1995 GMC SIERRA length

Rear-end collisions are about the most preventable of accidents. Yet they
are common. Allow enough following distance. It’s
the best defensive
driving maneuver, in both city and rural driving. You never know when the
vehicle in front of you is going to brake or turn suddenly.
Drunken Driving
Death and injury associated with drinking and driving is a national tragedy.
It’s the number one contributor to the highway death toll, claiming
thousands of victims every year.
Alcohol affects four things that anyone needs to drive
a vehicle:
Judgment
Muscular Coordination
Vision
Attentiveness
Police records show that almost half
of all motor vehicle-related deaths
involve alcohol. In most cases, these deaths are the result
of someone who
was drinking and driving. In recent years, some
18,000 annual motor
vehicle-related deaths have been associated with the use of alcohol, with
more than
300,000 people injured.
Many adults
- by some estimates, nearly half the adult population -
choose never to drink alcohol, so they never drive after drinking. For
persons under
2 I, it’s against the law in every U.S. state to drink alcohol.
There are good medical, psychological and developmental reasons for these
laws.
The obvious way to solve this highway safety problem
is for people never to
drink alcohol and then drive. But what if people do‘? How much is “too
much” if the driver plans to drive? It’s
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 Concentration (BAC)
of someone who is drinking
depends upon four things:
How much alcohol consumed
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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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 across the incline.
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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 distance
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
rollover.
Surface conditions can be
a problem when you drive across a hill.
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 more.
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.
A CAUTION:
Driving across an incline that’s too steep will make your v\
ehicle
roll over.
You could be seriously injured or killed. If you have
any doubt about the steepness of the incline, don’t drive a\
cross
it. Find another route instead.
0: 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 slipping.
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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Brake Adjustment
Every time you make a brake stop, your disc brakes adjust for wear.
If your brake pedal goes down farther than normal, your rear drum brakes
may need adjustment. Adjust them by backing
up and firmly applying the
brakes
a few times.
Replacing Brake System Parts
The braking system on a modeffl VEShicle is complex. Its many parts have to
be of top quality and work well together if the vehicle
is to have really good
braking. Vehicles we design and test have top-quality
GM brake parts in
them, as your vehicle does when it is new. When you replace parts of your
braking system
- for example, when your brake linings wear down and
you have to have new ones put
in - be sure you get new genuine GM
replacement parts. If you don't, your brakes may no longer work properly.
For example, if someone puts in brake linings that are wrong for your
vehicle, the balance between your front and rear brakes can change
- for
the worse. The braking performance you've come to expect can change
in
many other ways if someone puts in the wrong replacement brake parts.
Front Shock Absorbers
The front shock absorbers of your vehicle do many things. They help the
vehicle ride smoothly and
also control the travel of the suspension system.
When the shock absorbers are serviced, any replacement shock absorbers
must be the same as the original equipment shock absorbers
in both
extended length and strength.
I NOTICE:
If you use shock absorbers that are not the same as the original
shock absorbers, the shock absorbers
or suspension system
could be damaged.
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