How to drive safe

Since there is someone who keep mentioning safe driving (you know it yourself :P), so I have come to decide to write a post about safe driving.

As usual, it will be in point form. All of the points are equally important, because safety is a combination of many things.

1. Know your car's limit
Please make sure that what is the limit of your car. Limit means almost everything, like the fastest your car can go without losing control, the smallest radius you can turn at certain speed without drifting, the fastest your car can response to you.

Notice that even if your speedometer limit is something, that doesn't mean that your car can run at that speed. Some Japanese car can run more than 180kmh, while the meter's limit is 180, and some European car's meter is over 300, while it may or may not reach that speed.


Speedometer from BMW 2007 M3. Please don't ever try to speed until 330.

2. Know how will your car react in different conditions
By knowing how will your car react in some extreme conditions, you can safe lives. Extreme condition is such as, when your car start to drift, what do you need to do to make it back to your control. And please do NOT think that your car will not get into extreme condition ever. Just imagine this:

At one sunny day, you are driving at a constant speed of 60 at an Expressway that speed limit is 90kmh. Then, suddenly a car of 90kmh loses control and hit you from your rear right. What do you think will happen? I think, your car will start to start to spin, or maybe worser, hit the divider or other cars. Don't believe me? Just go and do an experiment. Neither of you has over the speed limit, but yet, disaster will still happen.

So, I think that it is safer for you to try drift at once, just to get yourself comfortable in horizontal moving of your car, to make sure you won't panic if something disaster happens.


Just an advertisement: Buy Ferrari! Even if you involve in accident, you and your partner will not be harm. Because Ferrari is safe!

3. Know your car's transmission type
By this transmission type, I don't mean auto or manual, that is very obvious. What I mean is front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive, or even four-wheel drive. Why is this important? Because when you are turning, the layout of your transmission really affects the turning a lot. In some extreme condition, it may even be totally different. And do note that even if two cars are very similar, like Mitsubishi Lancer and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, the layout of transmission is totally different. Normal Lancer is front wheel drive, while Evo is four wheel drive.

If you really want to figure out how different layout changes turning, just go and play Need For Speed, and you can get the answer.


Audi TT. This is a front-wheel-drive car.


Nissan 350z. This is a rear-wheel-drive car. They both look similar in shape, but the transmission layout is totally different.

4. Know your car's brake
Brake is one of the most important objects in car. Well, still the same thing, know how will your brake function at every stage of speed. And please know what is ABS, and check whether your car has it or not.

And one thing about brake is, please do NOT brake fiercely every time you need to brake, especially when your car has ABS. If you fail to do so, you are forcing the car behind you to do emergency brake, which is dangerous. I was suffered by this because my friend who was driving a Toyota Vios with nice ABS brakes always like to do fierce braking. And I almost crashed on her car, not once, but many times. Even if you are doing mild braking, you can always press your brake several times in advance before you really slow down, just to give the car behind you a reminder.



5. Don't try to be too friendly with the car in front of you
This is especially important when you are driving at a speed over 60kmh. Please don't think that 60kmh is slow, especially when you are driving in a car that is really stable. So, just keep a distance. I don't need to talk much, I think this is always emphasised in traffic safety advertisement. Well, I always think that they have ignored other factors that may cause accident.


Another accident picture. Just to remind yourself that, do not stick to other cars.

6. Know more about emergency brake
Again, brake. This is what I experienced. In a manual car, when you are doing emergency brake, please do not let your car gets into free-gear condition by kicking clutch. You will need the force from engine to help you brake. It's better to let your engine die than to let your whole car (or maybe even you) die. For an automatic car, it's also the same, just don't swift into free gear while you are braking. Actually there is another reason for not swifting to free gear while your car is moving (I mean auto), but that's more like technical stuff.


Err... Lack of picture... So just put a random picture. Nissan GT-R Proto Concept. Looks cool.

7. Watch more than just the car in front of you
This is also from my own experience. Please watch more, like the car around you, and the area in front of the car in front of you. Better to know more details on the road than to know nothing except the car in front.