The paper summarises more than 30 years of experience in training licensed drivers. The first part reviews the basics of the driver / vehicle / road system. The second and third parts apply this model to single events, where road and vehicle conditions may be seen as invariants. Education focuses on what can be adapted: the driver's behaviour and reaction. Three categories of educational objectives are defined: sensitizing the drivers, promoting tolerance, and developing technical skills. The fourth part focuses on the safety margin, showing that substantial gains can be obtained solely by adapting the speed; other gains stay marginal. The fifth part extends the single-event view over a long time span, to conclude that spontaneous learning is seldom achieved. The overall conclusion is that road safety training sessions should focus mainly on sensitizing the drivers, and use the development of technical skills as a "vehicle" to convey more basic and abstract messages. (Author/publisher)
Abstract