Chapter 9 of 10
This short appendix is about how you see risk. It explains where your sense of danger comes from, asks you some honest questions about your own driving, names the four skills of hazard perception and then lets you practise spotting hazards in pictures. Use it as a revision exercise once you have studied the chapters.
Chapter 9 · 4 sections
Section 1 of 4
The handbook lists four things that shape how each of us perceives hazard and risk.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 177
Animated visual · Original illustration
A straight two-way desert road with sand on both sides. Car A, the blue car you are driving, heads east. Ahead of it a camel stands on the sand close to the right-hand edge of the road. Beside the road lies a panel of four lamps named Experience, Beliefs, Control and Information.
Focus the picture, then: Right arrow or N moves to the next step, Left arrow or B goes back a step. R replays from the first step. D switches between the 3D model and the 2D diagram. Comma and full stop turn the 3D model, Up and Down arrows tilt it, plus and minus zoom, 0 resets the view. Every step control also has a button.
Step 1 of 6, A camel near the road: Car A drives east on a desert road. A camel stands on the sand ahead, close to the edge. How risky does that look to you?
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 177
Note
The handbook’s stated aim here is to give you a framework for analysing the risk you face on the road. It sets out to do four things with risk: define it, understand it, calculate it and avoid it.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 177
Definition
The handbook asks where the way we perceive hazard and risk comes from. Its answer is that our perceptions are based on four things.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 177
Section 2 of 4
A short self-assessment about why crashes happen and how risky your own habits are. The handbook gives no answers.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 177
Animated visual · Original illustration
A model crossroads with traffic lights. Car A, the blue car you are driving, comes from the south towards a green light. Car B waits at a red light on the road from the west, and a pedestrian waits at the kerb beside a crossing in front of car A.
Focus the picture, then: Right arrow or N moves to the next step, Left arrow or B goes back a step. R replays from the first step. D switches between the 3D model and the 2D diagram. Comma and full stop turn the 3D model, Up and Down arrows tilt it, plus and minus zoom, 0 resets the view. Every step control also has a button.
Step 1 of 5, A green light ahead: Car A drives towards a crossroads on green. Car B waits at a red light on the left and a pedestrian waits to cross.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 177
Steps
The questionnaire only helps if it shows what you really think. The handbook gives three instructions.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 177
Note
The first questions ask for your opinion. There is no right answer printed; the point is to notice what you believe.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 177
Note
The handbook then asks four questions about driving and leaves them unanswered. Try them honestly, then look up stopping distance and crash forces in the chapter on safety while driving.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 177
Section 3 of 4
Seeing a hazard in time can be the difference between life and death. It is a skill you learn.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 178
Animated visual · Original illustration
A straight two-way town street. Car A, the blue car you are driving, heads east. On the other side of the road a bus has stopped at a bus stop, facing west. A pedestrian stands on the pavement just behind the bus, where the driver of car A cannot see them. A cyclist rides east far ahead of car A.
Focus the picture, then: Right arrow or N moves to the next step, Left arrow or B goes back a step. R replays from the first step. D switches between the 3D model and the 2D diagram. Comma and full stop turn the 3D model, Up and Down arrows tilt it, plus and minus zoom, 0 resets the view. Every step control also has a button.
Step 1 of 6, A bus at its stop: Car A drives east. Across the road a bus has stopped at a bus stop, and a cyclist rides far ahead.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 178
Important
Perceiving a hazard can mean the difference between life and death. The handbook says it is the hazards you do not see, or cannot avoid, that cause the most deaths and injuries.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 178
Illustrated
The handbook calls hazard perception a survival skill and tells you to learn four things. It lists them without further explanation.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 178
Section 4 of 4
Eight pictures to practise on. Count the potential hazards in each one.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, pp. 178–181
Animated visual · Original illustration
A practice picture of our own, not one of the handbook’s eight: a T-junction with a stop sign in the rain. Car A, the blue car you are driving, comes up the side road from the south. On the main road car B comes from the west and a motorcycle comes from the east. A pedestrian waits at the corner to cross the mouth of the side road.
Focus the picture, then: Right arrow or N moves to the next step, Left arrow or B goes back a step. R replays from the first step. D switches between the 3D model and the 2D diagram. Comma and full stop turn the 3D model, Up and Down arrows tilt it, plus and minus zoom, 0 resets the view. Every step control also has a button.
Step 1 of 6, How many hazards can you see?: A practice picture of our own: car A nears a T-junction with a stop sign in the rain. Count the potential hazards, then go on. Conditions: Rain.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 178
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, pp. 178–181Scene descriptions are our own reading of uncaptioned pictures; the handbook gives no answer key.
Steps
Each picture comes with the same question: how many hazards can you see? You count the number of potential hazards in each picture, from zero to five, and write them down. The handbook prints no answers, so compare your list with your instructor or another learner.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 178
Example
Check against current rulesOpen your handbook at pages 178 to 181 and work through the pictures. These short descriptions are ours, only to help you find each one; they do not tell you what the hazards are.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, pp. 178–181Scene descriptions are our own reading of uncaptioned pictures; the handbook gives no answer key.
Check against current rules. This point could not be fully verified or may have changed since the 2018 handbook.
Chapter 9 recap
: My sense of how risky something is comes purely from the facts of the situation.
: The handbook says our perceptions of hazard and risk are based on personal experience of the adverse event, social and cultural background and beliefs, our ability to exercise control over the risk, and information gained from sources such as the media.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 177
: The obvious hazards are the ones that hurt people.
: According to the handbook, it is the hazards you do not see or cannot avoid that cause the most deaths and injuries.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 178
: Spotting hazards is a talent that some drivers simply have.
: The handbook treats hazard perception as a survival skill to be learned: scan, process, prioritize and take action.
Source: Handbook Appendix: Avoiding danger on the road, p. 178
Chapter 9 · practice
6 quick questions on this chapter, with an explanation after each answer. Or practise all 7 questions written for it.
