Generally speaking, experience is a good thing. However, in driving it can be a two-edged sword. Sure, experience is essential when it comes to successfully maneuvering a truck or overcoming challenging driving situations. Unfortunately, experience can also be a hindrance because it can lead to complacency.

For instance, think back to your first few weeks of driving. Most likely, you were nervous and continually concerned about the traffic and other problems surrounding you. You didn't take anything for granted; danger existed in all directions. You were constantly aware of everything going on around you. Unfortunately, for most of us, this concern and vigilance quickly erode after a few months of driving without incident. And, the more we drove without an incident, the more complacent we became.

What inevitably happens is that once we shift from expectations of mistakes by others to the assumption that others won't make mistakes, the more vulnerable we become.

Click to watch this video demonstrating what happens when complacency sets in. It's a young driver already so confident that he's driving while on the cell phone as he's going through an intersection. He does appear to move his head side to side, but it takes more than that. The mind must also be focused on the task. In this situation his mind is clearly channeled toward the person on the other end of the call, not on threats at the cross street.

Do you remember going to the circus and seeing the elephants parading - each one holding the tail of the elephant ahead as they walk? It works fine as long as the first elephant doesn't stop suddenly and interrupt the flow. But, if the first elephant does stop, what happens? You've got a rear-end collision! Unfortunately, drivers aren't much different - one driver blindly following the other.

The next time you are stopped at a red light, watch the "pack" waiting for the light to change. Odds are that as soon as the light turns green, each vehicle will charge out immediately after the vehicle in front accelerates. Usually, nothing bad happens because there is no break in the flow. Unfortunately, at some point a problem inevitably occurs ahead - such as late crossing traffic or a tardy cyclist. What happens? The lead vehicle needs to suddenly hit the brakes. What follows? Usually a chain reaction of hard braking within the "pack" because none of the trailing vehicles considered this possibility. Unexpected hard braking is always dangerous - especially in a truck when it can lead to a load shift, cargo damage or worse, a rear-end accident.

Or, what about the driver waiting at a driveway or cross street anxiously looking to turn onto the main street? How many times have you seen this driver get impatient and make a bad decision on when to pull out? Did it end in hard braking or vehicles swerving to miss each other? Hopefully, it wasn't you involved in this type of incident. What constantly amazes me is how many drivers blindly trust in their belief that bad things can't happen to them. And, yet, they are taken by surprise each time someone unexpectedly pulls out in front of them.

The problem is that this blind trust gets worse the longer we get away with it. Despite the alarming number of incidents at intersections, most drivers don't check left-right-left, but instead blindly rely on a little piece of colored glass to protect them. Many drivers put too much trust in turn signals. They take other drivers' turn signals at face value and pull out onto the roadway only to find the driver wasn't turning after all.

It's a numbers game. The more complacency sets in, the more we blindly trust other drivers. And the more we trust other drivers, the greater the chance something bad will happen. That's the difference between the really good drivers and those piling up the collision statistics. A good driver understands that complacency and over-confidence is the enemy when behind the wheel and they work hard to defeat it. They understand that they can't get lazy about applying the fundamentals of safe driving and blindly trust other motorists to do the right thing. They know these fundamentals need to be constantly top-of-mind and applied to their daily driving; otherwise, they won't protect them when they need it most.

Just like golf or tennis, driving is a skill that can be continually improved. Unfortunately, most motorists invest far more time and money in improving their golf game than they'll ever spend to improve their driving skills. Not me. I can always take a mulligan if I spray a drive off the fairway. There are no mulligans when it comes to collisions.