Here at Stryder we take the “T” word (training) very seriously.
On 26th August, I was excited to be one of five team members to take part in a defensive driving course at Harts Driving School in St Ives. It was fantastic and very worthwhile. I’m glad the other drivers are going to get a chance to do it too! Here is what I learnt along with some tips and fun facts I came away with:
Session 1 – back to the classroom – this consisted of a lesson on tyres, ABS braking systems and airbags. Did you know that the grip on tyres is specifically designed to drain away water in the wet? We also learnt what the numbers on the rim of your tyres means and that every time you go to drive your car you should take 2 mins to check that your tyres are ok.
Session 2 – this consisted of a practical lesson. The scenario was that you were driving into a school zone doing 40km per hour and a child suddenly walks out in front of you. You had to slam on the breaks as hard as you could. This showed us that it takes a whole vehicle length to stop. We then had to try this going 80km per hour. With the adrenaline pumping and the vehicle revving at high speed it was quite the experience! The results of this scenario were that the vehicle takes at least 2 car lengths to stop.
Session 3 – this was another practical lesson. In this scenario as we were driving down the freeway an animal jumped out of the bushes, so we had to swerve to avoid hitting the animal at a speed of 80km/hr. This was by far the most difficult as you needed to slam on the brakes and then turn to your left quite quickly and then straighten up your vehicle.
Session 4 – This session was completed in our Stryder bus. Each driver had to practice reversing around the bend of the road. You had to make sure your tyre was always positioned on the white line as you reversed around the bend by only using your left-hand mirror. I found this one extremely difficult as I avoid reverse parking like lamb brains!
Thanks to our instructor Paul who was fantastic and made the whole experience not only informative but very enjoyable as well. I thoroughly recommend Harts!
Robyn Musgrave
