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		Unit 3		Keep people and vehicles safe
					Signs of competence in this unit
						The following information and examples will help people using the competency standard form a picture of desired performance.
						The driver is skilful Drivers who are performing to the standard required by this unit appear different from most motorists - their head and eyes move more, they often make subtle steer-ing adjustments, they ease up on the accelerator and place their foot over the brake. Specific responses include such things as slowing down and looking both ways at green lights, maintaining safe following distances, and leaving room in front when stopped at an intersection if vulnerable to a rear-end crash. These drivers are highly responsive to the situation around them. They are good at seeing hazards and recognising how those hazards could threaten the occupants' safety. They respond very early to hazards but not to the point of being over-cautious. You get the impression that they value safety and they are not relying on luck or good reactions and skills to get them out of trouble. In fact, the things they seem most skilful at are the looking and thinking skills of safe driving. When people first learn this method of driving they can seem very conspicuous in what they are doing; but this is not so with someone who shows the signs of competence. They are smooth and inconspicuous; you feel very comfortable about driving with them. The driver can transfer learning Drivers who are performing to the standard have learned a general model of defensive driving. They can transfer this learning from one vehicle to the next, from one environment to another, and from routine driving to emergency driving. Thus, they perform equally as well in dense traffic as they do when applying low-risk principles on a tight country road. The driver can deal with problems Drivers who are performing to the standard report that the two most common prob-lems they face are maintaining a high level of safety during emergency responses and avoiding driving while fatigued. In both cases they recognise that the problems are mostly human problems - physiological, emotional and psycho-logical. Feel-ings of happiness, sadness or frustration, perceived pressure from peers, the need to get somewhere in a hurry, to take risks, to have fun or to continue on a job rather than stop for a break - all have a powerful effect on driving behaviour. Consequently, drivers who meet the standard are thinking drivers; they think much about their actions, have the ability to delay impulsive reactions that might adversely affect safety, and they make decisions they can live with. The driver does it in the real world Drivers who are performing to the standard required by this unit recognise that maintaining the effort to do this is not easy; the rewards for the effort are infrequent because crashes are rare events. They believe that any crash is one too many and they are prepared to consider every threat to their safety. This means they are very consistent in what they do; they behave so that they do not convert rare events into crashes. A characteristic of these drivers is their mature attitude towards safety. They openly and strongly express the view that the most important thing to them is being able to go home in one piece at the end of a shift - they are not prepared to risk their lives. They are also very keen to improve their driving. They ask their crews at the end of a drive to comment on their driving and they embrace and offer constructive feedback.

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