[TITLE: HOW TO DRIVE IN THE CENTER OF THE LANE | PASS A ROAD TEST SMART}
Hi there, smart drivers.
Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today
about centering your vehicle in the lane
and keeping your vehicle in the lane
when you're making turns.
Had a comment from Erin and she wanted me
to give her some information
about how to center the vehicle in the lane
and keep it in the lane when she was making turns.
Now, first thing I'm gonna tell you is raise your vision up.
In other words look farther down the road.
It's one of the five tenets
of the Smith Space Cushion System
and I'll put a link down in the description there
to the Smith Space Cushion system that you can look at.
Yes, the video is dated and it's in black and white,
but the information presented is still relevant.
The only thing that's not relevant is the horn honking.
It's no longer a form of communication.
Most of the time,
horn honking is a form of aggression.
You can see the video here on the channel for horn honking,
but lift your vision up,
look farther down the road when you're making turns,
pick out landmarks farther down the road
that will help you to navigate through the turn.
The sharper the turn the slower you're gonna have to go,
because the slower you go with any vehicle,
the sharper it turns.
The faster you go the less sharp it turns,
so on a sharp corner or sharp turn
you're gonna have to slow down and if you slow down as well,
not only will the vehicle turn sharper,
but it allows you better control of the vehicle
because you're going at a slower speed.
So what we're gonna do today,
we're gonna hook up the camera,
we're gonna show you how to center the vehicle in the lane.
We're gonna show you how to keep it in lane for turns.
So stick around.
We'll be right back with that information.
[INTRO AND UPBEAT MUSIC]
Hi there smart drivers, welcome back.
Rick with Smart Drive Test talking to you today
about how to center your vehicle in the lane
for the purposes of learning how to drive.
And this is for new drivers who are having some challenges.
Now here I'm picking out the object hazard sign over here
as my landmark because I gotta come in
to the left hand lane and I'm just gonna
come in to the left of that sign.
So I pick that landmark out before I moved around the corner
and you may not have been able to see it.
You might have been able to see it in this camera up here
before I started turning left.
Now, essentially I can't see far down the road here,
but I'm in the center of the lane.
Now just one other note:
in the dash cam you can see the piece of paper on the hood.
That's the center of my hood.
Now essentially what I'm doing is
I'm just following this vehicle in front of me,
but if I look far down the road,
and you may not be able to see that in the dash cam,
I can see the traffic light and I am lined up
in line with the traffic light
and this stretch of the road
down to the traffic light is straight,
so I know I can pick out that traffic light
and aim for that traffic light
and that will keep my vehicle centered in the lane.
Now I'm moving over to the left hand lane.
Move into the lane and again look down at that vehicle
and drive towards that vehicle in the distance.
And again, all of this will help you
to center the vehicle in the lane
and I stop so I can see the tires
making clear contact with pavement.
And again, I look over to the intersection
on this direction over here and I can see
the object marker sign on the traffic island
and I need to go onto the right side
of the object marker sign.
That is my landmark for turning left here.
Most of the time on these complex intersections
that's what you're gonna find.
You're gonna find a traffic island
and you're gonna find an object marker sign
on that traffic island, because object markers
warn us of hazards and obstructions on the roadway
that can potentially strike and there's a video here
on the channel for object markers
and I'll put the link down in the description box for you.
I'll put a card up in the corner for you as well
for that video on object marker signs.
Again, on most complex intersections,
you can look for that object marker sign
and on left hand turns that will give you your landmark
for you going around the corner.
Now this corner I've been around a few times,
because I'm shooting a video previously and it's fairly
a sharp corner and you have to reduce your speed.
On sharper corners you have to reduce your speed
to get around the corner and to stay in the lane
that you need to stay in,
because I'm turning left,
I wanna go into the left hand lane.
So again I can see the object marker sign.
I'm not looking at the object marker sign,
but I'm using it as a landmark
and I'm actually looking forward.
Now I pick out the landmark and I come in
on the left hand side and you can see in the speedo-cam
here that I'm not going very fast.
I'm going less than 20 kilometers an hour.
I'm only doing about 15 because I had to slow down
in order to keep my vehicle into the lane
that I want it to go into,
which was into the left hand lane.
And again, looking farther down the road
to where I want the vehicle to go.
Coming up and stopping at the intersection
and the light is about to go green
because the advanced green went
and the vehicle behind me is coming to a nice stop.
And again I'm watching, as I'm sitting at the intersection,
there's somebody right behind me.
Defensive driving moves to have your eyes
in that center mirror and make sure
that the traffic behind you is stopping
because if they don't stop a lot of times
you can simply move forward
and that will help them to get stopped.
Now again I'm looking far down the road
past the traffic lights.
I can only see the road to about the traffic lights,
but I know that it moves around to the left.
Now when I came through on that yellow,
it went yellow when I moved into the intersection,
I simply put my foot over the brake and covered the brake.
Again, there's another video here on the channel.
I'll put a card up in the corner for you
on covering the brake,
scanning the intersection as we're moving through
and again I'm looking far down the road.
I'm looking at the traffic down there.
I'm looking at the green light
and if I just aim for that traffic light, the green light,
my vehicle will stay centered in the lane here
and I just follow the other traffic.
Aim high on your steering.
Scanning the intersection.
And again I'm seeing that the roadway
is curving around to the right
because the other traffic went around to the right
and again I'm looking up over actually in that direction
where the roadway goes now
and centering my vehicle in the lane
because the vehicle will go where I'm looking.
So I look down the road as far as I can
and keep my vision up.
Now you can see that I'm going downhill here
and it's 50 kilometers an hour
and I'm having to apply a fair bit of brake here
because it is a big hill.
This is Dilworth Mountain in Kelowna
and it is a fairly steep hill.
So if you're doing a road test
and you're going down a steep hill like this,
you'll have to apply a fair bit of brake
in order to maintain your speed
under the posted speed limit.
And again we're looking far down the road here
as far as we can see the road
and I can see that the road curves around to the left.
I can simply see the utility poles
that they're curving around to left here.
And again I'm into the steep part of the hill
and I'm looking over and actually this way here
I can see that the road now goes over to that direction
and actually my speed got away from me there.
I'm being pressured by the BMW behind me.
so there you go, social driving.
Because the person came right up on top of me
and tailgated me,
telling me I was going to slow down the hill,
which is going to happen,
especially if you're learning how to drive,
but most of you are gonna be in
a graduated licensing program and you're gonna have an L
on the back of your car,
which is going to help a little bit.
Okay, right hand turn, signal on,
your signal shoulder check,
into my gear, I have a crosswalk,
I'm stopping and I'm,
stopping behind the crosswalk.
There's no pedestrians so I'm gonna move up
so I can see and there's enough room in front
of the crosswalk for me so I'm not blocking the crosswalk.
And I got a vehicle and again I'm checking forward,
vehicle's in the other lane.
I look up and steer in the direction I wanna go.
So I'm looking far down the road.
Aim high in my steering, 60 kilometers an hour,
and again I just, I'm looking down as far I can see,
and I'm looking at the traffic down farther.
I maintain my speed of 60 kilometers an hour,
for purposes of road testing.
You simply drive in your lane looking as far down
and again I can see the utility poles on the left hand
side of the road there and they curve around to the right
and that tells me that the road is gonna go
around to the right and I simply follow the road
around to the right and aim high in my steering.
If you're looking down at the end of the hood,
you're gonna be wandering and deviating all over your lane
but essentially what you need to be doing
is looking as far down the road as you can
and the vehicle will just automatically center.
Now the other technique,
and this is just a quick check.
This is not a way that you should be centering your vehicle
in the lane,
but on this vehicle here,
there's a fog line that runs up on the right side
of the road here,
actually this is the bike lane,
on a lot of highways they'll have fog lines.
The fog line on this vehicle when I'm centered in the lane
is actually on the front corner of the vehicle
but that fog line is right on the front corner
of the vehicle and so when you get
the vehicle centered in the lane,
just have a check over on that right side
and see where that fog line is.
On this vehicle it's on the front right corner
so whatever vehicle that you're driving,
just check over there and see where it is.
Don't use it as what you're gonna be
looking at all the time,
just look at it as a reference point
every now and again for centering the vehicle in the lane.
Get your vehicle centered in the lane,
just have a look over there and see where
the fog line is and that'll give you
a quick reference point of where the fog line is.
So we're out on the highway here.
We're what they call in the trucking industry,
a two lane skinny.
It's a little two lane highway and again,
we have a fog line off to the right
and it's right on the front corner of the vehicle
and again I'm looking far down the road.
I'm looking up at that white car in front of me.
So if I look as far down the road as I can,
that way I'm gonna be able to center my vehicle
in the lane and as well,
I can see from the trees in front of me
that the lane curves off to the left here.
So I'm getting ready to go around to the left
and again,
just a quick check down on my reference point
that the front corner is, in fact,
on the fog line and I simply drive the vehicle
and I can see from the sign here on the right,
that is a cautionary sign that the road
does a little snake here so, again,
I'm looking through the curve over to that way
and picking my landmarks, the road markings,
and staying within my lane.
Now I'm going over to the right and I steer,
I look through the curve and I steer the vehicle
and the vehicle goes where I'm looking
so make sure you look as far down the road as you can.
Again, I can see the utility poles
going off to the left here and I know
that the road is going around to the left.
Traffic is coming, I can see the traffic coming,
and the road now goes around to the right
and I'm looking through the curve over to the right
where that other traffic is coming from.
So aim high in your steering
and the vehicle will go where you're looking
and again look down at that corner in the fog line
and you can see that the fog line
is on that front corner of the vehicle,
the traffic in front of me went around to the right
and I saw it deak around to the left there a little bit
so again I'm just looking down the road as far as I can
and the vehicle will automatically center in the roadway
and that's how you do it out on the highway.
We're gonna get out onto a freeway here in a little bit
and I will show you how to center your vehicle
out on the freeway as well.
Coming up to a right hand turn here.
It's not a controlled intersection.
We just simply turn right.
The other traffic has to stop but we still make sure
that the other traffic has, in fact, stopped.
We shoulder check half a block before the turn
and we slow down.
That vehicle is coming to a stop.
Slowing down, looking through the curve,
and accelerate looking forward
and accelerating.
Now we're gonna turn left,
do your signal shoulder check, centered behind that traffic,
so look as far down the road as you can
because the road is straight here and we simply
center in behind these vehicles
and we can go on the advanced green here and again,
picking our landmarks,
we have an object marker sign on the traffic island
and we wanna go in on the right side of that,
nice and slow, proceed, right signal on immediately,
rear signal shoulder check, shoulder check again,
and leave your signal on the whole time
you're moving across.
Cancel your signal.
And again we're looking as far down the road as we can
and centering our vehicle in the lane.
Alright, so we're coming out on the freeway here
and we're looking up the road here as far as you can
cause the road deviates around to the left here.
Get some windshield wipers on here
cause it's melting all the snow here
and we have lots of spray coming off the other vehicles
on the roadway.
Moving over to the right hand lane
because poor old four cylinder here
doesn't climb the hill so well
but we're going up the hill here and again,
we're looking far down the road
and we can see that the road deviates around
to the right because of the topography here
and the other traffic is all turning around to the right
so we're simply gonna follow it around to the right
and again I just check with the fog line
down on the right hand corner there
and I can see that I'm centered in the lane rather
and I just look up the road as far as I can
looking at the other traffic.
Looking for landmarks,
I can see the sign board along the side of the road there,
and the vehicle just centers in the lane.
So the number one technique
for centering your vehicle in the lane,
regardless of whether you're driving straight
or you're turning corners or those types of things,
pick your vision up.
Don't be looking down at the end of the hood.
Look farther down the road.
As you're going around corners,
look for landmarks that will help you guide yourself
around the corner and as you're going around the corner,
the sharper the corner,
the slower you're gonna have to go
in order to maintain your lane position.
Quick review of centering your vehicle in the lane:
look farther down the road.
The vehicle will go where you're looking
and it is one of the tenets
of the Smith Space Cushion System.
Aim high in your steering and keep your eyes moving
and when you keep your eyes moving,
what you're doing is you're looking for landmarks
and those landmarks will indicate to you
which direction the road is going to curve or deviate,
whether to the left or right,
and if you're looking down the road,
that will be fairly easy to spot.
The other thing you can do is just follow the other traffic,
that will help you too, as well,
to center your vehicle in the lane.
If there's a fog line or you're driving in a lane
where there's another lane beside you,
the line on the road should be off the front corner
of the vehicle and that is just a quick check
to ensure that you are, in fact,
centered in the lane.
When you're turning,
to keep your vehicle positioned in the lane
and move from the left lane into the left lane
if you're turning left or moving from the right lane
to the right lane when you're turning right, obviously,
the sharper the curve,
the slower you're gonna have to go
because the sharper the vehicle turns
as you're going slower and again,
when you're turning right or left,
look for landmarks before you start turning.
That way you know that you're gonna be able
to navigate around the corner and keep those landmarks
and use those landmarks to move around the corner
and keep your vehicle in the lane.
On most left hand turns at complex intersections,
there's gonna be a traffic island
and on the end of the traffic island is gonna be
an object marker sign.
Use that object marker sign to get yourself
around the left hand turn and into the left hand lane
because that's what you have to do
for the purposes of a road test.
Question for my smart drivers:
Do you have any tips for new drivers
learning how to drive to keep the vehicle centered
in the lane and to stay in their lane
when they're making turns?
Leave a comment down in the comment section there.
All of that helps out the new drivers
working towards their license and learning how to drive.
I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test.
Thanks very much for watching.
If you like what you see here, share, subscribe,
leave a comment down in the comment section.
As well, hit that thumbs up button.
Check out all of the videos here on the channel.
If you're working on getting your license
or starting a career as a truck or a bus driver,
lots of great information here and head over
to the website.
More great information over there and online courses
that you can purchase.
Stick around to the end of the video -
funny bits and links to the other videos
and to my website.
Thanks again for watching.
Good luck on your road test and remember:
pick the best answer not necessarily the right answer.
Have a great day!
Bye now.
[BLOOPER, OUTRO & UPEAT MUSIC]
Over on the right.
Just see where that fog line is over on the left,
no I was right (laughs).
Right is over there! (laughs)
Oh, I had a little brain cramp there.
[CREDITS: UPBEAT MUSIC]