New Driver & CDL Skills · Driver Training VideoThe Smith System & SIPDE

Start with the Smith System

It's built on five keys, and every one is something you can do behind the wheel starting today.

Key one: aim high in steering. Don't stare at the hood of your truck. Look twelve to fifteen seconds down the road — roughly a quarter mile at highway speed. Looking that far out means you spot the brake lights, the merging car, the stalled vehicle long before you're on top of it.

Key two: get the big picture. Know what's around you at all times — not just ahead, but beside and behind. Check your mirrors constantly. Keep a space cushion on every side of your rig, because space is the only thing that buys you time when something goes wrong.

Key three: keep your eyes moving. Fixating on one spot — even the vehicle ahead — is how you miss the hazard developing in your peripheral vision. Scan mirror to mirror, near to far, every few seconds. A moving eye catches what a locked eye misses.

Key four: leave yourself an out. Never let yourself get boxed in with no escape route. Position your truck so you always have somewhere to go — an open lane, a shoulder, a gap — if the vehicle ahead does something unexpected.

Key five: make sure they see you. Don't assume the other driver has seen you. Use your signals early, tap your brakes to warn traffic behind you, use your headlights in low visibility. Communication is a two-way responsibility, and yours starts with being visible.

Now layer SIPDE on top of that. SIPDE is the mental process running underneath those five keys, every second you're driving: Scan, Identify, Predict, Decide, Execute.

Scan the roadway continuously — ahead, to the sides, in your mirrors. Identify anything that could turn into a hazard: a car drifting in its lane, a pedestrian near the curb, brake lights bunching up ahead. Predict what that hazard is likely to do next.