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Defensive Driving Tools for Safety

Defensive Driving Tools for Safety

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Defensive Driving Tools for Safety was written and presented by Jeff Hohlstein, a Community Traffic Safety Team member in Clay County, Florida. This educational driving and traffic safety presentation is geared toward aging road users. However, these are essential tips and reminders for all drivers.

Flip through the Defensive Driving Tools for Safety Presentation:

Learn about setting side view mirrors for blind spots. Understand the importance of keeping a safe following distance and obeying the speed limit. Maintaining a safe following distance is a good idea for all drivers to keep in mind. While this rule is flexible and isn’t always appropriate in every driving situation, it can foster good driving habits that reduce the risk of rear-end collisions and similar accidents. In addition, being a safe driver can earn discounts on auto insurance premiums.

Gain an understanding of observing a vehicle’s front wheels, approaching intersections safely, and scanning through a signalized intersection. Learn how to use the OODA Loop while driving. OODA is an acronym for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. When you do it again and again, it becomes a constant decision loop. Retired Colonel John Boyd, USAF, developed this rapid decision-making tool. Today, OODA is used by many Armed Forces and Police agencies and can be used as a defensive driving tool for motorists.

Most people set their side view mirrors straight back and miss their blind spot completely. The video covers how to set your side view mirrors to cover your blind spot.

This video discusses how to use OODA to stay safe while driving. Defensive driving is much about managing space around your vehicle. The most controllable area you have is your safe following distance. OODA will help you do that right. OODA will also help you develop scan patterns for navigating intersections and avoiding a collision when someone unsafely enters your right-of-way.  

Uses of OODA in defensive driving:

  • Observe > Following distance, traffic patterns; intersections of all kinds; vehicles around you.
  • Orient > Calculate the following distance; identify other potential conflicts.
  • Decide > Action to maintain safe following distance; plan to avoid those other conflicts.
  • Act > Establish/reestablish safe following distance; avoid those other conflicts whether or not the crash would have been your fault.
  • Do it again > Practice OODA until it’s as natural as driving itself.
Jeff Hohlstein presenting Defensive Driving Tools for Safety

Click here to read Jeff Hohlstein’s first article, Three Defensive Driving Tools to Avoid Great Impact, and what the video presentation from 2020.

Florida Traffic Safety Coalitions

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Florida’s statewide traffic safety coalitions and programs focus on strategies to reduce serious injuries and fatalities on our roadways through teamwork and partnerships in addressing traffic safety locally, regionally, and statewide. These coalitions support Florida’s State Highway Strategic Plan (SHSP) emphasis areas and bring partners together to analyze data, create strategic action plans, implement programs, and monitor performance. Traffic safety is most effective when employing measures of engineering, education, enforcement, and emergency response as well as information intelligence, innovation, insight into communities, and investment and policies. Coalition members include community officials, agencies, advocacy groups, business partners, and membership organizations.

2021 Florida Traffic Safety Coalition and Resource Center Contact List and Information
2021 Florida Traffic Safety Coalition Campaign Calendar

Coalitions:

Florida Impaired Driving Coalition logo

Florida Impaired Driving Coalition:
The FIDC was formed in 2009 to identify and prioritize impaired driving issues and develop a plan to maximize the State’s ability to impact these crashes.

Ride Smart Florida logo

Florida Motorcycle Safety Coalition:
Ride Smart Florida is a resource for motorcyclists that includes education and training, safety strategies, motorcycle data, and more. It provides support to local communities and motorcycle clubs through access to public service announcements, motorcycle‐related statistics, rider education information, and links to other websites related to motorcycle safety.

Florida Occupant Protection logo

Florida Occupant Protection Coalition:
The FOPC was formed to identify and prioritize Florida’s occupant protection issues by reviewing proven strategies and discussing promising new practices.

Alert Today Alive Tomorrow logo

Florida Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Coalition:
FDOT’s “Alert Today Alive Tomorrow” campaign is presented via TV, radio, social media, transit advertising, local education, and enforcement activities. The message that “Safety Doesn’t Happen by Accident” is a reminder for all roadway users to pay attention and follow the rules of the road.

Safe Mobility for Life logo

Florida’s Safe Mobility for Life Coalition:
This coalition’s mission is to implement a strategic plan to increase safety, access, and mobility for aging road users and eliminate fatalities and reduce serious injuries.

Teen Safe Driving coalition

Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition:
This coalition was formed to establish a culture of a safe teen driving by engaging, educating, and mobilizing all members of a community to work collectively to develop and improve safe teen driving programs, practices, and activities.

TRCC

Florida Traffic Records Coordinating Committee:
This committee brings together agencies that are interested in reducing traffic injuries and deaths by improving the timeliness, accuracy, completeness, uniformity, integration, and accessibility of traffic records data.

Florida Traffic Safety Resource Centers:

Florida Occupant Protection Resource Center

Florida Occupant Protection Resource Center:
This center was created to be a one-stop resource center that provides equipment, educational, and promotional materials on all aspects identified by FDOT as critical strategic highway safety occupant safety elements.

Ped Bike Resource Center

Florida’s Pedestrian & Bicycling Safety Resource Center:
This center promotes safe pedestrian and bicycling activities for citizens and visitors, young and old, through educational materials and information to advocate groups in the state.

Northeast FDOT CTSP and the Florida traffic safety coalitions plan and maintain projects. They also review crash data to evaluate the SHSP progress. Members identify relationships between contributing factors, including time/day, demographics, driver behaviors, environmental and roadway conditions, high risk locations, and emerging issues in key emphasis areas. Click here to read the Florida SHSP, Target Zero Fatalities & Serious Injuries.

Resources