Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Section 4 Your Driving and the Road
Here you’ll find information about driving on different kinds of roads and in varying weather conditions. We’ve also
included many other useful tips on driving.
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4-15 Defensive Driving
Drunken Driving
Control of a Vehicle
Braking Steering
Off-Road Recovery
Passing
Loss of Control
Driving at Night 4-
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Driving in Rain and on Wet Roads
City Driving
Freeway Driving
Before Leaving on a Long Trip
Highway Hypnosis Hill and Mountain Roads
Winter Driving
Loading
Your Vehicle
Towing a Trailer
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Drunken Driving
Death and injury.%saclared 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, over
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:
0 The amount of alcohol consumed
0 The drinker’s body weight
0 The amount of food that is consumed before and
during drinking
The length of time it has taken the drinker to
consume the alcohol.
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.
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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.
I
A CAUTION:
Drinking and then driving is very dangerous.
Your reflexes, perceptions, attentiveness and
judgment can be affected
by even a small amount
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.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Control of a Vehicle Braking
You have three systems that make your vehicle go where
you want it to go. They are the brakes, the steering
and
the accelerator. All three systems have to do their work
at the places where the tires meet the road. Braking action involves
perception
time and
reaction time.
First, you have to decide to push on the brake pedal.
That’s
perception time. Then you have to bring up your
foot and do it. That’s
reaction time.
Average reaction time is about 3/4 of a second: But
that’s only an average. It might be less with one driver,.
and
as long as two or three seconds or more with
another. Age, physical condition, alertness, coordination
and eyesight all play a part.
So do alcohol, drugs and
frustration. But even
in 3/4‘ of a second, a vehicle
moving at
60 rnph (100 km/h) travels 66 feet (20 m).
That could be a lot of distance in an emergency, so
keeping enough space between your vehicle and others
is important.
And,
of course, actual stopping distances vary greatly
with the surface of the road (whether it’s pavement or
gravel); the condition of the road (wet, dry, icy); tire
tread; the condition of your brakes; the weight of the
vehicle and the amount
,of brake force applied.
Sometimes, as when you’re driving on snow or ice, it’s
easy to ask more
of those control systems than the tires
and road can provide. That means you can lose control
of
your vehicle.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine City Driving Here are ways to increase your safety in city driving:
Know the best way to get to where you are
going. Get
a city map and plan your trip into an
unknown part of the city just as you would for a
cross-country trip.
Try to use the freeways that rim and crisscross most
large cities. You’ll save time and energy. (See the
next part, “Freeway Driving.”)
One
of the biggest problems with city streets is the
amount
of traffic on them. You’ll want to watch out for
what the other drivers are doing and pay attention to
traffic signals.
Treat a green light as a warning signal. A traffic
light is there because the comer is busy enough to
need it. When
a light turns green, and just before you
start to move, check both ways for vehicles that have
not cleared the intersection or may be running the
red light.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Highway Hypnosis
Is there actually such a condition as “highway hypnosis”?
Or is it just plain falling asleep at the wheel? Call it
highway hypnosis, lack of awareness, or whatever.
There is something about an easy stretch
of road with
the same scenery, along with the hum
of the tires on the
road, the drone of the engine, and the rush
of the wind
against the vehicle that can make you sleepy. Don’t let it
happen to you!
If it does, your vehicle can leave the
road in
less than a second, and you could crash
and be injured.
What can you do about highway hypnosis? First, be
aware that
it can happen.
Then here are some tips:
0 Make sure your vehicle is well ventilated, with a
comfortably cool interior.
0 Keep your eyes moving. Scan the road ahead and to
the sides. Check your rearview mirrors and your
instruments frequently.
0 If you get sleepy, pull off the road into a rest, service
or parking area and take a nap, get some exercise, or
both. For safety, treat drowsiness on the highway as
an emergency.
Hill and Mountain Roads
Driving on steep hills or mountains is different from
driving in flat or rolling terrain.
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine If you drive regularly in steep country, or if you’re
planning to visit there, here are some tips that
can make
your trips safer and more enjoyable.
0 Keep your vehicle in good shape. Check all fluid
levels and
also the brakes, tires, cooling system
and transaxle. These parts can work hard on
mountain roads.
0 Know how to go down hills. The most important
thing to know is
this: let your engine do some of the
slowing down. Shift to a lower gear when you go
down
a steep or long hill.
If you don’t shift down, your brakes could
get
so hot that they wouldn’t work well. You
would then have poor braking or even none going
down
a hill. You could crash. Shift down to let
your engine assist your brakes on a steep
downhill slope. Coasting downhill
in NEUTRAL (N) or
with the
ignition
off is dangerous. Your brakes will have to
do all the work
of slowing down. They could get so
hot that they wouldn’t work well. You would then
have poor braking or even none going down
a hill.
You could crash. Always have your engine running
and your vehicle in gear when you go downhill.
Know how to go uphill. You may want to shift down 0
0
0
0
to a lower gek The lower gearshelp cool your engine
and transaxle, and you
can climb the hill better.
Stay in your own lane when driving
on two-lane
roads in hills or mountains. Don’t swing wide or cut across the center
of the road. Drive at speeds that let
you stay in your own lane.
As you go over the top of a hill, be alert. There could be
something in your lane, like a stalled
car or an accident.
You
may see highway signs on mountains that warn of
special problems. Examples are long grades, passing or
no-passing zones, a
falling rocks area or winding
roads. Be alert to these
and take appropriate action.
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