“Driving Safety” is one of the many useful courses offered by School Training Solutions. “Driving Safety” includes 14 hours of training that provides useful information about the negative effects of alcohol and other drugs, the importance of following the rules of the road, vehicle maintenance and, my focus today, defensive driving.

It’s easy to visualize “defensive driving” as applying primarily to high-speed highway driving or those bumper-to-bumper rush-hour commutes where people are losing their patience and jockeying for position. Being alert and fully aware of one’s surroundings is certainly important in these situations, but let me tell you about another setting that many drivers would not think of as testing one’s defensive driving skills. I’m talking about your average college campus. Working at Pensacola State College these past 11 years has opened my eyes to just how careful on-campus drivers must be to anticipate potential accidents—both car vs. car and car vs. pedestrian.

Here’s why:

Many drivers (mostly students) have a tendency to completely ignore the 15-mile-per hour campus speed limit and go 30-plus through parking lots and along congested access roads.

Too many students have a persistent tendency to walk right in front of vehicles with an “I know you’ll stop” attitude that seems to preclude their even acknowledging the existence of approaching vehicles.

Drivers—again, mostly students—are frequently in such a hurry that they will force the right-of-way in the aforementioned parking lots and at any and all road intersections. The prevailing attitude here seems to be “I’m going to pull right in front of you and I know you’ll stop because you prefer letting me have my way, even though I have the yield or stop sign, rather than getting into a wreck.”

Given the above, which I observe on a daily basis at Pensacola State and which I have no doubt is duplicated on many other campuses, I have become even more aware of the importance of defensive driving than I was before. The most advisable orientation is a consistent assumption that the other person is not going to either follow the rules or behave in a safe and courteous manner.

Of course, there are many drivers and pedestrians on college campuses who do put safety first, but it only takes one of the other variety to ruin your day if you’re not paying strict attention.

Recently, a student was hit in the parking lot right in the front of the building where my office is located. It was an unfortunate “perfect storm” where a student driving way too fast in a parking lot plowed into a student with the “I’m walking right in front of your car without even looking at you because I know you’ll stop” syndrome. The result was a pedestrian lying on the pavement after being bounced off the hood of a car and hitting a windshield hard enough to almost shatter it. The student was not seriously hurt, but he sure could have been.

So, wherever you are, and it may well be somewhere you wouldn’t think would challenge your defensive driving skills, it helps to know the basics. Check out the STS “Driving Safety” course. It’s just the ticket for keeping you safe and secure on the road and elsewhere!

Andrew Metzger
Guest blogger
School Training Solutions

School Training Solutions is in Daytona Beach for the Florida Association for Pupil Transportation Summer Symposium.

The STS Florida course, combined with a county’s behind-the-wheel training, exposes drivers to an ideal blended learning experience. The online course for bus drivers includes the full 20 hours of training mandated by the State of Florida’s Department of Education (DOE), broken down into 13 lessons plus an end-of-course test. Students enrolled in the program are able to complete their required 20 hours of training within the total flexibility afforded by the STS online system, while also getting the hands-on experience of the eight hours of behind-the-wheel training mandated by the Florida DOE.

The STS FL bus operator course includes the following online lessons:

Stop by the booth or browse out web site to learn more.

Happy E-Learning!

Each June the National Safety Council celebrates National Safety Month as a time to bring attention to key safety issues. Visit the National Safety Month 2014 website for more information about National Safety Council events and initiatives.

This week, to help promote National Safety Month’s focus of ending distracted driving, we are offering our STS: Road Awareness online course for the discounted price of $20.00!

Summer is upon us, and for many bus drivers this means a much-needed vacation.

Use the spare time to sharpen your skills and expand your knowledge with online courses from School Training Solutions. Be on the lookout for our featured and discounted courses.

Visit our website or contact us today to schedule a webinar and see, first hand, the power of online training!