Emerging with New Technology

 Hello world, it's been a while since I have written anything on this blog as I considered shutting it down, but it stills seems to be relevant. I realize that there is more to talk about so stay tuned. In the mean time  feel free to download this image. I'm working on some new stuff that I am really excited about and will eventually share on "driving your car."

Double Left Turn

Sometimes I find myself in a "close call" situation when I'm in a double left turn lane. What I mean by this is that people don't seem to understand the correct way to turn when you are in these lanes. Usually there is a solid or dashed white line separating these lanes and it curves with a radius to match up with the lanes on the intersecting street in the direction in which you are traveling. The concept here is if you are in the inside turn lane keep that white line on the right side of your vehicle and if you're in the outer turn lane keep that white line on the left side of your vehicle. People tend to always cross short over that line when they are in the outer turn lane causing a problem for the vehicle on the inside turn lane.You need to trust that the line will put you in the lane that you should be in on the intersecting street and don't cross over the line while turning because you put a Dangerous Squeeze on the vehicle in the other lane causing a potential "auto accident" situation.

Driving In The Snow

First of all if you have an attached garage to your house don't ever warm up your car in the garage or even half way out of the garage. This technique does not work to try to keep exhaust and harmful carbon monoxide from building up and making it's way into your house because you never know how many directions the air outside is moving. Pull your car completely out of the garage and shut it.

For those of us with no garage take the time to clean your vehicle off, don't just jump in start it up and go. Your headlights are not going to melt the snow, your engine is not going to heat up your hood and make the snow slide off when it's really cold, your tailights probably will not be seen through the snow you did not remove by the person sliding up behind you, and if you only cleaned enough of your windsheild and rear window to see while you wait for your defrost to melt the rest as you're driving you might not see a hazard coming toward you. I don't know about you, but I ALWAYS want a 360 degree view! So please take the time to completely clean off your vehicle before starting your trip.

One of the best things you can do when driving in the snow is to look ahead down the road for anything that may cause uncertain or hazardous road conditions and quickly prepare for them. From traffic to debris to the type of snow or ice on the road are all things you must pay attention to. Drive safe and slow down way before you need to actually stop. If you are rolling on solid ice slowing down will help you prevent rolling past your stopping point into an intersection and getting in a serious accident. Use common sense and remember other drivers are travelling on ice also and can't stop any better than you can.

Don't be in a rush driving in the snow, there's nothing to prove even if you are driving in four-wheel drive. Take your time because there is no traction for any kind of drive (FWD, AWD, 4WD, RWD) when you start sliding and spinning out of control and ending up in a ditch or running into another vehicle. Slow down and be responsible in the snow you will have a much better day.

Keep A Safe Distance

I have concluded that tailgating must be the normal way to drive from what I have observed on the road for many years now. Well this is not the normal way to drive and we Need To Stop! You should drive at least 3 seconds behind the vehicle in front of you. If you're not sure what this means next time you are on the road following a vehicle visually mark a stationary object that the vehicle in front of you passes and begin to count, one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three. If you reach this mark before you get to one-thousand-three you are too close.

There is more than one action involved in stopping a vehicle and several elements to consider, it's not just a matter of pressing your brake pedal. First; there is the speed at which you are travelling, Second; the weight of the vehicle you are driving, Third; the road conditions that you are driving in, Fourth; recognizing a need to stop, Fifth; your reaction time to that need to stop by moving your foot from the accelerator pedal to the brake pedal, Sixth; applying pressure to your brake pedal and waiting for the braking process and mechanics of your vehicle to take place. If you are not taking these factors into account and you're tailgating and suddenly you have to slam on your brakes sit back grip the steering wheel and hope you don't run into the back of the vehicle in front of you. It becomes a helpless feeling when you are standing on your brake pedal pushing it through the floor board and you still haven't stopped huh?

I know some people think that they can cheat by covering their brake pedal with their foot when they get too close to a vehicle in front of them but why do this, why tailgate in the first place? We probably tailgate because we encounter the driver that gets in the passing lane going slow where this action is either clueless or deliberate. We try to push them along and force them into the slow lane. Other reasons we tailgate is to close the gap between us and the vehicle in front of us to prevent what I call the "opportunist" driver taking advantage of a spot to jump in front of you or because we are just not paying attention for whatever reason. I notice that cell phones are one of the biggest culprits of tailgating (read my post "Get Off The @#$% Cell Phone). Some people just don't realize how dangerous this is and if you do run into the back of someone it will be your fault period because you should not have been tailgating.

Don't drive through Flood Water

During and after a heavy rainfall don't drive through flood water. If you can't see the street chances are the water will cause problems for you. You can end up running over something or going into a washed out part of the street, getting stuck in  a man hole that has lost it's cover, or your engine components may get wet causing your engine to stall and leaving you not only stuck in the water but possibly an expensive repair to fix any damage that was done. Any of these problems can leave you stranded in rushing flood water which may soon lead to a life threatening ordeal for you. So if you approach flood water do the smart and safe thing turn around and find a different route. If you don't like this advice you might want to pack a life jacket in your car cause once you're stuck and the water keeps rising this type of water is not your friend. Flood Water creates a force that will take you where IT wants to go.

Get off the !#@* Cell Phone

Technically we should never take our eyes off the road when we drive or our hands off the steering wheel, but I will have to say too many of us are guilty of this. I have been taking note of numerous people on the cell phone while they are driving. Some I see on the phone while passing by and others are driving with questionable behavior. On several occasions I have been behind another vehicle that is driving unusually slow or swirving toward the other lane. When I can finally pass this vehicle I look over and the driver is on the cell phone without a care in the world about other traffic on the road. The other day I was parked in a shopping center and observed a woman driving through the parking lot texting on her phone, steering with her knee, and drinking some starbucks coffee. I just said to myself "wow"!  All it would take is a split second for someone to be backing out and her looking down at her phone texting and you have the ingredients for a nice fender bender. Driving and talking on the cell phone has already been proven to cause injury and death to someone. I've witnessed rear-end collisions from people being on the cell phone I just wonder if these people at fault in the collision will discontinue their practice of using their phone while driving and tailgating or will they continue this mistake.

Merging Traffic

I like things that flow, like music and food. When I listen to certain music I can hear how the instruments compliment and communicate with each other producing a well composed song and when I eat something my taste buds can tell if the combination of flavors come together in a wonderful mix or separate in different directions causing an unpleasant taste. Vehicles on the road that flow together are like a form of a well composed song or something that tastes good that you can truly connect with.

I know I feel less stressed when I notice that traffic around me is flowing like a river down stream, everyone has their spot and no one is impeding on anyone else. It gets tricky sometimes with merging traffic and I think some people have a serious issue with this part of the driving dance because they don't know how to do this. For those of you on the freeway already and you are in the right lane approaching an on-ramp get over to your left if you can and let merging traffic flow onto the freeway. If you are getting off the freeway where other traffic is getting on, make sure you have your signal on and decide if you need to go in front of merging vehicles or behind them. Don't speed up to prevent them from merging just do the right thing and you will be surprised how much stress is alleviated.

Drivers merging onto the freeway turn your signal on before you get to the merging area, again you want to let other drivers know what you want to do and try to look back towards freeway traffic in addition to using your side-view and rear-view mirrors because you may be right beside a car or truck and not see them as you are merging. Sometimes you may have to come to a complete stop before getting on the freeway if traffic is too thick but try not to assume that you have to stop. Unless the rules of the road are indicating that you do stop you should practice trying to match your speed to fit into the flow of traffic without interruption. When you observe those drivers that just don't want to let you onto the freeway this might be a good time to safely use that horsepower that your engine possesses. If you don't have it then you might want to slow down and take what you can get. Never assume that anyone is going to let you merge.