Take the cue from chess grandmasters

IT was an intriguing experience finding out what goes on in the mind of a chess grandmaster in action via books and Net resources. I feel that the knowledge can be applied to driving and road safety.

Is chess a game of testing prowess in perception, cognition and analysis? Russian scientists put some chess champions through perceptual and cognitive tests. They did not perform exceptionally well.

Are chess experts, visionaries with imagination par excellence? Are they highly capable of seeing things a few steps ahead of their opponents all the time? They are not, according to a book by Joshua Foer.

Chess prodigies see chess boards as structures with recognisable patterns. After clocking in thousands and thousands of board games encounters, they became naturally capable of recognising patterns of movement.

They unlock specific past memory segments to help them to counter the movements of opponents.

Many veteran drivers will agree that common sense is the key to safe driving. The common sense is their memories. They can manoeuvre their vehicles easily and safely, thanks to abundance of driving scenarios in their head.

Like excellent chess players, they develop flair in traffic patterns and structure recognition. It becomes a part of them.

What about beginners who have little or no experience? Oral advice may not work well with them. It may not help them to imagine effectively. Everything is so new to them. They don’t have any driving experience to make good use of.

I hope the Transport Ministry and researchers of safe driving and road safety will consider making videos based on the experiences of veteran drivers, preferably a short thrilling movie with a storyline. It may be a brief story of an everyday life of a veteran driver, e.g. a cab driver.

A video is more appealing to the novice drivers and will stay longer in their memory and help to prevent accidents.