Why Safe2Go?

Learning to drive in the past century

The first automobile driving school opened in the UK in 1910. The world has modernised enormously since then in all aspects of life, technology, medicine and teaching, and the motor industry has transformed vehicle safety. But driving instruction, with rare exceptions in the Western world, has scarcely advanced from its early beginnings.

Question why? The primary goal is to get a driver’s licence, of course. But this leads to a narrow, rudimentary approach: one which is very general and mechanical. It produces a kind of robot driver, because too much is ignored as to the fundamentals of human senses in driving. These and other innate human capabilities are not touched upon, which produces much less developed skills in the pursuit of the licence, where the focus is passing the driving test.

Our Founder

The “Missing Link”

Hello, my name is Henry. I have been a driver trainer for many years; many would say a contrarian. When I took my instructor course, I felt instinctively that it was lacking. So from day one, I started to study and observe. The result over these many years is a modernised approach to skill development in driver training. I call it the “Missing Link”.

Let me ask you a question. Do you regard driving as a sport or an activity? Or just a privilege that is owed to you for passing the driving test? My approach treats driving as a sport, with the goal of honing skills and senses to make you a confident, better decision-maker on the road. The result is safer driving habits, more accuracy, and more freedom behind the wheel.

Along the way, I delved into new findings in neurology and applied psychology, studied texts, and applied this thinking to my instruction. I performed my own experiments, measured findings, and continued to correlate new data and experience. Recently a client, a psychotherapist, said to me after their first session: “Wow, Henry, you really know how to bring out the senses in a person.”

Why is this important in today’s society? I believe profoundly that on today’s evermore crowded city streets, safe driving is imperative. So too do the police forces around the world, with speed cameras, lowered speed limits, and a great increase in fines. These penalties play a part in curbing excess, though it is arguable whether they attack the problem at its heart. And of course, the greatest importance is that improved driving saves lives.

Correct skills and technique build habits, as in sport. They also build an attitude, a way of thinking. This is what I try to do. I hope I am not alone in this, but to date I have failed to find other driver instruction that avoids the pitfalls of the traditional approach.

I have taught all ages and many different types of people, and I have received an above-average number of drivers with driving problems: anxiety, accident-proneness, and poor driving records. A yoga instructor, of all people, had repeated minor accidents due to mindlessness. Across an interesting landscape of people, many of them highly educated professionals, virtually all have said something like the university professor who wrote to me: “Henry teaches you the skill of driving, which means you can pass the test because that is what it tests, but you are also then able to drive with confidence.” That professor passed the test with an extraordinarily high mark, as did others who came to me with high stress levels from past experiences.

Safe2Go was featured in the Sydney Morning Herald, highlighting our approach to driver rehabilitation and our commitment to making the roads safer for everyone.

Psychoeducation

Understanding the psychology behind driving

Psychoeducation is an essential aspect of our approach at Safe2Go, as we believe that understanding the psychology behind driving anxiety and stress is crucial to improving driving skills. Through psychoeducation, we help our clients learn how to manage their stress and anxiety while driving, and how to develop a positive attitude towards driving.

We recognise that driving anxiety can arise from various sources, including traumatic experiences such as motor vehicle accidents, phobias such as fear of highways or bridges, and even general anxiety disorders. We aim to help our clients understand the root cause of their anxiety and develop strategies to overcome it.

One key aspect of this work is helping clients identify the triggers that can cause anxiety while driving, such as heavy traffic, unfamiliar roads, or driving at night. We teach techniques to manage stress and anxiety, including deep breathing, mindfulness, and visualisation.

We also educate clients on the importance of self-care and self-awareness while driving. This includes understanding the impact of sleep, nutrition, and hydration on driving performance, as well as being mindful of one’s emotions and mental state behind the wheel.

Key Focal Points

What are the key focal points of my system?

We develop personalised programs to address each individual’s specific needs and objectives.

Our approach is built on the following:

A major focus on vision, and its full potential

This may seem obvious, but the vast majority underutilise this vital sense, or use it wrongly. Excellent vision training creates excellent driving decisions and reactions.

Collaborating to view driving as a sport

The client and I collaborate to view driving as a sport. This engenders an entirely different perspective, and it becomes the base for everything that follows, as the foundation of decision-making and reaction times.

Applied psychoeducation

How to be less stressed, and how to understand the effects of stress, some of which are inevitable in any driving situation. This includes the mind’s different behaviour in “flight mode” as opposed to the more desirable “response mode”.

Creating a more sense-alert driver

Consider the art of motorbike riding. The rider is normally at one with the vehicle, much closer to reality and to potential injury. I succeed in implanting that same high sensory awareness in drivers.

A number of small but important techniques

These arise from the principles above. Some involve legal variations of standard practice, such as holding the steering wheel differently at appropriate times, safe alternatives in braking technique, and other areas of judgement that vary slightly from the standard blueprint of instruction while being safer and more logical. For example: at an intersection, how to choose a safe gap, react quickly, and feel confident in the decision.

If it feels right, you’re doing right

This is the feeling we work toward. When the skills are in place, safe driving stops being an effort and starts to feel natural.