Advanced Driving Courses – Slam the Brakes on Mental Biases

Save on Car Insurance by Slamming the Brakes on Mental Biases

In these Covid-ridden times of economic uncertainty, you may believe that acquiring new skills with a course that doesn’t improve your career or income directly is a luxury. What if this perception is a mental bias that prevents you from saving money? Is this why setting aside a day for a long-term money-saver, like an advanced driving course, is taking a back seat in your life?

Like those potholes in the road, mental biases are those hazards in your mind that slow you down. They often appear when your brain doesn’t know how to handle new facts.   

It’s a fact: driving courses can save you money

Insurance policies assess you according to your risk profile. While most South African car insurers calculate risk based on factors such as age, where you live, the make and model of your vehicle, inflation, and security measures, Dialdirect has a forward-thinking approach. 

We reward driving excellence with the mobile Dial Direct App – an easy-to-use tool that rates your performance in a practical, logical way while you are on the road.  With the App and Dialdirect Payment Booster, your comprehensive vehicle cover can earn you a premium payback of up to 75%. Monthly!

Improving your performance behind the wheel with a specialised driving course is an excellent way to polish your driver résumé – and getting ching back from Dial Direct. 

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So, why aren't you pushing the pedal right now to be part of the next available driving course? You either don't have enough information about these courses, or your decision-making could be clouded by the fumes of a common mental bias. 

What are specialised driving courses?

You can pick from a variety of specialised driving courses:  

• Advanced  Driving

• Defensive Driving

• Track Driving

• Skidpan Car Control Cruise

• 4x4 Driving

• Hijack Prevention

These courses all have the same goal: allowing you to master techniques to take your driving skills to the next level. 

What will you learn at these courses? If you choose the Advanced Driving and Car Control course at the AS Driving Academy, for example, you will drive off knowing more about: 

• The importance of seating, vision, braking and acceleration 

• Advanced car dynamics 

• Highway speed emergency braking works for cats with ABS and non-ABS systems

• Correct lane changing in both wet and dry conditions

• Vehicle stability control

• Under and oversteer prevention, which often causes accidents.  

Driving academies, training organisations, and car manufacturers present these driving courses on racetracks or simulated environments. With AMG Mercedes Benz instructors’ guidance, you can put the pedal to the metal in their powerhouse automobiles – an experience that will rev up memories. BMW and MINI promise a goose-bumps on-circuit driving experience for a lockdown adrenaline fix, while Volkswagen design their courses to ensure personal road safety. 

Sound advice from Vic Rich, Head Instructor at the national AS Driving Academy, is to do a course in your own car. "To make the most of your learnings, especially in bad weather or when you are faced with unexpected situations, you need to understand the dynamics of the vehicle you take on the road every day. If you don’t know your car’s vibrations and reaction times, you may land up in serious trouble. "

Among the many other training facilities offering specialised driving courses are driving.co.za, NOSA Logistics and Zwartkops Driver Training. 

The cost of these mentioned driving courses ranges from R1,900 to over R8,000. 

Beware of biases on the road to saving

Still not convinced? How you interpret the benefits of specialised driving courses might illustrate how mental biases mess with your mind – and the concept of saving. 

Dictionaries describe the word “bias” as “a prejudice against a person or group”. Did it immediately cause you to think that you’re a bad person if you have a bias? You would have if you didn’t know what biases mean in psychological studies dealing with social behaviour. When psychology experts talk about mental biases, which they call cognitive biases, it becomes far more complex. 

To simplify the words of the world-renowned astrophysicist and scientific mastermind Neil deGrasse Tyson, published on mastermind.com, cognitive biases are errors in the way we think, which make us justify our actions and beliefs. We all do this, as we’re not aware of these biases that have become a part of how humans think over thousands of years. 

Although there are many possible biases, DeGrasse Tyson and other big thinkers have identified twelve that often pop up in modern times. 

So, which of these mental potholes may be hit by your decision-making wheels when you are considering saving money with a driving course? 

The Loss-Aversion Bias

Most people attach more weight to perceived losses than to equivalent gains. In other words, the thought of seeing R4,000 wiped off your bank balance providing profit for someone else will be at the top of your mind. At the same time, you will ignore the gradual financial gains from applying your driving course learnings, for example:

• Businesstech reported a prediction by economists that South Africans will pay more at the pumps in the coming months. All because of a surge of global oil prices and the introduction of local fuel taxes. 

Minimising rapid acceleration (such as speeding off at a traffic light) and correctly switching gears will increase your vehicle’s fuel efficiency – a powerful money-saving weapon against upcoming fuel hikes. 

• Another obvious long-term saving benefit of driving courses is less wear and tear on your car. 

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

Individuals with little knowledge in a particular subject mistakenly think they know more than what they actually do. 

In a 2019 survey, it was found that 76% of Americans believe they are good drivers, but 93% admit to unsafe behaviour like fiddling with their GPS, eating, speeding, texting or tailgating. 

We get angry when a taxi driver stops at a crossing or anywhere right in front of you without indicating, but how do you perform on the road? Can you control your car during aquaplaning when there’s suddenly too much water in your wheels? Do you know where the safest position for your hands are on your steering wheel? 9 and 3 o'clock or 10 and 2? Any of these faults can cause an accident. 

The Overconfidence Bias

This bias is all about your attitude. 

Isah Baloyi, a four-time racing champion and Defence Driver Specialist from the Zwartkops driving school, agrees with Rich that the most dangerous mistakes experienced drivers make on their courses are: 

• not paying enough attention, and 

• not being aware of their surroundings. 

Baloyi notes: “At the end of a course, our clients are often surprised by how they underestimated their car management skills during an emergency. You have to respect your car.” Your one-ton prized possession can quickly turn into a killing machine. 

The Confirmation Bias 

We all favour ideas that confirm our existing beliefs. If your perception of driving courses is that they are most suitable for learner drivers or that they offer an opportunity to transform into a Lewis Hamilton on a racecourse, you’re mistaken. It's not about speed; it's about know-how and safety. Safety saves money and lives. 

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