Woiliow Driving Academy
Read the road
Brake lights. Look past the car in front and find the ones further up.
That's reading the road ahead. The RSA's test marking guide expects it of every candidate.
Why bother? You spot trouble early, so you ease off early. You don't stamp on the brake.
Tallaght at rush hour. Traffic bunches, stretches out, then bunches up again.
Watch the flow, not the bumper. A bus pulling in. A cyclist in the gap. A light that's been green a while.
Speed of thought, not speed of car.
Give yourself room to think. The RSA's 2 second rule sets your gap behind the car in front. In rain, make it 4.
Stopped in a queue? You should see the road under the back tyres of the car ahead. Can you?
Now the lights at the junction. Green means go only if the way is clear.
Amber means stop at the line. You go on only if you're so close when it first appears that stopping would be dangerous. That's the amber rule. It's not a dare.
Been green a while? Ease off now, and amber's no drama when it comes.
Filter lanes. A green arrow lets you go its way if it's clear, even with red showing. Flashing amber arrow? Go only if it's safe, and yield to traffic coming.
Box junctions. Don't enter, even partly, unless you can clear it without stopping.
Turning right? That's the exception, and you can enter the yellow box to make the turn.
So look beyond it first. Is the exit clear? Is the queue past it moving? No? Then stay back and wait.
Heavy traffic is where this pays. Read it early and you stay calm in it.
Same on slip roads round Tallaght. There's more in the reading traffic hub.
New to all of it? Start with learning to drive in Tallaght.
Next drive, eyes further up the road.