Beginner Driver Education · Driver Behaviour
Driving Courteously: A Guide to Safe and Responsible Driving
Driviology Road Safety Education Team
What this actually means for you
Nobody sits down and decides to drive badly. It happens through habits and moods, which is exactly why this topic is in the course. This means that the driver has to share the road and drive responsibly. Instructors can teach you the manoeuvres in a few weeks. This part you have to decide to practise yourself, every trip.
Driving Courteously - Safe Driving Tips for Every Driver
As an extension of being a safe driver, the driver also has to be courteous.
This means that the driver has to share the road and drive responsibly.
Here are tips to follow:
- Keep a safe distance from the car in front of the vehicle. It will allow the driver time to react and also help keep other road users from panicking
- Always drive at a safe speed, within the speed limits
- Always signal and indicate well before the turns
- Slow down at yellow lights
- Make sure that a driver stops at a light or a stop sign
- Be considerate of pedestrians and give them the right of way
- Never block intersections
- Do not tailgate
- Avoid road rage as much as possible
- Do not drive slowly in fast lanes
Using this on Ontario roads — and on your road test
Think of it in terms of what is actually at stake: your licence, your insurance rates for years, and other people's safety — none of which a passenger egging you on will ever share with you. Instructors see the pattern every season: strong students with good car control whose results, and sometimes whose records, are decided by attitude instead. On the road test it shows up as judgement — the gaps you accept, the yellows you chase, the space you leave. Examiners are marking the driver they would trust alone in a car, and that is mostly this.
Questions drivers ask us
Can you explain driving courteously in simple terms?
As an extension of being a safe driver, the driver also has to be courteous.
What is the simplest way to get this right?
Decide your standards before you get in the car, not in the moment. Most bad driving decisions are made under pressure — from passengers, from traffic, from your own mood — and a standard you set in advance is much harder to argue yourself out of.
Can my attitude really affect my road test result?
Yes. Examiners mark judgement as much as technique: the gaps you accept, the speeds you choose, how you react to other drivers' mistakes. A technically smooth driver who makes impatient decisions does not look like a safe driver, and the score sheet reflects that.