Road Training vs Track Training?

Which is better when it comes to saving lives?

A recent LinkedIn post initiated a conversation amongst leading professional driver training organisations. Read the below post to see the major points that were agreed upon:

1) On road driving courses limit the drivers learning - and the assessment of their capabilities - to those which apply to “normal” driving conditions and circumstances. Period.

That approach cannot, has not, and never will, provide drivers the knowledge, skill, and ability to successfully manage emergency situations (such as accidents or security-related incidents) because the driver/vehicle cannot be operated at the upper range of the combination’s performance potential, not in terms of speed, but in terms of braking, cornering, and/or compound braking and cornering performance. Nor do they provide the driver with an experiential reference point for their own limitations.

2) That is not to say that those courses are worthless or useless. Just as with closed course training, a PROPERLY designed and PROPERLY executed “on road” course has a place and a purpose. What they are NOT, and will never be, is a panacea for reducing road crashes and related injuries/fatalities to zero.

4) Any assertion that on road courses are the ONLY valid or necessary driver training is based on the false assumption that a driver who correctly applied valid defensive driving techniques will never need evasive driving skills. Why is that assumption (or, perhaps, fantasy of a given defensive driving instructor) demonstrably false? Because unless 100% of drivers - meaning every single driver or single vehicle on any given road at any given time - are applying those valid techniques correctly, in properly maintained, mechanically sound vehicles, in keeping with exceedingly rapid changes in the environment and circumstances, there is ALWAYS the exceedingly high potential that the diligent defensive driver will find themselves in a situation where no amount of defensive driving knowledge, skill and ability will prevent a collision (either with a stationery object, moving vehicle, or pedestrian). This is a fact borne out by accident statistics in regions, countries, and locales where a significant percentage of the driving population has, in fact, participated in on road defensive driver training courses. In those relatively rare instances, while there can be no doubt that when large percentages of drivers are trained in defensive driving techniques the accident rates decline, there has never in the history of defensive driving training been an instance where the accident rate had fallen to zero. Not even in closed environments such as work sites, government facilities, etc. While in such instances crashes may be rare - in some cases, exceedingly rare - they are rarely, if ever, at zero in perpetuity.

5) In those instances where a driver PROPERLY trained in defensive driving techniques is put into a situation which exceeds the potential for a crash to be prevented by the application of traditional defensive driving skills - quite often having been placed in that precarious position by a driver that does not have those particular skills; which in virtually ALL open driving environments the world over describes the vast majority of drivers - those whose training is limited solely to defensive driving techniques will inevitably fail to avoid a crash. How do we know? Just look at crash statistics (particularly among drivers who have undergone defensive driver training; yes, the number of crashes is reduced, but in those open environments is never, ever at zero.

6) The second false assumption among defensive driving instructors who are too closed minded to recognize the inherent limitation to the techniques they teach is the simple fact that even highly trained, highly skilled, exceedingly diligent defensive drivers do, on occasion, make mistakes (after all, to err is truly human…and despite their defensive driver training, some drivers are more human than others).

And when they do make a mistake, as many inevitably will, if their training is limited solely to defensive driving techniques, they simply do not possess the requisite knowledge, skill, and ability, to overcome that mistake and thus, despite their training, crash into things. Again, this is a fact borne out by data, not supposition or some uneducated or misguided attempt to inflate the value of one approach to driver safety over another, as opposed to recognizing that, as the facts and data demonstrate, a holistic approach to driver training is the key to meaningfully reducing crash related injuries and fatalities.

5) Out of the necessity created by the realities of the world the overwhelming majority of drivers operate a vehicle in - for the purposes of this discussion let’s call it the REAL WORLD - if the goal is to effect meaningful, sustainable decreases in crash statistics (as opposed to perpetuating revenue streams by promoting an end result that is patently unachievable) that holistic training approach must include PROPERLY designed and PROPERLY implemented closed course training which incorporates the following:

- A definitive understanding, on the part of the instructor, of a wide range of vehicles’ relevant performance characteristics and limitations in terms of cornering, braking, and/or compound cornering and braking capabilities.

- Properly designed, from a technical standpoint, driving exercises that closely replicate the characteristics or factors that contribute to the risk of a crash - i.e., limited time, limited distance, and limited maneuvering space.

- Incorporate scientifically valid parameters for driver reaction time and the techniques that serve to minimize that reaction time.

- Visual indicators that dictate the available reaction time, prompt decision making and reduce both the inherent and potential artificialities of any and all manner of driver training.

- The utilization of an operant approach to training which increases the applicability, availability, and sustainability of skills developed in the training environment to real world behind-the-wheel emergencies.

- The knowledge, skill, and ability, on the part of the instructors, to translate human performance factors and the science of vehicle dynamics into information which the student can assimilate and apply to improve their capacity and capability to manage behind-the-wheel emergencies.

- The capability to scientifically, objectively, and legally defensibly, to measure - and compare - demonstrated driver performance to a vehicle known performance potential.

- It also requires an investment of time and energy in the part of the instructor to:

a) Understand not just the underlying theories, but the legitimate realities of human and vehicle performance

b) the capability to provide clear, concise feedback to a driver regarding their individual performance

Another important point to consider is the following:

The World Health Organization states that 93% of the world's fatalities on the roads occur in low- and middle-income countries, even though these countries have approximately 60% of the world's vehicles.

It is critical to consider that there is a vast difference from country to country in the way driver licenses are achieved. Many countries offer substandard or very rudimentary initial driver training while others can obtain their drivers license without any initial driver training at all.

This is often not considered when international driving instructors visit these countries and often assume that everyone has been achieved the same driver training standards as countries in Europe, the USA, etc.  

We trust this clarifies our position on this issue.