Driver Training

 The MSM routine

 MIRRORS - SIGNALS - MANOEUVRE

This was probably one of the first, if not the first, driving system you learned, and it remains the most important.

Mirrors

Note the plural. The word ‘mirrors’ is still, in fact, shorthand. In full it means, ‘Take effective 360° all round observation’. This includes accounting for any blind spots.

Signals

A signal is a means of providing information to another road user.

There are many types of signal to choose from:

• Indicators

• Flashed headlamps

• Hazard warning lights

• Brake lights

• Road position

• Road speed.

• Horn warning 

• Arm signals

It is important to... Give signals for a reason, not out of habit or automatically. It is very rare for an ‘automatic’ signal to be preceded by a proper observational check around the vehicle.

Manoeuvre

A manoeuvre is any variation in road position either to the left or right and or variation of speed either speeding up or slowing down.

Therefore, MSM in full means - take effective all round observation, and consider the need for signals to help or warn other road users, before altering the position or speed of your vehicle. We need to signal the intention not the action. 

So we need now to insert three or four ‘thinks into this, and we need to think before and after each stage. So, MSM becomes...

THINK

. I need or may need to alter speed/position

.

THINK MIRRORS

What’s happening around my vehicle? What affect will my actions have on other road users? What affect will their actions have on me?

THINK SIGNALS

Do I need to give a signal? What is the best signal to give?  Will a signal confuse another road user? When shall I give the signal?

THINK MIRRORS

Is it still safe to do the manoeuvre? Has the other road user seen, understood and acted upon my signal?

THINK MANOEUVRE

Continued observation & assessment is required throughout.

THINK!

Try and remember the last time you had an unpleasant experience on the road involving a fellow road user, and then work out which bit of the MSM routine you didn’t use correctly.

THINK MORE – DO LESS!