Commentary Driving: A Deep Dive

I touched on commentary driving in an earlier issue — and in the book — but only from a distance. Today we go into the weeds. Because I can’t go much further into emergency vehicle operations instruction without first digging into what commentary driving can actually do for drivers, instructors, and the men and women operating emergency vehicles under pressure — whether that is a police cruiser, a fire apparatus, or an ambulance.
The principles here apply equally across disciplines. When I use the word officer throughout this issue, I am speaking to anyone who has ever had to drive fast, think clearly, and arrive ready to work.

Let me start with a story that has nothing to do with any of that.

Many years ago, while working at the Skid Control School, I brought my mother to the skid pan and let her have a go. She loved it — and I thought that was the highlight of the visit. But as we were leaving, she asked what we actually did with our clients when we went out onto the streets. I told her I would show her.
For the next twenty-five minutes, I gave a running commentary all the way to her house. Every hazard identified. Every decision explained. Every cue named before we reached it.
She was amazed. Not just at what I could see, but at how it could all be distilled down to a few simple words and a fluid action of the controls. By the time we pulled up she had tears in her eyes.

But that's to be expected. It's Mom after all. I’m sure many of you have had a similar response from your passengers - albeit without the tears.

What stayed with me was not the reaction — it was the realization that twenty-five minutes of commentary had made visible something most drivers never think about consciously. And if it could do that for a passenger with no training background, imagine what it can do for someone who actually has to drive under pressure.

Around the world, most drivers were exposed to some type of defensive driving system. Different names, different acronyms:

– SIPDE
– Smith System
– DDC — Defensive Driving Course
– Roadcraft / IPSGA
– Cooperative Driving
– SAFER

Strip away the branding and most are trying to accomplish the same thing:

Create space for the vehicle & visibility for the driver.

That means seeing earlier, reacting sooner, and keeping options open. Good principles. So why do so many new officers — or new emergency vehicle operators — arrive acting like looking fifteen to twenty seconds ahead is a revolutionary idea?
Because most people were not trained to drive for life. They were trained to pass a test. The system got them through the exam and then largely left them alone. Commentary driving — if it appeared at all — was a checkbox, not a discipline.

Once someone enters emergency services, the expectation changes significantly. The driver may now need to:

– Respond under pressure
– Monitor radio traffic
– Assess urgency and adjust accordingly
– Navigate unfamiliar streets
– Watch pedestrians and vulnerable road users
– Evaluate threats in real time
– Arrive ready to think and act

That is a fundamentally different level of driving. And if basic vehicle operation is still consuming mental bandwidth, what is left for the job itself?
This is where overload begins. Not because the job is too hard — but because the foundation is not ready for the demands placed on it. We begin adding operational tasks before the driving is truly solid. Commentary driving, used properly, can help solve that problem.

Many programs reduce commentary driving to narration. That misses the point entirely.
Commentary driving is not talking for the sake of talking. It is putting the driver's eyes in the right place, at the right time, to gather the right information. It is the disciplined habit of identifying relevant cues early, predicting what may happen next, and staying mentally ahead of the vehicle.
Not reacting to what just happened. Anticipating what is coming.

Examples of genuine commentary in practice:

– Pedestrian near the curb edge — move away
– Brake lights three vehicles ahead — easing off
– Open lane to the left — keeping it available
– Vehicle waiting at the side street — cover the brake
– Stale green light ahead — find the point of no return

That is not chatter. That is active thinking made audible.

What separates commentary driving from ordinary observation is the direction of thinking. Most drivers use a bottom-up approach — something catches their eye first, a movement, a flash of light, a sudden change, and then they process it. By then they're already reacting. Commentary driving flips that. It is a top-down thinking style — the driver starts with a mental picture of the whole environment, actively searching for information rather than waiting for something to demand their attention. That shift, from reactive to predictive, is what makes it a genuine skill and not just a talking exercise. Commentary driving puts the driver's eyes in the right place, at the right time, to gather the right information — before the situation demands it.

Commentary driving forces drivers to search instead of stare. It stretches their time horizon. It reveals whether they are truly seeing risk or simply hoping nothing happens.
For instructors, it is one of the most powerful diagnostic tools available. Very few other techniques expose a driver's thought process in real time the way commentary does. You can hear:

– What they missed entirely
– What they noticed too late
– Where they are actually looking
– How far ahead they are thinking
– When stress starts shrinking their perception

When commentary falls apart, the driving is usually about to as well.

That last point matters most. Perception narrows under stress. Commentary makes that narrowing audible before it becomes dangerous.

In my experience, when commentary breaks down it is usually a signal of one or more of the following:

– Lack of anticipation — reacting rather than reading
– A weak training foundation
– Tunnel vision setting in
– Emotional urgency overriding process
– Cognitive overload

Often some combination of all of the above.
That is valuable information for an instructor — because the issue may not be steering skill at all. It may be mental workload. And those two problems require very different responses.

This is where many programs stop too early — and where I think the tool is most underused.
In early stages, I want drivers to verbalize what they see and what they intend to do. That builds the habit of looking early and thinking ahead. But as proficiency improves — especially as speed or complexity increase — I no longer need a speech. I need action.
If the driver says "pedestrian near the curb edge" and nothing else changes — no speed reduction, no position adjustment, no covering of the brake — then the words are ahead of the driving, not connected to it. Commentary without response is just narration.
At some point, the verbalization must give way to execution. That is growth. And it is the progression that separates a driver who can talk about hazards from one who actually manages them.

Among experienced drivers, you will often see less verbal commentary — but better performance. The habits are becoming embedded. Scanning, spacing, prediction, option management — these no longer require conscious narration. They are simply happening.
The words may fade. The thinking must not.
This is the destination for a well-run commentary program: a driver whose deliberate practice has become reliable habit. Not something they perform in a training session. Something they cannot turn off.
There is a deeper explanation for why that happens — and what it means for how we design training programs. That is where we are headed in the next issue.

Commentary driving is not just a tool for recruits or pursuit preparation. The principles transfer to any driving context — commuter, fleet, patrol, family. Good driving is good driving.
Pressure only exposes whether it is really there.
For instructors, that has a practical implication: what you are building in EVOC or emergency vehicle setting is not a special skill set that gets switched on during training. It is a way of processing the road. When operators carry it into daily driving — on patrol, on the way to a call, on the way home — the benefit compounds quietly and consistently.

Many programs spend most of their time on steering, braking, and speed. Those matter. But dangerous driving often begins much earlier — in what the driver failed to notice, failed to predict, or failed to prioritize.
Commentary driving helps correct all three by training drivers to look sooner, think sooner, and act sooner. Used well, it is not just a training exercise. It is a way of building the mental habits that keep people safe when no one is watching and nothing is going according to plan.

Commentary driving is not the destination. It may be the bridge to something deeper — a way of understanding why certain habits, once built, change everything about how a driver performs under pressure.
More on that next time.

Until then — stay safe out there.

Hugh

Hugh Anderson EVOC Trainer | Author of Emergency Vehicle Operation Instruction: 5 Steps to Enhancing Your EVOC Training Grab the book on Amazon