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What can you do about highway
hypnosis'? First, be aware that
it can
happen.
Then here are some tips:
Make sure your vehicle is well
ventilated,
with a comfortably cool
interior.
Keep your eyes moving. Scan the road
ahead and
to the sides. Check your
rearview mirrors frequently and your
instruments from time
to time. This
can help you avoid a fixed stare. Wear
good sunglasses
in bright light.
Glare can cause drowsiness.
But don't
wear sunglasses
at night. They will
drastically reduce your overall vision
at
the very time you need all the
seeing power you have.
If you get sleepy,
pull off the road into
a rest, service, or parking area and
take a nap, get some exercise, or both.
For safety, treat drowsiness on the
highway as an emergency.
As in any driving situation. keep pace
with traffic and allow adequate following
distances.
Hill and Mountain
Roads
Driving on steep hills or mountains is
different from driving
in flat or rolling
terrain. If you drive regularly
in steep
country. or
if you're planning to visit
there, here are some tips that can make
your trips safer and more enjoyable.
0 Keep your vehicle in good shape.
Check all fluid levels and also the
brakes, tires, cooling system and
transmission. These parts can work
hard on mountain roads.
1659 *
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Your Driving and the Road
Know how to go down hills. The most
important
thing to know is this: let
your engine
do some of the slowing
down.
Don’t make your brakes do it
all. Shift to a lower gear when you go
down a steep or long hill. That way,
you
will slow down without excessive
use of your brakes.
If you don’t shift down, your
brakes could get
so hot that
they wouldn’t work well. You
would then have poor braking or
even none
going down a hill. You
could crash. Shift down to let your
engine assist your brakes on
a steep
downhill slope.
2 Coasting downhill in
, N (Neutral) or with the ignition
off is dangerous, Your brakes will
have to do all the work of slowing
down, They could get so hot that
they wouldn’t work weiL You could
crash. Always have your engine
running and your vehicle in gear
when you go downhill.
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Know how to go uphill. You may
want
to shift down to a lower gear.
The lower gears help cool your engine
and transmission, and
you can climb
the
hill better.
Stay
in your own lane when driving
on two-lane roads in hills or
mountains. Don’t swing wide or cut
across the center of the road. Drive at
speeds that let you stay
in your own
lane. That way, you won’t be surprised
by a vehicle coming toward you
in the
same lane.
It takes longer to pass another vehicle
when you’re going uphill. You’ll want
to leave extra room to pass. If a
vehicle is passing you and doesn’t
have enough room, slow down
to
make it easier for the other vehicle to
get
by.
As you go over the top of a hill, be
alert. There could be something
in
your lane, like a stalled car or an
accident.
0
You may see highway signs on
mountains that warn
of special
problems. Examples are long grades,
passing or no-passing
zones, a falling
rocks area, or winding roads. Be alert
to these and take appropriate action.
Winter driving can present special problems. See
“Winter Driving” in the
Index.
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Your Driving and the Road
Parking on Hills
Hills and mountains mean spectacular
scenery.
But please be careful where you
stop
if you decide to look at the view or
take pictures. Look for pull-offs or
parking areas provided for scenic
viewing.
Another part
of this manual tells how to
use your parking brake (see "Parking
Brake"
in the Index). But on a mountain
or steep
hill, you can do one more thing.
You can
turn your front wheels to keep
your vehicle from rolling downhill or out
into traffic.
Here's how:
Parking Downhill
Turn your wheels to the right.
You don't have to jam
your tires against
the curb,
if there is a curb. A gentle
contact
is all you need.
-m
Parking Uphill
If there is a curb, turn your wheels to the
left
if the curb is at the right side of your
vehicle.
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If you’re going uphill on a one-way street
and you’re parking on the left side, your wheels should point to the right. If there is no curb when you’re parking
uphill, turn the wheels
to the right.
If there is no curb when you’re parking
uphill on the left side of a one-way street,
your wheels should be turned to the left.
Torque Lock (Automatic Transmission)
If you are parking on a hill and you don’t
shift your transmission into
P (Park)
properly, the weight
of the vehicle may
put
too much force on the parking pawl in
the transmission. You may find it difficult
to pull the
shift lever out of P (Park). This
is called “torque lock.” To prevent torque
lock, always
be sure to shift into P (Park) properly before
you leave the driver’s
seat.
To find out how, see “Shifting into
P (Park)” in the Index.
When you are ready to drive, move the
shift lever out of
P (Park) BEFORE you
release the parking brake.
If “torque lock” does occur, you may
need to have another vehicle push yours
a little uphill to take some of the pressure
from the transmission,
so you can pull the
shift lever out of
P (Park).
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Your Driving and the Road
Winter Driving
Here are some tips for winter driving:
Have your Chevrolet in good shape
for winter. Be sure your engine
coolant mix is correct.
Snow tires can help in loose snow, but
they may give
you less traction on ice
than regular tires.
If you do not expect
to be driving in deep snow, but may
have to travel over ice, you may not
want to switch
to snow tires at all.
You may want to put winter
emergency supplies in your vehicle.
Include an ice scraper, a small brush
or broom, a supply
of windshield
washer fluid, a rag, some winter outer
clothing, a small shovel, a flashlight, a
red cloth, and a couple
of reflective
warning triangles. And, if you will be
driving under severe conditions,
include a small bag of sand, a piece of
old carpet or
a couple of burlap bags
to help provide traction. Be sure you
properly secure these items in your
vehicle.
Driving on Snow or Ice
Most of the time, those places where your
tires meet
the road probably have good
traction.
However, if
there is snow or ice between
your tires and the road, you can have a
very slippery situation. You’ll have a lot
less traction or “grip” and will need to
be
very careful.
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What’s the worst time for this? “Wet ice.”
Very cold snow or ice can be slick and
hard
to drive on. But wet ice can be even
more trouble because
it may offer the
least traction
of all. You can get “wet ice”
when it’s about freezing
(32°F; OOC) and
freezing
rain begins to fall. Try to avoid
driving on wet ice
until salt and sand
crews can get there.
Whatever
the condition - smooth ice,
packed, blowing or loose snow
- drive
with caution. Accelerate gently. Try not to
break the fragile traction. If you
accelerate
too fast, the drive wheels will
spin and polish the surface under the tires
even more. Your
anti-lock brakes improve your
ability
to make a hard stop on a slippery
road. Even though you have the anti-lock
braking system, you’ll want to begin
stopping sooner than you would on
dry
pavement. See “Anti-Lock” in the Index.
0
0
Allow greater following distance on
any slippery road.
Watch for slippery spots. The road
might be fine
until you hit a spot that’s
covered
with ice. On an otherwise
clear road, ice patches
may appear in
shaded areas where the sun can’t
reach: around clumps of trees, behind
buildings, or under bridges.
Sometimes
the surface of a curve or
an overpass may remain icy when the
surrounding roads are clear.
If you see
a patch of ice ahead of you, brake
before you are on
it. Try not to brake
while you’re actually on the ice, and
avoid sudden steering maneuvers.
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Your Driving and the Road
If You’re Caught in a Blizzard
If you are stopped by heavy snow, you
could be
in a serious situation. You should
probably stay
with your vehicle unless
you know for sure that you are near
help
and you can hike through the snow. Here
are some things to
do to summon help and
keep yourself and your passengers safe:
Turn on your hazard flashers. Tie a red
cloth to your vehicle
to alert police that
you’ve been stopped
by the snow. Put on
extra clothing or wrap a blanket around
you.
If you have no blankets or extra
clothing, make body insulators from newspapers, burlap bags, rags, floor mats
- anything
you can wrap around yourself
or tuck under your clothing to keep warm.
You can run the engine to keep warm, but
be careful. Snow can trap exhaust gases
L under your vehicle.
This can
cause deadly
CO (carbon monoxide)
gas to get inside. CO could
overcome you and
kill you. You
can’t see it or smell it, so you might
not know
it is in your vehicle. Clear
away snow from around the base of
your vehicle, especially any that is
blocking your exhaust pipe.
And
check around again from time to
time
to be sure snow doesn’t collect
there.
Open a window just a little on the
side
of the vehicle that’s away from
the wind. This
will help keep CO
out. I
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