Titanic sized mistakes with sinking results

After reading an article about the Titanic disaster, I realized that the Captain had made some mistakes that led to the ships demise. I then thought about the mistakes we make while driving are no different. The Captain, who was hailed as being the best at cruise navigation type vessels, simply let many elements build up and then was overwhelmed. Some of the mistakes include; not heeding the warnings about the conditions, putting too much faith in his own ability, trusting the ship builders integrity of the ship, not heeding the information given by the passengers, and not leaving himself an out. These are just of few of the things on a long list of mistakes.
"Driving" the Titanic, is nothing like driving a car, obviously! However, you as a driver are the responsible "captain" of your "ship." If you prepare for EVERY trip, no matter how far and heed warnings about conditions, your own driving skills, passengers warnings or their distractions, and remember cars are not indestructible vessels, your driving experience will be much more successful than that of the Titanic.
As drivers we can become complacent with routine. We tend to drive by feel and familiarity, rather than with our eyes wide open and moving. In our courses we teach a technique used by truckers and race car drivers called a 'running commentary'. This is, saying out loud, what you observe while driving, and you can't be detailed enough. You should not leave out anything! not the color of a persons hair, not the # of times a light blinks, not the license plate of a vehicle, absolutely include EVERY possible detail. This technique will improve your awareness and help you to drive with a purpose. You can even insist that your riders do the same and make it a family affair. Most of the students who have attended one of our courses, usually get back to us and tell us that they have seen things they never knew where on their daily commute. This is the result we hope for. We know then, we have improved a drivers awareness and that results in a safer driver overall.
The Captain of the Titanic could have benefited from this. If he had been employing this technique maybe he would have seen that iceberg! But then we wouldn't know Leonardo Dicaprio or Celine Dione. The survivors and affected families wished he had been MORE AWARE.

Thanks for reading and Talk to yourself about your driving.