Before You Drive: You, the Driver

Written for aiforu2 as the source for a practice-test bank and the on-device tutor for the Florida Class E knowledge exam. The facts follow the official handbook; the wording is ours.

Source: Florida Class E Driver License Handbook, rev. 08/2023, chapter "Before You Drive — You the Driver" (pp. 33–36).

Fitness to drive

Safe driving needs your whole attention: hands on the wheel, eyes on the road, mind on driving. Anything that affects your body or your mind can impair you. Get regular vision, hearing and physical check-ups, do not drive when you are sick, and whenever a medicine is prescribed, ask the doctor or pharmacist how it affects driving.

Older drivers

Aging changes reaction time, flexibility and vision, and the handbook's advice is to adapt rather than stop: regular medical and eye exams; asking how medications interact, since combinations can affect driving more than any one drug; an exercise program for strength and flexibility; and vehicle adjustments such as a steering knob if turning the wheel is hard, a larger side mirror if turning the head to check blind spots is difficult, and an assistive device for reaching the belt. Avoid sunglasses in dim light, and avoid the riskiest times: dusk, dawn and night, bad weather, rush hour, and fast highways. Florida's Safe Mobility for Life program offers resources for older road users and their families.

Distracted driving

Distraction is anything that takes your attention from driving. It comes in three categories:

1. Visual: eyes off the road. 2. Manual: hands off the wheel. 3. Cognitive: mind off driving.

Texting involves all three at once, which is why it is among the most dangerous distractions. Others include phone calls, unsecured pets, watching something outside the vehicle, grooming, reaching for objects, lighting a cigarette, talking with passengers, eating and drinking, adjusting the radio or climate controls, and daydreaming.

Florida law makes texting while driving illegal, and prohibits using a wireless device in a handheld manner at all in a designated school crossing, school zone or work zone.

Drinking and driving

Alcohol reduces every skill driving depends on: judgment, reaction time, vision and concentration. It is absorbed through the stomach lining straight into the bloodstream and reaches the brain within minutes. Judgment is the first thing affected. Even one drink slows reflexes, blurs vision, dulls alertness, and makes it hard to judge the distance, speed and movement of other vehicles and to control your own. One drink measurably raises your chance of a crash. No one can drink and drive safely, however experienced.

The penalties are heavy: fines, higher insurance rates, loss of license, and jail. A DUI conviction stays on your driving record for 75 years.

Plan ahead: designate a sober driver before drinking, and if you are that driver, drink nothing. If a friend is about to drive impaired, take the keys and arrange a safe ride. If you are impaired with no designated driver, use a rideshare, call a sober friend or relative, or take public transportation.

Drowsy driving

Driving tired can be as dangerous as driving drunk. Fatigue slows thinking and reaction time, affects judgment and vision, dulls the senses, and causes micro-sleeps or falling asleep outright. The two main causes are too little or poor-quality sleep and driving at hours when you would normally be asleep. So: do not drive during your usual sleeping hours, sleep well before a trip, take a break every 100 miles or two hours on long drives, stop somewhere safe and nap if you feel sleepy, and share the driving with a companion.

Drugged driving

Driving impaired by drugs is illegal and carries the same penalties as alcohol. Prescription drugs and ordinary allergy and cold medicines can impair you; read the label for warnings and ask a doctor or pharmacist if in doubt. Never mix alcohol with drugs: the combination multiplies both effects, so one drink taken with a cold or allergy medicine can hit like several. Illegal drugs such as marijuana affect reflexes, judgment and alertness, and can create a false sense of alertness and confidence or make you drowsy and slow to react.

Emotions and road rage

Worry, excitement, anger, grief and depression pull your mind off the road and change how you react, or overreact, to what happens around you. Take time to calm down before you drive.

Road rage is violent or visibly angry behavior by a driver: deliberately causing a crash, sudden acceleration or braking, tailgating, cutting others off, blocking a merge, leaning on the horn or flashing headlights, shouting threats or obscenities, obscene gestures, getting out of the vehicle to confront someone, using or threatening a weapon, or throwing things.

If another driver threatens you or drives dangerously around you: stay calm, put distance between you, slow down and let them pass, do not make eye contact, and do not gesture back. If you need help, call **\*FHP (\347)* or 911.

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