Fixation

One of the biggest improvements any driver can make straight away is to become aware of what they're looking at when following traffic. 
Most, in my experience, and that includes clients, high performance students, friends and family, all tend towards 'locking' on the car in front!


It's 'Old Brain' stuff(locking on perceived predators/threats in or near our territory). That and a lack of training to be aware of and deal with this problem. 
Remember, when you were learning you were only driving slowly most of the time with another set of eyes alongside you whilst you grappled with doing all the other things?

This slow urban driving builds the habit of closeness to other vehicles as the norm and focusing just ahead. We were learners then so don't beat up on yourself. 
No one taught us differently. It's not our fault!!

You can alter that right now and be free of this vision crippling habit once and for all. You'll be amazed at the difference. 

Every time you find yourself 'locking on' become aware of it. Step One.

• Now RAISE YOUR EYES. Step Two. 

• Now try and look through/round/past the vehicle in front and become aware of what's ahead of it. Step Three.

• Look up or down the road. Also, back-off and give yourself more room to see.  Step Four.

• Look through them, to the left of them or past the right-hand side. Crossviews.Then ask yourself, "Who or what controls the flow?" That's the clincher.

Good now give that a go. This is a real investment in you. Your safety. Your Well being. You'll be surprised.
And now, whenever you find yourself looking at the number plate of the vehicle infont or at the point where the rear tyres meet the road. Look up. Move your eyes, move your focus. Well done!


Once you get used to doing this try 'soft focusing' the vehicle in front
Just let the foreground be slightly out of focus with your main attention where it can do you some real good - much further up the road. 

And here's another trick: get used to moving your eyes side to side a bit(side scanning), it really helps to break fixation ahead and also serves to give us an even bigger, better picture of what's going on in front and around generally.

It immediately begins to move us away from 'reactive restricted driving' towards 'proactive and more effective driving'. It will move you up a gear, or two!
And - just be aware that your existing habits will continue to 'surface' for a while whether you like or not! 

Congratulate yourself on being aware of that when it happens and then break that crippling fixation and move onwards toward Broadband Vision. More on that later.

Good Luck!