a companion who can take over driving while you take a rest, then plan to take breaks after every two hours or take a 20 minute nap.

The time of day you're driving also plays a significant part in driving fatigue. Choosing to drive late at night or early in the morning, braving the flashing headlights of oncoming vehicles, can lead to a hypnotic effect. Similarly, in the middle of the afternoon or just after lunch a driver tends to get tired. It is important to know how to guard against driver fatigue by taking a good, honest look at what times of day you are sleepiest and avoiding a trip during those hours.

Since fatigue can happen to any driver irrespective of experience it is important to be proactive on that front. Ask yourself: should I really be driving right now? If you still are unsure, try taking an online driver training course.

 

Tips for Choosing the Best Driving School

Choosing the right driving school can be a complicated process. There are a lot of options out there. Which one is right for you?

 

Most importantly, a driving school should cover the topics you need help with. People may seek driving classes for various reasons. For beginners it may be the desire to achieve an entry level license whereas experienced drivers may be looking for a way to clear demerit points from their license. Having demerit points on your license can not only affect your employability or void your license, but it will also pose a financial burden by jacking up your insurance premiums. However, in most driver schools, teenagers and young adults form the single biggest group taking driving education. 

 

Secondly, you may look at the type of curriculum they teach. At driving schools such as “A” Driving School and Fleet Safety International drivers are trained according to behaviour based systems like the SAFER System of Defensive Driving. Some of their courses are also endorsed by the Alberta government. Also, you can find further evidence of their curriculum's success by reading reviews about them online. A well-respected driving school with an effective teaching strategy makes an excellent choice.

Some people are looking for corporate driver training or commercial driver training. When training professional drivers like this, it's important to look for advanced driving courses run by a fully equipped driving school. 

 

It may seem obvious that schools offering the best driving education will have the best of instructors. Nevertheless, verifying the credentials of driving instructors is important. It needs to be checked whether they are duly licensed by the government and carry the desired experience.

In terms of classroom instruction, good driving schools are expected to have a fully equipped classroom available or, at the very least, a good online training course in place of that. 

 
After looking at these important points, the options can be further narrowed down to parameters such as proximity to the school;  class schedule, time span of the course and other things.  It is also important to verify the fee structure of a few short listed driving schools and have a clear picture of the cost of driving education.