Last week a couple of us bloggers and journo´s went to Swartkop race track in Pretoria to attend Ford South Africa´s Driving Skills For Life.
We started off Go-Karting which was quite a hectic experience! After our safety briefing I began to doubt whether what we about to embark on what such a good idea after all! Nevertheless off we went to helmut-up! The first few laps were not my best, I was still getting the hang of the whole accelerator/brake thing and with the likes of @Mablerh trying to overtake on blind corners it was rather nerve-racking! But the second round was way more fun now that we´d had a chance to practice. Thank goodness my driving skills are better than my go-carting!
Next up was the skid pan *fun*! First we were shown the correct seat, mirror and seatbelt adjustments – very important. The instructors then really wanted us to feel what ABS braking was all about so we were instructed to accelerate onto the skidpan and then push down hard on the brakes in order to hear what ABS braking is all about. It was actually a very important experience because if you had to brake hard to avoid an actual accident and heard that sound and felt that feeling under foot, you may get quite a fright. But at least if you´ve experienced this in a controlled environment you´ll anticipate and hopefully handle the situation better should you end up in the unfortunate event of being involved in an accident.
After ABS was beer goggles! Each of us had a chance to navigate an obstacle course of cones whilst “driving under the influence”. These goggles (see image below) imitate what your vision, or rather impaired vision, is like after a few drinks. It was a wake-up call as you really are quite disorientated when you first put the goggles on and it makes you think twice before drinking and driving, if that´s really how badly it effects your vision. Funnily enough none of us hit any cones whilst driving with the beer goggles on… not sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing…!
We were then taken out on the road where we were given some handy tips to safe and fuel-efficient driving on our roads. I for one always thought that free-wheeling down a hill was more fuel-friendly than being in gear but it turns out this is a myth and its better to be in your highest gear with your foot off the accelerator, this also prevents you from speeding up and losing control. Since the DSFL workshop I have also increased my following distance and now only allow my car to rev up to 2000 – 2500 RPM to increase its fuel-efficiency.
I would recommend a course like this for anyone who wants to enhance their driving skills, especially when it comes to safety. In fact I´m sure our accident rate would drop significantly if people drove according to these rules!
