1993 CHEVROLET CAMARO lights

Driving at Night
Night driving is more dangerous than day
driving. One reason is that some drivers
are likely to be impaired
- by alcohol or
drugs, with night vision problems, or by
fatigue.
Here are some tips on night driving.
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Drive defensively. Remember, this is
the most dangerous time.
Don’t drink and drive. (See “Drunken
Driving’’
in the Index for more on this
problem.)
Adjust your inside rearview mirror to
reduce
the glare from headlights
behind you.
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Since you can’t see as well, you may
need to slow down and keep more
space between you and other vehicles.
It’s hard to tell how fast the vehicle
ahead is going just by looking at its
taillights.
Slow down, especially
on higher
speed roads. Your headlights can light
up only
so much road ahead.
In remote areas, watch for animals.
If you’re tired, pull off the road
in a
safe place and rest.
Night Vision
No one can see as well at night as in the
daytime. But as we get older these
differences increase. A 50-year-old driver
may require at least twice as much light to
see
the same thing at night as a
20-year-old.
What you do
in the daytime can also
affect your night vision. For example,
if
you spend the day in bright sunshine you
are wise to wear sunglasses. Your eyes
will have less trouble adjusting to night.
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Your Driving and the Road
But if you’re driving, don’t wear
sunglasses at night. They may cut down
on glare from headlights, but they also
make a lot
of things invisible that should
remain visible
- such as parked cars,
obstacles, pedestrians,
or even trains
blocking railway crossings. You may
want to put
on your sunglasses after you
have pulled into a brightly-lighted service
or refreshment area. Eyes shielded from
that glare may adjust more quickly to
darkness back on the road. But be sure to
remove your sunglasses before you leave
the service
area.-^-
You can be temporarily blinded by
approaching lights.
It can take a second or
two, or even several seconds, for your
eyes to readjust to the dark. When you are
faced with severe glare (as from a driver
who doesn’t lower the high beams, or a
vehicle
with misaimed headlights), slow
down a
little. Avoid staring directly into
the approaching lights. If there is a line of
opposing traffic, make occasional glances
over the line
of headlights to make certain
that one
of the vehicles isn’t starting to
move into
your lane. Once you are past
the bright lights, give your eyes time to
readjust before resuming speed.
High Beams
[f the vehicle approaching you has its
high beams on, signal
by flicking yours to
high and then back to low beam. This is
:he usual signal to lower the headlight
beams. If the other driver
still doesn’t
lower the beams, resist the temptation
to
put your high beams on. This only makes
two half-blinded drivers.
On a freeway, use your high beams only
in remote areas where you won’t impair
approaching drivers. In some places, like
Zities, using high beams is illegal.
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When you follow another vehicle on a
freeway or highway, use low beams. True,
most vehicles now have day/night mirrors
that enable the driver to reduce glare. But
outside mirrors are not of this type and
high beams from behind can bother the
driver ahead.
A Few More Night Driving Suggestions
Keep your windshield and all the glass on
your vehicle clean
- inside and out.
Glare at night is made much worse by dirt
on the glass. Even the inside of the glass
can build
up a film caused by dust.
Tobacco smoke also makes inside glass
surfaces very filmy and can be a vision
hazard
if it’s left there. Dirty
glass makes lights dazzle and flash
more than clean glass would, making the
pupils of your eyes contract repeatedly.
You might even want to keep a cloth and
some glass cleaner
in your vehicle if you
need to clean your glass frequently.
Remember that your headlights light
up
far less of a roadway when you are in a
turn or curve.
Keep your eyes moving; that
way, it’s
easier to pick
out dimly lighted objects.
Just as your headlights should be checked
regularly for proper aim,
so should your
eyes be examined regularly. Some drivers
suffer from
night blindness - the
inability to see
in dim light - and aren’t
even aware of
it.
Driving in the Rain
Rain and wet roads can mean driving
trouble. On a wet road you can’t stop,
accelerate or
turn as well because your
tire-to-road traction isn’t as good as on
dry roads. And,
if your tires don’t have
much tread left,
you’ll get even less
traction.
It’s always wise to go slower and be
cautious
if rain starts to fall while you are
driving. The surface may get wet
suddenly when your reflexes are tuned for
driving on
dry pavement.
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Hydroplaning
Hydroplaning is dangerous. So much
water can build up under your tires that
they can actually ride on the water. This
can happen
if the road is wet enough and
you’re going fast enough. When your
vehicle
is hydroplaning, it has little or no
contact
with the road.
You might not be aware of hydroplaning.
You could drive along for some time
without realizing your tires aren’t
in
constant contact with the road. You could
find
out the hard way: when you have to
slow, turn, move out to pass - or if you
get hit by a gust of wind. You could
suddenly find yourself out of control. Hydroplaning doesn’t happen
often.
But it
can if your tires haven’t much tread or if
the pressure in one or more is low. It can
happen
if a lot of water is standing on the
road.
If you can see reflections from trees,
telephone poles, or other vehicles, and
raindrops “dimple” the water’s surface,
there could be hydroplaning.
Hydroplaning usually happens at higher
speeds. There
just isn’t a hard and fast
rule about hydroplaning. The best advice
is to
slow down when it is raining, and be
careful.
Some Other Rainy Weather Tips
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Turn on your headlights - not just
your parking lights
- to help make
you more visible to others.
Look for hard-to-see vehicles coming
from behind.
You may want to use
your headlights even
in daytime if it’s
raining hard.
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Your Driving and the Road
Besides slowing down, allow some
extra following distance. And be
especially careful when you pass
another vehicle. Allow yourself more
clear room ahead, and be prepared to
have your view restricted by road
spray. If the road spray is
so heavy
you are actually blinded, drop back.
Don’t pass
until conditions improve.
Going more slowly
is better than
having an accident.
Use your defogger
if it helps.
Have good tires
with proper tread
depth. (See “Tires”
in the Index.)
Driving in Fog, Mist
and Haze
Fog can occur with high humidity or
heavy frost. It can be
so mild that you can
see through
it for several hundred feet
(meters). Or
it might be so thick that you
can see only a few feet (meters) ahead.
It
may come suddenly to an otherwise clear
road.
And it can be a major hazard.
When you drive into
a fog patch, your
visibility will be reduced quickly. The
biggest dangers are striking the vehicle
ahead or being struck
by the one behind.
Try to “read” the fog density down the
road. If the vehicle ahead starts to become
less clear or, at night,
if the taillights are
harder to see, the fog is probably
thickening. Slow down to give traffic behind you
a chance to slow down.
Everybody then has a better chance
to
avoid hitting the vehicle ahead.
A patch of dense fog may extend only for
a few feet (meters) or for miles
(kilometers);
you can’t really tell while
you’re
in it. You can only treat the
situation with extreme care.
One common fog condition
- sometimes
called mist or ground fog
- can happen
in weather that seems perfect, especially
at
night or in the early morning in valley
and low, marshy areas.
You can be
suddenly enveloped
in thick, wet haze
that may even coat your windshield. You
can often spot these fog patches or mist
layers
with your headlights. But
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sometimes they can be waiting for you as
you come over a hill or dip into a shallow
valley. Start your windshield wipers and
washer, to help clear accumulated road
dirt. Slow down carefully.
Tips on Driving in Fog
If you get caught in fog, turn your
headlights on low beam, even
in daytime.
You’ll see
- and be seen - better. Use
your fog lights
if your vehicle has them.
Don’t use your high beams. The light will
bounce off the water droplets that make
up fog and reflect back at you. Use
your defogger. In high humidity, even
a light buildup of moisture on the inside
of the glass will cut down on your already
limited visibility. Run your windshield
wipers and washer occasionally. Moisture
can build up on the outside glass, and
what seems to be fog may actually be
moisture on the outside of your
windshield.
Treat dense fog as an emergency. Try to
find a place to pull off the road. Of course
you want to respect another’s property,
but you might need to put something
between you and moving vehicles
-
space, trees, telephone poles, a private
driveway, anything that removes you
from other traffic.
[f visibility is near zero and you must stop
but are unsure whether you are away from
the road,
turn your lights on, start your
hazard warning flashers, and sound your
horn at intervals or when you hear
approaching traffic.
Pass other vehicles in fog only if you can
see far enough ahead to pass safely. Even
then, be prepared to delay your pass if
you suspect the fog is worse up ahead. If
other vehicles try to pass you, make
it
easy for them.
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Your Driving and the Road
Just before you leave the lane,’ glance
quickly over your shoulder to make sure
there isn’t another vehicle
in your “blind”
spot.
If you are moving from an outside to a
center lane on a freeway having more
than two lanes, make sure another vehicle
isn’t about
to move into the same spot.
Look
at the vehicles two lanes over and
watch for telltale signs:
turn signals
flashing, an increase
in speed, or moving
toward the edge of the lane. Be prepared
to delay your move.
Once
you are moving on the freeway,
make certain you allow
a reasonable
following distance. Expect
to move
slightly slower at night.
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Leaving the Freeway
When you want to leave the freeway,
move to
the proper lane well in advance.
Dashing across lanes at the last minute is
dangerous. If you miss your exit do not,
under any circumstances, stop and back
up. Drive on
to the next exit.
At each exit point is a deceleration lane.
Ideally
it should be long enough for you
to enter it at freeway speed (after
signaling,
of course) and then do your
braking before moving onto the exit
ramp. Unfortunately, not all deceleration
lanes are long enough
- some are too
short for
all the braking. Decide when to
start braking. If you must brake on the
through lane, and
if there is traffic close behind you, you can allow
a little extra
time and flash your brake lights
(in
addition to your turn signal) as extra
warning that you are about to slow down
and exit.
The exit ramp can be curved, sometimes
quite sharply.
The exit speed
is usually posted. Reduce
your speed according to your
speedometer, not
to your sense of motion.
After driving for any distance at higher
speeds, you
may tend to think you are
going slower than you actually are. For
example,
40 mph (65 km/h) might seem
like only
20 mph (30 km/h). Obviously,
this could lead
to serious trouble on a
ramp designed for
20 mph (30 km/h)!
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Driving a Long
Distance
Although most long trips today are made
on freeways, there are
still many made on
regular highways.
Long-distance driving on freeways and
regular highways
is the same in some
ways. The
trip has to be planned and the
vehicle prepared, you drive at
higher-than-city speeds, and there are
longer turns behind the wheel. You’ll
enjoy your trip more
if you and your
vehicle are
in good shape. Here are some
:ips for a successful long trip.
Before Leaving on a Long Trip
Make sure you’re ready. Try to be well
rested. If you must start when you’re not
fresh
- such as after a day’s work -
don’t plan to make too many miles that
first part of the journey. Wear comfortable
clothing and shoes you can easily drive
in.
Is your vehicle ready for a long trip? If
you keep
it serviced and maintained, it’s
ready to go. If
it needs service, have it
done before starting out. Of course, you’ll
find experienced and able service experts
in Chevrolet dealerships all across North
America. They’ll be ready and willing to
help
if you need it. Here
are some things you can check
before a trip:
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Windshield Washer Fluid: Is the
reservoir
full? Are all windows clean
inside and outside?
Wiper Blades: Are they in good
shape?
Fuel, Engine Oil, Other Fluids:
Have you checked all levels?
Lights: Are they all working? Are the
lenses clean?
Tires: They are vitally important to a
safe, trouble-free trip.
Is the tread
good enough for long-distance
driving? Are the tires all inflated to
the recommended pressure?
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