1998 BUICK PARK AVENUE Owners Manual

A cornering skid is best handled by easing your EQOT OE
the accelerator pedal.
If you have the traction control system, remember: It
helps avoid only the acceleration skid.
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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.
Drive defensively.
Don’t
chi& and drive.
Adjust your inside rearview
III~JTQ~ to reduce the
glare from headlamps behind you.
Since you can’t see
as well, you may need to
slow down and keep more space between you and
other vehicles.
Slow down, especially on higher speed roads.
Your
headlamps 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.
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Driving too fast through large water puddles or even
going through some car washes can cause problems, too.
The water may affect your brakes. Try to avoid puddles.
But if you can’t, try to slow down before you hit them. Hydroplaning
is dangerous. S:, much water can build up
under
your tires that they cm actually ride on the water.
This can happerm 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.
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4-2
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Mile for mile, freeways (dso called thruways, parkways,
expressways, turnpikes or superhighways) are the safest
of dl roads. But they have their QWII special rules.
The most important advice on freeway driving is: Keep
UP with tp.&c and keep to the right. Drive at the same
speed most of the other drivers are driving. T~o-fast or
too-slow driving breaks a smooth traffic flow. Treat the
left lane on a fkeeway as a passing lane.
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At the entrance, there is usually a ramp that leads to the
freeway.
If you have a clear view of the freeway 2s you
drive along the entrance ramp, you should begin to
check traffic.
Try to determine where you expect to
blend with the flow. Try to merge into the gap at close to
the prevailing speed. Switch on your turn signal, check
your
mirrors and glance over your shoulder as often as
necessary. Try to blend smoothly with the traffic flow.
Once you are on the freeway, adjust your speed to the
posted limit or
to the prevailing rate if it’s slower. Stay
in the right lane unless you want to pass.
Before changing lanes, check your
rnkors. Then use
your
turn signal.
Just before you leave the lane, glance quickly over your
shoulder to make sure there isn’t another vehicle in your
“bIind” spot.
Once YOU are moving on the freeway, make certain you
allow a reasonable following distance. Expect to move
slightly dower at night.
When you want
to leave the freeway, move to the proper
lane well
in advmce. If you miss your exit, do not,
under any circumstances, stop
and back up. Drive cn to
the next exit.
The exit
ramp can be curved, sometimes quite sharply.
The exit speed
is usually posted.
Reduce your speed according to
YOUP 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.
4-22
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