Overcorrecting When Reacting

Despite everything you learn about reacting to emergencies, sometimes instinct takes over. That dog who jumps out in front of you or the backseat passenger who yells, “Watch out!” for no good reason can make you overreact. You move before you think. Maybe it’s a hard turn or a hard stop. That doesn’t matter. You make a “corrective” move unnecessarily – a move that can actually cause you to lose control.

Overcorrecting for something is dangerous. Too sudden a stop can throw you into an uncontrollable skid. Too sudden a turn can cause your vehicle to roll over, or you could inadvertently wind up in an adjacent travel lane and at the mercy of oncoming traffic. If you find that you have instinctively – or due to lack of experience – overcompensated for something, follow these steps:

• Regain and maintain your composure. You cannot control your vehicle if you can’t control yourself!
• Keep a firm grip on the steering wheel.
• Release the accelerator and avoid the urge to brake hard. Sometimes a slight decrease in speed is enough to help you regain control of the vehicle.
• When you feel that you have regained control, steer the vehicle back to your desired position.
• Depending on the nature of your problem, you may need to pull off the road. Do so only when you have a safe place where you can stop.