NARRATOR: When faced with an emergency situation, most drivers automatically shift into the Child Attitude State and panic.

While panic is a natural and expected reaction, it is the worst thing that you can do in a driving emergency because it prevents you from making Adult decisions. Instead of panicking, the Adult driver uses IPDE to quickly identify the hazards, predict the worst outcomes, and decide on an evasive maneuver that can be executed in a timely manner with the minimum level of risk.

Speaking of evasive maneuvers, there are three controls that every driver uses to determine the direction and speed of a vehicle:

Braking...

Steering...

And accelerating.

These vehicle controls combine to form the following four primary maneuvers:

You can escape left by steering left.

You can escape right by steering right.

You can brake and hold the steering wheel straight.

Or you can accelerate to escape from trouble.

These four evasive options can be used individually or in combination as needed. For example, a particular driving emergency might require that you steer left while braking at the same time. The key is to be ready to choose the right maneuver, or the right combination of maneuvers, in a split second.

Now, to help you make those split second choices and develop some Adult responses to driving emergencies, we are going to show you several traffic scenes. In each scene, imagine that you are actually behind the wheel and must quickly choose the evasive maneuver that is best. Here's the first scene.

What is your decision? Will you brake and hold? Escape left? Escape right? Or accelerate?

The oncoming truck rules out an escape left, and accelerating is obviously not an option. The natural reaction coming from your Child would be to brake and hold, but if you are in your Adult, you should predict the worst, which would be that the oncoming vehicle stays in your lane. If you brake and hold, you might be on course for a head-on collision, so the best decision in this emergency is to compromise your space and escape right onto the shoulder.

You have just avoided a potentially deadly collision trap, but now you are faced with a new emergency. You are still moving pretty fast and both of your right side wheels are off the pavement. What is your decision now?

At this point, you could choose to move your vehicle completely onto the shoulder and reduce speed until you safely come to a stop. Another option would be to attempt an off-road recovery and re-enter the roadway. Either choice might be appropriate depending on the circumstances, but let's just say your decision is to re-enter the roadway. Here are the steps you would need to take to safely accomplish an off-road recovery.

As soon as your car leaves the roadway, it is important to firmly hold the wheel straight to make sure your vehicle is parallel to the edge of the roadway and reduce your speed by removing your foot from the accelerator.

Once stable, check your mirrors.

When your lane is clear, turn the wheel left and return to the pavement. It is important that you turn enough to avoid having your right side tires rub on the edge of the pavement, which can cause a loss of control.

In general, when you're faced with a sudden hazard in front and you don't have enough time or space to stop before colliding with it, escaping right will usually be your safest option. However, there are situations where escaping right doesn't provide a way out. Put yourself in this situation. Scan and search to identify and predict trouble.

What is your decision here? Would you brake and hold, escape left by steering left, or escape right by steering right?

Did you notice the car approaching the intersection from the right? If you identified the silver car as a potential hazard, you might have determined that the driver of that car would not be able to see you coming because their view was blocked by the SUV. You might have predicted that the silver car would dart out into your path to make a sudden right turn. Your scanning technique should have also revealed that the left lane ahead of you was open, and there was no possibility of escaping right because of the vehicles stopped at the light. At your current speed, braking and holding would likely result in a collision. You should also notice that the front of the silver car is dipped down, indicating hard braking in an attempt to stop. Thus B, an escape left, is the only Adult response in this driving emergency.

How about this situation? What would you choose here?

By scanning your mirrors, you should have identified that the large truck you just passed is still very close behind you. If your decision is to brake and hold, you will probably cause an avoidable rear end collision. Escaping left would put you in the direct path of oncoming traffic, and obviously accelerating is not a good idea.

Answer choice C, escape right, is your best option.

Here is an emergency situation that has probably happened to you before.

Looks like the vehicle in front of you acted quickly to avoid a tire in your lane. What is your decision here? Would you brake and hold, escape left, escape right, or accelerate?

In addition to conducting a 12-second search, you should constantly scan the areas to the sides and rear of your vehicle as you drive. If you were scanning properly before this driving emergency occurred, you would have identified that there was a car to your left, making an escape left impossible. Since you don't know what type of debris is in the road, accelerating and driving over it is a less than desirable option. And at your current speed, you probably would not be able to stop in time to avoid driving over it.

Out of all the available alternatives, your best option in this situation is "C," escape right.

An encounter with an emergency vehicle is a traffic situation that might not involve a split second evasive maneuver, but still requires that the driver be prepared. In the following scene, imagine that your intended path is to go straight through the intersection.

Remember that your plan is to go straight through the intersection. However, when you identify that an emergency vehicle is approaching and in your lane, your next move should be to decide on the quickest and safest way to move your vehicle out of its path. In this situation, turning left would put you in the path of oncoming traffic. Since you are facing a red light and the ambulance might also need to cross the intersection, going straight is not the best choice. You can't stay where you are because you would be blocking the ambulance. The only safe and sensible option is "B," turn right, then quickly move to the right side of the road so that the ambulance can get by you if it also turns right at the intersection.

In this scene, your intention is to go straight through the intersection. Remember to search and scan carefully on all sides of your vehicle. A hazard can emerge from any direction.

What would you do here? Turn left, turn right, or accelerate?

By scanning behind your vehicle, and being aware of your surroundings even while stopped at a red light, you should have heard and seen the warnings for an oncoming train and observed that the driver behind you has become stuck on the tracks with nowhere to go.

In a situation like this, you would hope the other drivers are also aware of what is happening, but that isn't guaranteed. Without any traffic coming from the left, and the vehicles on your left and right not moving, your safest and only option would be to accelerate forward enough to allow the vehicle behind you to get out of the path of the oncoming train.

In an emergency, your Adult Attitude State must immediately take control of your driving. Even the smallest delay or indecision can mean the difference between a crash and a properly executed evasive maneuver. Let's view a few more traffic situations, this time without stop-action, so that you can fine-tune your ability to quickly decide on the best escape route.

Be ready to identify and react properly. Remember, your primary evasive maneuvering options are: brake and hold, escape left, escape right, and accelerate.

While it may seem obvious that your only option was to escape left, this scene illustrates the importance of scanning your surroundings on a routine basis. If you checked your mirrors, you saw that the lane to your left was clear. You should have also noticed that you were approaching a slower car in the lane to your right. Do you remember when you first identified the car approaching quickly from behind in the right lane? Your Parent Attitude State might have been thinking how easy it would be to move up in an attempt to teach the faster car a lesson by preventing them from passing in such a hazardous manner. In this situation, the Adult driver would identify all of the hazards, predict which one was likely to present the most danger, decide that the left lane could be used as an escape route, and be prepared to execute an escape left in the event that the fast approaching car should make a reckless decision.

Keeping these things in mind, let's watch the scene again before moving on.

Let's view another situation.

What was your decision? Did your 12-second search reveal that you were following a truck with an unsecured ladder and that you had an open lane for an escape left in an emergency? If so, you're learning! When you are following any vehicle with an unsecured load, you must scan your environment even more carefully than you normally would. That way you are prepared to execute a maneuver as quickly as possible should an emergency such as this occur.

Let's view another.

What was your decision? If you were scanning your surroundings, you should have noticed that this is a residential area where pedestrians, especially children and pets, could appear suddenly. Once you heard the barking dog and identified the ball bouncing toward the street, you should have predicted that someone or something would follow after it. By quickly thinking ahead in this way, you would be prepared to brake quickly and decisively.

So how did you do on each of those close calls? If all of those situations had really happened to you, would you have panicked and made an impulsive decision? If you panic, you must quickly get back into your Adult Attitude State. Only with the Adult in control can you remain calm, analyze the options available to you, and execute the appropriate maneuver that the situation requires.

Driving emergencies aren't always caused by hazards outside your vehicle. In fact, if you fail to properly maintain your vehicle's engine, brakes, tires, transmission, exhaust, and other critical systems, an emergency might start inside your vehicle.

While vision is the most important sense used for driving, your sense of smell might give you the first indication that a problem is developing inside your vehicle. Using IPDE methods, first identify the problem at hand. If you smell something burning, for example plastic or electrical systems, check your gauges or battery indicator.

If you smell fuel or exhaust fumes, or if you see smoke or steam from under the hood, again, check your gauges to indicate if something is overheating, your battery levels are off, or your oil pressure is off. Your gauges will help you pinpoint what the problem might be.

Once the problem has been identified, it's logical to predict such consequences as engine or power failure. Decide on the best and safest place to pull over, and execute the move.

Regular vehicle maintenance is the best way to prevent failure of the engine or other important parts, and no one wants a breakdown out on the road.