A primary challenge relative to building truly effective online defensive driver and driver improvement course content is convincing students to recognize and embrace a need to change their fundamental approach to the driving task. The NDSI strives to achieve this objective through a number of unique content approaches targeted at demonstrating both the need for a changed approach and education relative to a better, more effective mental attitude.

To maximize driver safety on an ongoing basis, drivers must develop and solidify into habit both tactics and skills proven to improve consistent situational awareness. An approach to the driving task that ensures vigilance in attention enables skills that provide an immediate and correct response to rapidly developing dangerous traffic scenarios to be put into use.

Most drivers today simply do not recognize that their broad approach to driving is not rooted in the correct safe habits. The mental approach to driving that is embraced by the vast majority of drivers today is best summarized as nonexistent. They neither have nor recognize any specific mental approach to driving and consider the driving task as something that does not require such a thing. While an unfocused approach to driving may have sufficed in decades past, in today’s high traffic density, high instance of distracted driving world this is simply no longer safe.

The NDSI places a specific high intensity focus on teaching a new mental attitude toward the driving task that leads to ingraining a situationally aware approach into the subconscious mind.

NDSI defensive driver and driver improvement course content features as a center point an improved mental approach to the driving task summarized as: “I See & Act”.

“I” is you – this is your personal mantra or guiding principal to define how you approach and conduct the task of driving a vehicle on our roadways! Defensive driving requires attention and focus at all times so that you can identify and understand risks and hazards as they occur. The defensive driver recognizes a hazard as it unfolds, anticipating potential “bad things” that can happen if a situation continues or escalates. Without embracing personal and immediate responsibility for what occurs while you are behind the wheel there is no foundation for safety!

The skilled defensive driver who is vigilant in observation and maintaining appropriate situational awareness will “see” or recognize dangerous situations and risks as they occur. 

Any delay in recognizing a hazard can rapidly consume the brief instant or moment in time during which a correct reaction can serve to avoid disaster. This diligence in observation requires a focused effort when initially put into use, a focused effort that if emphasized and maintained over time will grow into a sub-conscious habit. The development of this habitual behavior is crucial to long term driving safety!

The linking of See and Act is accomplished using the shortest language possible to represent the reality that steps 2 and 3 must functionally occur virtually simultaneously! The reality of emergency situations experienced behind the wheel given the challenges of time and distance when travelling at high rates of speed is such that you must be prepared to properly react to dangers instantly!

This step puts your immediate recognition and understanding of the hazard to work immediately as you react properly to avoid an accident. Reacting correctly and in a timely manner is essential to preventing accidents. This is NOT about careful consideration of the situation followed by carefully planned action. The real world driving environment does not permit such contemplation. There is no time for slow and careful consideration before action – you must be prepared to act or react, in the exactly correct manner, right now as a hazard unfolds! This requires learned skills – the skill of a prepared defensive driver.