The Drive Safe Course, CDC’s Effort to Correct Our Bad Driving Habits Using Technology​​

(Photo Credit: Toyota)

No matter how good a driver we think we may be, we all make the occasional small mistake while driving. Some everyday driving mistakes drivers make includes failing to check their blind spots and stopping with adequate distance from the vehicle or stop line in front.

Such mistakes, which once costed us demerit points while taking our driving test, usually comes about from bad habits we slowly cultivate from the years of experience we get on the roads. Laziness and complacency, these are bad habits that often lead to making small mistakes on the roads.

But what if one day, all our small mistakes suddenly snowball into a big one, and that leads to an accident? The ComfortDelGro Driving Centre (CDC) wants to stop that from happening. So, they introduced the Drive Safe Course, a CDC initiative that hopes to correct the bad habits drivers cultivate over many years unknowingly.

Just to clarify, this course is different and unrelated to the Safe Driving Course run by the Traffic Police, meant for drivers who have accumulated demerit points. The Drive Safe Course is open to all drivers looking for a refresher on what good habits should they have while behind the wheel.

A half-day course with both a morning and afternoon session, the yet to be released Drive Safe Course will combine both theory and practical training into a session.

According to the CDC, the course is, “aimed at helping drivers hone their driving skills and improve the handling of road situations.”

The course will take place in the CDC building, it will cost $250 (excluding GST) per driver. The course will begin with theoretical training, followed by a practical session.

According to the programme details, the theory half of the session will focus on a few key questions and pointers. Apart from answering the key question on how road accidents happen, the course will delve into the common causes of road accidents and their consequences.

The course will also look at the main cause of driving errors, our decision-making skills, and examines how it is affected by the driver’s physical and mental conditions. Other key contributing factors that affect driving that the course will touch on includes the driving environment and vehicle’s condition.

In the practical half of the course, it will involve action-oriented learning. You will undergo a practical driving lesson along a pre-selected route for a maximum of 40 minutes. During the lesson, a trainer will be in the car, offering personalised coaching.

What sets this apart from our practical lessons back when we were learning to drive are the multiple cameras in and around the car. Using sensors, these cameras will be watching you as you drive, monitoring everything from your hand positions down to how smoothly you are driving.

This system used in the Drive Safe Course is part of CDC’s Driver Development Tool, which evaluates how good a driver you are using the technology mentioned above. There will also be some experiential learning, where you will get to observe and learn from the driving of others taking part in the course.

At the end of the course, you will get a final result, telling you how high of a risk you are on having an accident while driving. The instructors will then put up a full telemetric review of your driving, telling you where you went wrong and what bad habits you have while driving. You will also be issued with a Certificate of Attendance before you leave.

While most of us like to think that our driving skills are some of the best in Singapore and beyond, this is a course for those who value safety and having good habits from behind the wheel.

While it is not a cheap course, throwing in the fact that it takes half a day to complete, it’s worth it compared to having an expensive and dangerous accident or being forced to attend the Traffic Police’s equivalent, the Safe Driving Course.

Read more: More Complaints Received by Traffic Police About Bad Behaviour on the Roads

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