If you were to take a driving skills upgrading course — which you definitely should and you probably won’t — you would be reminded that a good driver is a defensive driver.
You must be alert, you must be anticipatory, and you must presume everyone else is out to get you. Not to get too Art of War on you, but there are many ways you can size up your opponent and avoid engaging. Or colliding.

There are many things you know that you don’t know that you know.

The Babbler: See a driver talking, and nobody is in the car? With the telltale holding of the cellphone removing that clue, you can still know who is too distracted to be driving competently. If they’re not singing to the radio, their concentration is elsewhere. Avoid them.

The Dentmobile: I won’t park near any car that is covered with dents and scrapes. Unrepaired damage tells me it was the driver’s fault. Collisions involving other vehicles get reported, and damage gets repaired. If you’re in the habit of banging your car into things and not reporting it, that indicates Insurance Fear, which means you do it a lot. Which means I don’t want you anywhere near me.

The Cement Neck: Eyes ahead, at all times. These drivers terrify me. They never check mirrors or blind spots. So intent are they on where they’re headed, they are totally ignorant of all the things a defensive driver needs to note. Pedestrians, traffic coming up from behind, cars backing up from driveways, drivers racing to stop signs — oblivious to all. Maybe they have wild kingdom peripheral vision, but I doubt it. Most scary? Cement Necks in parking lots. Find reverse, hit the accelerator.

The Drag Kings: You know who you are. Sitting at a red light, and the right lane is going to end 100 metres ahead. Or, rather, the pit row is ending. It is imperative that regardless of which lane you are in, you must win. Usually, you are making a point that your German engineering can haul ***. Buddy, I’m in a minivan; you win even if you lose.

The Miserable Minivan Driver: A close relative of the Drag King, but the one who got the minivan. This guy is never smiling. His two kids are in the back. If they’re still in car seats, he’s really not smiling, because it’s an additional 10 years until he can get the car he really wants instead of the one he has to drive. Think he’ll let you cut in ahead of him? Dream on.

The Delicate Driver: Regardless of how stupid the driver ahead of you is, with few exceptions if you plow into him, it’s your fault. This is actually a sane rule — you should be paying attention at all times, and expecting the unexpected. It’s just an annoying rule when you see a huge SUV, ostensibly created for blasting through rough off-road vistas, come to a full stop before delicately tiptoeing up a gentle incline into a parking lot. If it is being driven by someone trying not to break her nail, or spill his latte, give them an extra 30 seconds.

The Two-Footed Booby: When you watch the car ahead of you gaining speed with the brake lights on, give up. That driver has effectively told you that the brake lights mean nothing, and you can’t trust them. And hold your water about this being an effective way to drive. News flash: You’re not in a rally or a go-cart. Drive properly.

For Mother’s and Father’s Day, forget the ties and earrings. Give them a day at a skills course.

 

Ride a motorcycle for a while and you get to be a pretty good defensive driver.

Assuming you are one of the riders who hasn't been taken out by one of the above mentioned drivers.

 

100% true ride a motorcycle and your driving for everyone

 

 

Well said. It's amazing how much more aware you become when when riding a motorcycle.

I always ride with the mindset that everyone else on the road is doing their absolute best to kill me.

 

Nice

Your comment about hitting the car in front hits too close to home. Unfortunately, leaving enough room for a sudden bad timing lane changer doesn't matter since that means you're then left just enough room for two sudden bad timing lane changes.

Sadly, for me I was towing a boat in stop and go traffic on highway 400 and the traffic 10 or 20 cars in front were all braking hard right when those idiots decided to stuff themselves in front of me. We proved a S-10 with a boat on behind will not stop as quickly as a Lexus. I already knew it but she didn't yet I payed for her stupidity. Thanks stupid "no fault".

I can't bother writing any of the normal stupid stuff I see daily, there's just too much and the bad drivers seem to get worse every year.

Peter