Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine maneuver, in both city and rural driving. You never know when \
the vehicle in
front of you is going to brake or turn suddenly.
Here’s a final bit of information about defensive driving. T\
he most dangerous
time for driving in the
U.S. is very early on Sunday morning. In fact, GM
Research studies show that the most and the least dangerous ti\
mes for
driving, every week, fall on the same day. That day is Sunday. The most
dangerous time is Sunday from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. The safest time is Sunday
from
10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Driving the same distance on a Sunday at 3 a.m.
isn’t just a little more dangerous than
it is at 10 a.m. It’s about 134 times
more dangerous! That leads to the next part.
Drunken Driving
Death and injury associated with drinking and driving is a nat\
ional tragedy. It’s
the number one contributor to the highway death toll, claiming \
thousands of
victims every year. Alcohol takes away three things that anyone\
needs to
drive a vehicle:
Judgment
0 Muscular Coordination
Vision
Police records show that half of all motor vehicle-related deaths involve
alcohol-a driver, a passenger or someone else, such as a pedestrian, had
been drinking. In most cases, these deaths are the result of someone who
was drinking and driving. Over
25,000 motor vehicle-related deaths occur
each year because of alcohol, and thousands
of people are injured.
Just how much alcohol is too much
if a person plans to drive? Ideally, no
one should drink alcohol and then drive. But
if one does, then what’s “too
much’’ can be a lot less than many might think. Although
it depends on each
person and situation, here is some general information on the \
problem.
The Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of someone who is drinking d\
epends upon
four things:
How much alcohol is in the drink.
The drinker’s body weight.
The amount of food that is consumed before and during drinking\
.
The length of time it has taken the drinker to consume the alcohol.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Driving Across an Incline
Sooner or later, an off-road trail will probably go across the incline of a hill. If
this happens, you have to decide whether to try to drive acro\
ss the incline.
Here are some things to consider:
A hill that can be driven straight up or down may be too steep to drive
across. When you go straight up or down a hill, the length of the wheel
base (the distance from the front wheels to the rear wheels)\
reduces the
likelihood the vehicle will tumble end over end. But when you \
drive
across an incline, the much more narrow track width (the dist\
ance
between the left and right wheels) may not prevent the vehicle from
tilting and rolling over.
Also, driving across an incline puts more weight
on the downhill wheels. This could cause a downhill slide or a r\
ollover.
Surface conditions can be a problem when you drive across a h\
ill. Loose
gravel, muddy spots, or even wet grass can cause your tires to slip
sideways, downhill.
If the vehicle slips sideways, it can hit something that
will trip it (a rock, a rut, etc.) and
roll over.
Hidden obstacles can make the steepness of the incline even worse. If
you drive across a rock with the uphill wheels, or if the downhill wheels
drop into a rut or depression, your vehicle can tilt even mor\
e.
For reasons like these, you need to decide carefully whether to try
to drive
across an incline. Just because the trail goes across the incline doesn’t mean
you have to drive
it. The last vehicle to try it might have rolled over.
CAUTION
Driving across an incline that’s too steep will make your vehicle roll
over. Yolu could ble seriously injured or killed. If you h’ave any doubt
about the steepness of the incline, don’t drive
across it. Find another
route instead.
Q: What if I’m driving across an incline that’s not too steep, but I hit
some loose gravel and start to slide downhill. What should
I do?
A: If you feel your vehicle starting to slide sideways, turn downhill. This
should help straighten out the vehicle and prevent the side sl\
ipping. However,
a much better .way to prevent this
is to get out and “walk the course” so you
know what the surface is like before you drive
it.
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