Drive Like a Cop

Tips to help you survive the mean streets

Mac Demere / autoMedia.com

The FBI says police officers are about as likely to be killed in a vehicle crash as with a criminal's gun. Cops drive in a high-threat, workload-intensive environment: blaring sirens, flashing computers, screaming radios, civilian drivers seemingly bent on kamikaze attacks, and, at their destination, angry bad guys who don't particularly respect public servants. All reasons that cops take driving very seriously. With feedback from officers in the field, law-enforcement driving instructors have compiled numerous tips to help their students avoid becoming a statistic. Here, we pass those along to you.

Watch Your Hands

Airbags save lives, but many a police officer has been unnecessarily injured because their hands were over the airbag when it went off. At the school for law-enforcement driving instructors I recently attended, the story was told of an officer who was driving with his wrist draped over the top of the steering wheel. His attention was diverted by the in-car computer and he smashed into a car that suddenly pulled in front of him: the deploying airbag broke his lower arm and caused his own hand to break out his front teeth. While driving straight, police instructors say that your hands should be at three and nine o'clock on the steering wheel. If you MUST be lazy, try four and eight o'clock. Also, the police instructors say, learn the "shuffle steering" technique where the left hand never ventures to the right side of the wheel and vice versa. To turn right, first pull down with the right hand. Next release the right hand grip while pushing up with the left hand and raising the right hand up to grab more wheel. Repeat. With practice, it's possible to drive as fast as possible through the tightest course without your hands going above 10 and two.

Side Windows

Side windows should be all the way up or all the way down. Imaging a pane of glass, edge on, banging into your temple. Now picture a side-impact car crash that snaps your neck against a partially open side window. A guillotine is only slightly more efficient. Because few officers enjoy collecting dismembered body parts from the roadway, your side windows should be all the way up or all the way down. For vehicles with side windows that don't go below the top of the door, this means "all the way up all the time." Fully raised is preferable over fully lowered because it's far better to hit your head against the raised side glass than, say, the brush guard of the SUV that T-boned you in the door.

Lock Your Doors

Preventing carjacking is but a side benefit of this tip. A closed car door will help keep your arms, legs and head inside the vehicle. Police driving instructors claim that a locked door is 10 times more likely to stay closed in a crash. The incredible forces in a wreck mean that even belted occupants can be partially ejected if the doors fly open. In secondary impacts, flopping heads can be smashed against the roadway and dangling limbs can be ripped off. Makes a carjacking seem like a desirable experience, no?

Back In

Since about one-third of driving incidents involving officers on duty occur when the cruiser is in reverse, cops are instructed to back into parking spaces when they're not under pressure. You should do the same thing. The main advantage for you is that it's much easier to see—and avoid—cross traffic when pulling forward out of a parking space. Ever park between two giant SUVs? As you backed blindly out, your car was perhaps two-thirds into the traffic lane before you could see around the behemoths. When responding to an emergency call, cops can't, or don't, take time to back out slowly. Crunch! Since police have no more right to leave the scene of an accident than you, if their brother officer was getting a butt kicking, he'll have to hope someone else responds to the call for backup.