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Off on a Road Trip! Tom T  |
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Well it's that time again, load the family in the car and make the summer pilgrimage. Here are some tips for safe and trouble-free driving.
* Check the brakes, suspension, belts, hoses, tires, cooling system and fluid levels. Failure of any of these could possibly cause an accident or leave you stranded on the road. How many times have you seen a vehicle sitting on the side of the road with the hood up and steam billowing out from under the hood? Traveling on the road to a distant destination is not the time to find out you have car problems. You can avoid this troublesome scenario by having the vehicle checked over by your repair facility before heading out.
* Make sure the spare tire holds air, has good tread, and shows no signs of dry rot. In addition, make sure that all the jack parts are present and working. Carry a travel kit including flares, reflectors, first aid kit, matches, gallon of coolant, flashlight with fresh batteries, and an extra cell phone battery.
* Don't forget to use the safety restraint systems. If the air bag light is on, have it looked at! Make sure the seatbelts retract and buckle securely. Traveling with a child? Here's an interesting statistic... according to an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) study, properly restrained children in the back seat have the lowest crash death rates. Even in cars without air bags, children are 35 percent safer riding in the back seat than in the front. For the kids... the back is where it's at! A great resource for child passenger safety is the Internet website: www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/ You will find a plethora of information regarding child passenger safety. Women of small stature: you should maintain a minimum distance of 12 inches from the air bag with the seatbelt on! If you don't, you're putting yourself at risk! If you find it difficult to drive at this distance from the steering wheel, then get gas and brake pedal extenders.
* Plan a driving route ahead of time. Use maps or area guides and be aware of any detours, road construction, or potentially dangerous road conditions.
* Be aware of adverse weather conditions along your route prior to heading out. With the Weather Channel and Doppler Radar, you have no excuse.
* Avoid driving when feeling tired! Know where the rest points are located and use them during long trips! The stats on traffic deaths resulting from drivers falling asleep behind the wheel would astonish you. Get your rest!
* For young people traveling alone, it's a good idea to carry a list of phone numbers ... parents' emergency work numbers, pagers, and cell phones. Teach your children who drive how to check all the fluid levels, tire pressures, and how to read the car's gauges or warning lights. Travelling any distance by yourself? You should carry a cell phone! You say you don't want to sign a long-term contract for a cell phone? Contact your local cellular provider or AAA office for short-term rental programs.
Another thing to consider ... Road Rage. More and more drivers are acting out their anger on the roads today. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety studied more than 10,000 incidents of violent aggressive driving committed between 1990 and 1996. It found that at least 218 people were killed and another 12,610 were injured when drivers got angry. It's getting ugly out there! Here are some tips to avoid Road Rage:
* Avoid cutting off when you merge; make sure you have plenty of room. Use your turn signal to show your intentions before making a move. If you make a mistake and accidentally cut someone off, try to apologize.
* Avoid driving slowly in the left lane. If you are traveling in the left lane and someone wants to pass you, move over and let them pass. You may be "in the right" because you're going the speed limit, but you may be putting yourself in danger by making drivers behind you angry.
* Avoid tailgating! Drivers get angry when they are followed too closely. Maintain at least a two-second space between you and the car in front of you. When you see the car in front of you pass a fixed-point, start counting "one one thousand, two one thousand ..."; you should be able to count to at least two before passing the same fixed point.
* Avoid gestures! There's nothing that makes another driver angrier than an obscene gesture. Keep both hands on the steering wheel; you're better off making no gestures at all.
* Steer clear ... give angry drivers lots of room. They might snap and veer into you.
* Avoid eye contact. If another driver is angry, don't make eye contact. They may interpret that as a challenge and turn it into a personal duel between the two vehicles.
* Get help. If you think an angry driver is following you, get help. If you have a cell phone, than call for help. If not, than drive to an area where there are a lot of people and get help.
* Forget winning. Driving is not a contest unless you're in a professional race. Remember... no one wins in Road Rage. Let it go!
* Put yourself in the other driver's shoes. Ask yourself, "Why are they driving that way?" They could be a physician on call, volunteer fireman, or maybe they have a bee in the car. Try to be empathetic.
Happy motoring and take it easy out there!
'Til next time...Keep Rollin'
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 With over 27 years in the automotive industry and nearly a decade in automotive talk radio, Tom Torbjornsen makes learning about cars easy with his personal manner, his expert advice, and his high energy and entertaining style. Tom has the unique gift of simplifying the complex and tearing down the technical, meeting you at your level of understanding. You will be encouraged as you gain the confidence to deal with problems related to the second most expensive purchase you will make in a lifetime your automobile.
Email Tom
Click here to visit the America's Car Show website
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