ADI Part 2 - Position

Road Positioning

The position of your vehicle on the road is a vital element of the ms-psl routine, and correct positioning is an essential part of safe driving.

When driving instructors and trainees mention positioning, they often regard this as of importance only when approaching or emerging from junctions. Yet road positioning is something that needs to be considered on the approach to any hazard, not just junctions.

In our normal driving, in the absence of other hazards, we take up the normal driving position, which is about a metre from the kerb. But when we encounter other hazards, we often have to change position to deal with them safely.

The golden rule with positioning is that we should always try to place the vehicle into the safest possible position to deal with the hazards that we encounter.

Most of the hazards we will have to deal with will be on the nearside (left) of our vehicle. Examples being pedestrians, cyclists, junctions with vehicles emerging, parked vehicles, children playing, delivery vehicles parked up etc etc.

Clearly, when faced with such situations we have to take the safest possible route through the hazard. And that means selecting the right position on the road for our vehicle. We do not sacrifice safety for anything, so we don't blindly stick to the normal driving position rule when there are other hazards present.

Our road positioning is closely related to our speed, which is the following phase, and also to our effective use of the mirrors, which should always precede our change of position.

What we are aiming for is a safety bubble of space around our vehicle. We should always try to give at least an open car doors width of space from any hazard we have to negotiate, such as parked cars. When passing cyclists and children, even more safety space should be created by careful positioning of the vehicle. You need to assess the hazard, anticipate what might happen, and give yourself the room to react safely to any event.

When it proves to be impossible to give good clearance from the hazard, we still have to give ourselves time to react. We can only do this by reducing our speed, sometimes considerably. A good example of this is when passing a row of parked cars on the nearside (left). If there are other vehicles approaching from the other direction, it may prove impossible to give the clearance you'd like to. In this case, should you just blindly continue at the speed you'd like? Or should you ease off the speed a little, giving yourself more time to react to any unseen dangers? Can you really be sure that a child won't run out between those parked cars?

I'm sure that you'll come to the right decision on that one.

But what about the other, less obvious, situations where our road positioning determines the safety of our drive?

Many drivers fail to understand the importance of correct positioning when following a vehicle we intend to overtake, or indeed stay behind. The following position is very important, because our positioning determines the view we have of the road ahead, past the vehicle in front, and also of any other hazards we may encounter. This is particularly true when following a heavy goods vehicle or large van.

As an exercise, the next time you drive and you see a heavy goods vehicle ahead, watch closely how the driver of the vehicle directly behind it uses their road position. I can almost guarantee that they'll position very, very close behind it and to the offside (right) of it, to get 'the best view' for the overtake. Yet this position is almost always the worst position to be in. The driver has effectively reduced their view of the road hazards ahead, has no idea if the road bends to the nearside ahead, and is taking no account of the fact that the heavy goods vehicle may have to brake without warning. Such drivers only ever really know if it's safe to overtake after they've started to do it. A very common reason for deaths on our roads.

Positioning whilst overtaking, and indeed positioning in general, is a very involved subject. Much emphasis is place on correct positioning in our Advanced Driving courses and ADI part 2 training courses.

In conclusion, use your road position as part of your plan to deal with hazards safely and effectively. Remember that position is a part of the ms-psl system, and that the system starts with mirrors, not positioning.

ADIT Team.