Happy Hopper wrote:defensive driving course, other talk about an advanced driving course...
What's the difference? Are they the same?
Hi
In my opinion the main difference between defensive driving and advanced driving is their objectives. While the goal of defensive driving is safety (minimising the risk of participating in an accident), the objectives of advanced driving may vary depending on application and driver. It may be safety too, but may also be:
- maximum progress while maintaining a relatively high level of safety (what is a high level of safety being subject to various interpretations),
- fun.
Other differences:
- defensive driving emphasises driving according to the rules of the road, while advanced driving may not place so much emphasis on this, especially as regards speed limits
- in terms of car control, defensive driving is focussed on emergency manoeuvres such as emergency braking, while advanced driving may also include various racing or limit handling techniques whose aim is to drive faster while retaining control of the vehicle
- advanced driving may also include techniques which are irrelevant to safety (such as heel and toe gear changes), or which might even decrease safety of an average driver in everyday driving (such as the mentioned various racing or limit handling techniques, which may cause drivers to overestimate their skills and take risks, which eventually leads to accidents).
Apart from the above, both defensive driving and advanced driving might be characterised as driving:
- based on effective observation and anticipation,
- characterised by the vehicle always moving at a speed appropriate to circumstances, both in relation to the road and in relation to other road users,
- ...and always being in a correct position, both in relation to the road and in relation to other road users,
- ...and always being in an appropriate gear for the circumstances,
- with appropriate signals given to other road users and appropriate points in time.
In my opinion the difference of the objectives between defensive driving and advanced driving mentioned at the beginning (safety vs. not-necessarily-safety) will usually manifest itself in how “appropriate speed” is defined.
As for ecodriving, which you mentioned: fuel economy or reduction of wear and tear are not a goal of either defensive or advanced driving. At the same time, both defensive driving and advanced driving usually result in a lower fuel consumption and lower wear and tear because both are based on good observation and anticipation. This happens to be the most important technique of ecodriving too.