Highway Driving Safety Tips

As more and more Americans become dependent on cars for transportation and work commuting, our nation's highways are becoming increasingly crowded. With such a high number of cars traveling everyday at very fast speeds, the likelihood of a serious and dangerous accident seems to increase every day.

There are a number of serious hazards present on each and every roadway that, with the right information, can hopefully be avoided, making your driving experience safer and accident free. By considering the following highway driving safety tips, you can protect yourself and the other drivers on America's roadways.

· Make sure to obey all posted safety warnings and speed limit signs. There are a number of roadway hazards that are unforeseeable to someone driving at high speeds on a highway, and posted safety signs are a good warning of what is or may be coming up ahead. By noticing and adhering to all posted signs, a driver dramatically decreases the likelihood of causing a serious accident on the road.

· Be courteous to other drivers. This is especially pertinent in cases of lane changing. If you see another driver who wants to change lanes, you should be courteous and allow them to do so. If you don't, the other driver may have to act more erratically in order to make the lane change he / she needs, and a serious accident could take place.

· Pay special attention if you are driving in the right hand lane of a highway. You will experience a high number of cars both entering and exiting the highway, and you will need to allow these cars to move with ease between the entrance / exit ramps and the motorway.

· Be aware of cars that are considerably larger or smaller than your vehicle. The size disparity of many cars on the road today creates a very dangerous situation, in that smaller cars get lost in the blind spots of larger vehicles. Drivers of any size car need to take responsibility to prevent this type of accident by carefully checking around them for any and all vehicles in close proximity that may go unnoticed.

· Make sure that your car is up to date on any and all inspections / repairs. By making sure that your car is working well, you can reduce the likelihood of a sudden and unexpected breakdown on the highway that could result in a serious accident.

If you would like more information on automobile safety, contact the Indianapolis car accident attorneys of the Charles D. Hankey Law Office, P.C. today.

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Valuable Driving Techniques From Racing Professionals

It's not everyday that someone gets the opportunity to really have fun with the car that he or she drives. Can you remember the last time you drove your car just for fun?

Last month, GM invited me to attend its Pontiac Portfolio Drive at the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving where I was able to learn valuable driving techniques from racing professionals as well as drive several cars from the Pontiac showroom. The idea here was to have fun with these cars and see what they can do as well as what I, as a driver, can make them do.

Your Most Important Driving Sense

One of the most important factors in high-performance driving is to know where you want your vehicle to go. Sounds simple, right? But when driving at high speeds or in varied weather conditions, we often forget the basics and panic. Remember that vision is your best friend, when driving at any speed. In any situation, whether it is high-performance driving, racing or simply driving to the grocery store, your eyes can be your saving grace if you lose control.

Wherever you look is most likely where your car will go. If you lose control of the vehicle, the thing to do is look where you want to go. One of the worst things a driver can do is fixate on an object he or she does not want to hit such as a street light, telephone pole or pedestrian. This is one surefire way to come in contact with said object.

No matter how good of a driver you are, if you stare at an object, your body will instinctively move toward it. Instead, look at the spaces between objects. For example when you park your car, you look at the open space between the other two cars. If you happened to be looking at that hot rod next to the space, chances are you might hit it or have to stop, reverse and start over in order to park the car correctly.

Some of the best driving advice is the most logical in words, but in practice, they are often times difficult to implement. If you notice yourself staring at an object, separate yourself and look toward an open space. Your hands and feet will follow and direct the car away.

Steer Your Pedals

We all know that a steering wheel helps to turn a vehicle. But what about the pedals? When a car is out of control, it is usually because the tires do not have enough grip or friction. Therefore, in order to transfer weight from tire to tire so as to balance the vehicle and aid steering, a driver needs to make good use of the pedals. When you step on the gas, you transfer the vehicle's weight to the back tires. The brake pedal transfers it to the front tires, producing more friction for a stop. Simply taking your foot off ei180pxundersteersvgther pedal also helps to transfer weight.

Over and Under - Controlling a Skid

The two most common types of slides or control losses a car can be in are understeer and oversteer. The former is a front wheel slide that causes the car to slide off the track and the latter a rear wheel slide that causes the car to slide into the center of the track. My lesson was based on a race track, but both slides can often occur on the road in icy or wet conditions.

Understeer is most often caused by too much speed when entering a corner. The next step is to ease off the throttle and/or add brakes. This does not mean slam on your brakes. Assuming you are looking toward an open space in the turn, lighter brake pressure will help you stay more in control and help you steer the turn.

Oversteer is not as common as understeer and is often caused by too much brake pressure and steering at a high speed coming into a turn. The first thing to do is to look where you want your vehicle to go and turn the steering wheel in that direction, usually the same as the slide. Take your foot off the brake. You can add throttle when the slide calms, in which case you need to prepare to bring the steering wheel back to center when the slide ends in order to avoid a fishtail.

Getting to Know Your Car

You car is more than just a means to get you from point A to B. It is a unique tool that has been designed and redesigned over the years to keep you safe and having fun. Spend some time getting to know your car. The more you know about it, the safer your driving experience can be. Look at your Owner's Manual to see what features it has. Does it have ABS, airbags, front/rear/all wheel drive? What, if any, high-performance qualities does it have? These are all important questions to ask, because it may determine how you control your car and what it is capable of doing. For example if you are in an oversteer slide on a rear-wheel-drive car, you still need to steer into the slide and look ahead but also to ease off the throttle instead of the brake. Understanding your car can help prevent accidents and keep you in control on the road.

For more female friendly automotive advice, please go to http://www.askpatty.com

FOr professional writing services please email alyse.speyer@gmail.com

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The Danger of Teenage Drivers

Perhaps it is time to re-think how we are teaching driver's education at high schools. I remember taking driver's education at my high school at 7am every Saturday for an extended period of time (perhaps a couple of months or so). We had a combination of instruction that was given in a classroom where we went over the rules of the road as well as watched safety videos and had periodic quizzes. Then we also had the portion of the class immediately following in which we got into the driver's education car with our instructor and two or three of our other group members. We would take turns slowly navigating the busy streets of Long Island (yes, they were even busy at 7:30am!).

It was an extremely difficult class with little room for error. After we finished the class, we all scheduled our separate road tests at varying locations across Long Island. And guess what? All of us passed our road tests on the first try. There must've been about 20 of us or so. Now, you may attribute this to the preparation we received in class or maybe it was due to something else. But sometimes, I wonder how difficult the driver's education classes are elsewhere in the country because having lived in North Carolina now for the past 8 years or so, it never ceases to amaze me how incredibly inept many of the young drivers are. And as we all know, many of the habits we develop when we are young only get worse as we grow older.

From failing to indicate when you want to change lanes or make a turn to following others too closely, there are accidents waiting to happen everywhere I go. If anything, living in North Carolina has taught me how to be a better defensive driver than living in New York (not what you would think!). The teenagers today are growing up in an age of technology. When I took my road test in high school, cell phones were just on the brink of coming into existence. We still used beepers and thought they were "cool". We didn't have as many distractions with GPS systems and DVD players in our vehicles. Ipods hadn't even come out yet. Geez, it makes high school seem like forever ago for me, even though it was only 8 years ago now. The point is this, teenagers need to have tougher instruction during their driver's education classes. New York has a cell phone law in place for a reason; it's distracting!

Even if you're having a conversation with a hands-free cell phone, the emotional conversation you might be having is enough to distract you and cause an accident. I'm not saying that cell phones are what is causing teenagers to drive poorly. Surely, there are a number of other factors. But it definitely needs to be emphasized to teenagers everywhere that while driving may seem like a lot of fun and may give you the so-called "freedom" you so desperately crave at that age, it is still first and foremost a "privilege" and not a "right".

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