1997 CADILLAC DEVILLE high

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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
0 Vision
0 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 17,000 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 1,
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:
The amount of alcohol consumed
0 The drinker’s body weight
The amount of food that is consumed before and
during drinking
consume the alcohol.
The length of time it has taken the drinker to
According to the American Medical Association, a
180-lb. (82 kg) person who drinks three 12-ounce
(355 ml) bottles of beer in an hour will end up with a
BAC of about
0.06 percent. The person would reach the
same BAC by drinking three 4-ounce (120
ml) glasses
of wine or three mixed drinks
if each had 1-1/2 ounces
(45 ml) of a liquor like whiskey, gin or vodka.

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine It’s the amount of alcohol that counts. For example, if
the same person drank three double martinis
(3 ounces
or 90 ml of liquor each) within an hour, the person’s
BAC would be close to 0.12 percent. A person who
consumes food just before or during drinking will have a
somewhat lower
BAC level.
There is
a gender difference, too. Women generally have
a lower relative percentage of body water than men. Since alcohol is carried
in body water, this means that
a
woman generally will reach a higher BAC level than a
man of her same body weight when each has the same
number of drinks.
The law in many
U.S. states sets the legal limit at a BAC
of 0.10 percent. In a growing number of U.S. states, and
throughout Canada, the limit is
0.08 percent. In some
other countries, it’s even lower. The
BAC limit for all
commercial drivers in the United States is
0.04 percent.
The BAC will be over
0.10 percent after three to six
drinks (in one hour). Of course, as we’ve seen, it
depends on how much alcohol is in the drinks, and how
quickly the person drinks them.
But the ability to drive is affected well below a
BAC of
0.10 percent. Research shows that the driving skills of
many people are impaired at a BAC approaching
0.05 percent, and that the effects are worse at night. All
drivers are impaired at BAC levels above
0.05 percent.
Statistics show that the chance of being in a collision
increases sharply for drivers who have a BAC
of
0.05 percent or above. A driver with a BAC level of
0.06 percent has doubled his or her chance of having a
collision. At
a BAC level of 0.10 percent, the chance of
this driver having a collision is 12 times greater; at a
level of
0.15 percent, the chance is 25 times greater!
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine The body takes about an hour to rid itself of the alcohol
in one drink.
No amount of coffee or number of cold
showers will speed that up. “I’ll be careful” isn’t the
right answer. What
if there’s an emergency, a need to
take sudden action, as when a child darts into the street?
A person with even a moderate BAC might not be able
to react quickly enough
to avoid the collision.
There’s something else about drinking and driving that
many people don’t know. Medical research shows that
alcohol in a person’s system can make crash injuries
worse, especially injuries to the brain, spinal cord or
heart. This means that when anyone who has been
drinking
-- driver or passenger -- is in a crash, that
person’s chance
of being killed or permanently disabled
is higher than if the person had not been drinking.
r-
Drinking and then driving is very dangerous.
Your reflexes, perceptions, attentiveness and
of alcohol. You can have a serious -- or even
fatal
-- collision if you drive after drinking.
Please don’t drink and drive
or ride with a driver
who has been drinking. Ride home in a cab; or if
you’re with a group, designate
a driver who will
not drink.
l judgment can be affected by even a small amount

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine in sand, mud, ice or snow. See “Rocking Your Vehicle”
in the Index.)
To turn the system off, press
the TRAC
OFF button
located inside
of the
glove box.
The TRACTION
OFF message will display on the DIC.
If the system is limiting wheel spin when you press
the button, the TRACTION
OFF message will
display
-- but the system won’t turn off right away.
It will wait until there’s no longer a current need to limit
wheel spin.
You can turn the system back on at any time by pressing
the button again. The TRACTION READY message
should display briefly on the Driver Information Center.
Braking in Emergencies
With anti-lock, you can steer and brake at the same
time. In many emergencies, steering can help you more
than even the very best braking.
Steering
Power Steering
If you lose power steering assist because the engine
stops
or the system is not functioning, you can steer but
it will take much more effort.
MAGNASTEER”
Your vehicle may be equipped with GM
MAGNASTEER, a system that continuously adjusts the
effort you feel when steering at all vehicle speeds. It
provides ease when parking yet a firm, solid feel at
highway speeds.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Off-Road Recovery
You may find sometime that your right wheels have
dropped off the edge of a road onto the shoulder while
you’re driving.
If the level of the shoulder is only slightly below the
pavement, recovery should be fairly easy.
Ease off the
accelerator and then,
if there is nothing in the way, steer so
that your vehicle straddles the edge of the pavement. You
can
turn the steering wheel up to one-quarter turn until the
right front tire contacts the pavement edge: Then
turn your
steering wheel to go straight down the roadway.
Passing
The driver of a vehicle about to pass another on a
two-lane highway waits for just the right moment,
accelerates, moves around the vehicle ahead, then goes
back into the right lane again.
A simple maneuver?
Not necessarily! Passing another vehicle on a two-lane
highway is a potentially dangerous move, since the
passing vehicle occupies the same lane
as oncoming
traffic for several seconds.
A miscalculation, an error in
judgment, or a brief surrender to frustration or anger can
suddenly put the passing driver face to face with the
worst of all traffic accidents
-- the head-on collision.
So here are some tips for passing:
“Drive ahead.” Look down the road, to the sides ana to
crossroads for situations that might affect your passing
patterns. If you have any doubt whatsoever about
making a successful pass,
wait for a better time.
Watch for traffic signs, pavement markings and lines. If
you can see a sign up ahead that might indicate a turn
or an intersection, delay your pass. A broken center line
usually indicates it’s all right to pass (providing the roa\
d
ahead is clear). Never cross a solid line on your side of
the lane or a double solid line, even
if the road seems
empty of approaching traffic.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Driving at Night
b
Here are some tips on night driving.
Drive defensively.
0 Don’t drink and.drive.
0 Adjust your inside rearview mirror to reduce the
0 Since you can’t see as well, you may need to slow
glare
from headlamps behind you.
down and keep more space between you and other vehicles.
0 Slow down, especially on higher speed roads. Your
headlamps can light up only
so much road ahead.
0 In remote areas, watch for animals.
0 If you’re tired, pull off the road in a safe place
and rest.
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.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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. But if you’re
driving, don’t wear sunglasses at night. They may cut
down on glare from headlamps, but they also make a lot
of things invisible.
You can be temporarily blinded by approaching
headlamps. 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 headlamps), slow down
a little. Avoid staring
directly into the approaching headlamps. 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. Dirty glass makes
lights dazzle and flash more than clean glass would,
making the pupils of your eyes contract repeatedly.
Remember that your headlamps 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 headlamps 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. .

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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.
Hydroplaning doesn’t happen often. But it can if your
tires do not have 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.
Driving Through Deep Standing Water
NOTICE:
If you drive too quickly through deep puddles or
standing water, water can come in through your
engine’s air intake and badly damage your
engine. Never drive through water that is slightly
lower than the underbody
of your vehicle. If you
can’t avoid deep puddles or standing water, drive
through them very slowly.
Some Other Rainy Weather Tips
0 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.
0 Have good tires with proper tread depth. (See
“Tires” in the Index.)
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