Want to do an advanced driving course? Of course you do!
You’ve passed your driver’s license… maybe you’ve even been driving South Africa’s highways and byways for years – so you think you’re a good driver, right?
You may be right, but in the words of Billy Joel, you may be wrong. You may have a lot of experience, but you have a lot of bad habits too, without even being aware of them.
One of the best ways to step back and take a closer look at your driving skills and knowledge is to go on an advanced driving course, according to Imperial Auto. Spending time with a professional driving instructor will help you gain insights into defensive driving, road safety, hijacking defence, as well as teaching you how to get the best performance from your car – safely.
Types of courses vary, with some of the major vehicle brands including a course as part of the purchase price of a new vehicle – something that is particularly true of off-road vehicle brands.
Options on offer from the various brands include:
- Defensive driving courses teach you how to identify hazards, look for escape routes, as well as how to correct oversteering and understeering (and how to tell the difference between them), and how to come out of a skid or aquaplane safely.
- Hijack prevention teaches you more about criminals’ modus operandi, and how you should respond if you or your family are threatened in a hijack situation.
- 4×4 driving courses teach you how to get the best performance out of your specialist vehicle, whether driving on the tar or on the gravel. Some courses will challenge you to put your own vehicle through its paces up hill, down dale and through dongas, while others will let you push your offroading limits in provided vehicles.
- High-performance driving courses let you loose on a race track to learn and hone advanced driving skills.
While it’s really easy to get carried away by the excitement of pushing a high-performance vehicle to its limits on a race-track, it’s worth remembering that you’re going to have to drive safely once you’re back out on the regular roads, where there will be hundreds of other drivers who don’t have the same skills. For this reason, make sure that the course that you choose also offers really practical advice in addition to the fun stuff, like how to set your seat and steering wheel at the correct heights, and which really is the safest way to park your car (it’s planning your parking so that you can always drive out of your spot forwards, without having to reverse…)
Many training facilities allow you to customise your programme so that you can be sure that you’ve acquired the skills you need, so it really is possible – even ideal – for every South African driver to take advantage of the opportunity to make South Africa’s roads safer, by becoming safer drivers.
They’re also a great way to educate your teen with their freshly-minted driver’s license about how to deal with the many potential hazards that can occur, whether they’re driving on great freeways or on poorly maintained roads. What’s more, several insurance companies offer discounts on clients’ premiums if they have completed a defensive driving course – contact your insurer for more information.
Driver education programmes designed within a budget are a great way for companies to offer all their employees (and not just sales representatives) a great team-building experience that will give them life-saving skills too.
Several South African vehicle brands, all of which have dealerships under the Imperial Auto umbrella, offer advanced driving courses, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volkswagen, and Toyota.