What is the first action to take for effective traffic judgment?

The first action to take for effective traffic judgment is to search ahead. This involves scanning the road ahead of you for potential hazards, changes in traffic patterns, and any other factors that could affect your driving. By focusing your attention forward, you gather important information about the vehicles around you, traffic signals, pedestrians, and road conditions. This proactive measure allows you to anticipate how traffic situations might unfold, thus enabling you to make informed decisions and react appropriately.

While checking mirrors frequently, signaling intentions, and looking for pedestrians are all important aspects of safe driving, they rely on the foundational action of searching ahead to be effective. If you're not aware of what's coming up in your path, those actions alone won't suffice to ensure safe driving. Prioritizing a forward search sets you up to engage with the traffic environment more effectively.