Term describing the practice of anticipating dangers while driving?

Question

When one is driving a car (or any other vehicle for that matter) there is a German term that describes the practice trying to predict situations that might occur. When attempting to translate it I can only come up with descriptions, not with a succinct term. The descriptions revolve around the following: - situational awareness - anticipating dangers - safe driving practice But none of them feel like the right term to me. I've also found *anticipatory driving* being used. But here the context seems to usually be fuel efficiency. I also have the sneaky suspicion that it originated as a translation of the German term I am looking to translate (vorrausschauendes Fahren).

Answer 1

The one word answer I would give for this would be the word "defensive" driving. This is the most commonly used term in the U.S., especially taught in Driver's Education classes. There are also special Defensive Driving classes set up as a mandatory requirement to comply with court orders after a traffic violation or as part of a probation following a DWI for example.

One could say "drive defensively" or "use defensive driving at all times". To use it as an action verb one could correctly say "defend yourself while driving" although that is very rarely used. But in actuality, drivers are actively defending themselves on the highway. I know Germans tend to have specific words for every action, as I grew up in a German community. Hope this helps!