Follow these simple steps for adjusting your mirrors and voila: no more whipping your head from side to side to check your blind spot!
1. Straighten your rear view mirror so that it reflects what is directly behind you.
2. Next, lean to your left until your head is just touching the window. Now, adjust your left-hand mirror so that you can only just see the side of your car. When you sit up, you shouldn’t be able to see the side of your car at all.
3. Finally, lean to the right, so that your head is aligned with the center of the car; the center is usually marked by the dome light or rear view mirror. Now, adjust your right hand mirror so that you can only just see the right side of your car.
You can check that your mirrors are aligned correctly when out on the road. Say that a car is approaching on the left. Watch the car in your rear view mirror; as soon as the car disappears from your rear view mirror, it should appear in the left hand mirror. When you can no longer see the car in the left hand mirror, you should be able to see it in your peripheral vision. If you notice a “gap” between mirrors, you should adjust the mirror position slightly. You may need to tilt a mirror up or down, depending on the height of your car.
While you may need a day or two to adjust to this new mirror arrangement, you’ll ultimately find that this is a much safer and easier way to drive.
To learn more about this topic, or a broad range of subjects from “How To Change A Tire” to “How To Jumpstart Your Car”, visit DefensiveDriving.com’s Safe Driver Resources website!
Check out these sites for more information about online defensive driving in Texas, online defensive driving in Florida, and business driver safety.
Kicking the tires is an action that is synonymous with checking the soundness and quality of tires, but in reality, this does not really tell you much of anything at all. This pretty much sums up most drivers’ knowledge about tires because there are a lot of myths and misinformation on the subject. More often than not, drivers do not know when to replace them, how to inflate them properly and other essential basic care details. Maintaining properly filled and quality tires will not only increase the safety of your vehicle, but can also make your car more fuel efficient, so you should take the time to brush up on your facts and bust the tire myths.
Myth: You should maintain a lower operating tire pressure in the winter than in the summer.
Fact: Some drivers will lower their air pressure in the winter in an attempt to gain more traction and control on icy roads, but in reality, driving on too-low tires can cause damage and make your vehicle less safe in dangerous conditions. Tire pressure will naturally lower itself in the winter without any action on the part of the driver, but you should check the pressure at least once a month, according to Tire Safety.com and this is especially important in more dangerous winter months.
Myth: You should inflate your tires to the maximum pressure listed on the sidewall of the tire.
Fact: The maximum pressure is not the ideal air pressure for operating your vehicle with a normal weight load. Instead, you should consult your owner’s manual and use the air pressure guidelines set forth by the manufacturer of your vehicle.
Myth: You can tell that you tires are low just by looking at them.
Fact: Looks can be deceiving, so always check your tire pressure with an accurate pressure gauge. Gauges at gas stations can become faulty and worn by overuse, so invest in your own gauge to keep in your glove box.
Myth: You should check your tire pressure when your tires are warm after driving.
Fact: According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, tires should be checked when they are cold to get the best reading. If you are taking a measurement during hot weather, wait until the coolest part of the day to ensure increased accuracy.
Myth: There is a set amount of time that you should keep your tires before buying replacements.
Fact: Tire wear is very much dictated by each unique driver and vehicle pairing. Factors that can influence the speed of deterioration include harsh climate, rough road conditions, average driving speed and the weight and load of your vehicle. In addition to monthly pressure checks, Tire Rack.com recommends rotating your tires every 3,000 to 5,000 miles (you can sync it up with your oil changes) in order to even out the wear on the tires. This rotation will also serve as a check-up where the mechanic will ensure that your tires are safe and operational for the next 5,000 miles.
Recently, I had the opportunity of driving in another country and the experience was, well, rather foreign. The lights were different, they blinked green until they went red, I could not read any of the signs and my map was in language other than my own tongue. Needless to say… I was anxious.
It is this type of anxiety I believe drivers feel when they are driving in a city which is unfamiliar to them, the uncertainty, the fear, the speed, all of it combine to make a driver, nervous and unsure. Add to it the horns, well, we have all been there.
Some basic tips and low technology suggestions for properly navigating a strange city or country and doing so with the least amount of stress:
1) The low tech map. GPS devices are great, but when it gets down to it, when you are driving amongst the natives, it is best to have a plan prior to the drive and a map/Atlas is the best for pre-planning. Know your route prior to driving it.
2) Plan. Make sure you know well in advance of your trip, what you plan where your are going and what you plan to do. There is nothing worse than driving around aimlessly in a place you are not familiar with. Ever get drive in Texas? Ever drive in Houston, Dallas or San Antonio? You should have a plan or you might as well be driving in Greece!
3) Know the laws - every country and every state has different laws. Right turn on red for instance, fluctuates state by state and if you have a high tech “smart” phone, you should know the laws about their usage… it could save you a ticket.
DefensiveDriving.com offers state approved defensive driving courses throughout the US and these tips are a sampling of the good driver safety behaviors we teach via our online driver safety course.
Drive Friendly, Safely and with a Plan!
Don’t forget to set your clocks back… it’s coming. Sunday the 6th of November at 2:00 AM, we all set our clocks back one hour. It’s Daylight Savings Time!
Outside of the obvious frustration of trying to reset your car’s clock, if your car does not do it for you, there are some very real and distinct changes taking place around you.
To start, the obvious, the days are shorter, the nights are longer. We are more nervous at night as drivers and with good reason. Our vision of what is in front of us is greatly reduced and so to is our reaction time. According to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive commissioned by Sylvania, 90% of licensed drivers who drive after dark are worried about potential nighttime hazards.
One thing we do not commonly associate with Daylight Savings Time is the how it coincides with Deer rut. Typically, November 1 through November 25 represents the peak primary breeding phase for deer. Male deer are more aggressive and have increased range as they follow female deer. There are more deer out, they are more active and the odds of a deer and vehicle incident are greatly increased.
Rut, shorter days, longer nights and the transition from fall to winter all indicate the need for a little extra diligence with respect to speed and ensuring your vehicles maintenance is update.
Your headlights are fairly important to assist with the navigation of the transition to Daylight Savings Time, the increased darkness and potential obstacles represent by deer in rut.
SYLVANIA offers some great suggestions with respect to your headlights:
“Check your headlights by parking on a level surface facing five feet from a building wall or your garage door, then turn on your headlights. If the circles of light are bright and white, they are in good, working condition. Yellow or dim lights should be replaced.
Change headlight bulbs in pairs. Because bulbs dim over time, the new one will likely be brighter than the old one, causing an uneven field of illumination. This can be distracting to both the driver and to oncoming traffic.
If the lenses on a vehicle’s headlights are cloudy, consider a headlight restoration kit, which restores headlights to like-new condition and light output. The SYLVANIA kit includes a unique UV Block Clear Coat that protects headlights from further UV damage. After use, motorists should see a significant improvement as the product enables up to three times more light to shine on the road.”
These types of tips can help ensure you have the utmost illumination of obstacles in front of you.
Years back, a timid friend of mine went for her first driving lesson. Unlike many of us, who had been practicing with our parents, she had never actually driven a car before. Needless to say, she was terrified simply by sitting in the driver’s seat of a parked car.
Unfortunately, her instructor subscribed to an old-school “sink or swim” theory of driving pedagogy. As my friend hesitantly drove down a local road at a rocking 20 MPH, her instructor told her to take the highway entrance ramp on her right. She was shocked, but her instructor insisted. And so, shaking and on the verge of tears, she crept nervously down the entrance ramp with her red-faced instructor shouting “pedal to the metal! Pedal to the metal!” Instead of heeding his advice, my friend stopped at the end of the entrance ramp and stubbornly waited until the flow of traffic on the highway had all but ceased. Fortunately, it wasn’t rush hour.
There are, however, better ways to make a merge. This is one of the trickiest and most dangerous basic driving maneuvers, so it’s worth taking a moment to review the basic steps to making a good merge.
The goal of merging is to integrate seamlessly into a stream of traffic. This means that, in order to merge, you will have to accelerate until, ideally, your speed matches the speed of traffic on the highway. Merging requires that you look behind you, to the side, and in front of you. As a result, it demands a great deal of concentration. Focus, focus, focus and don’t let passengers or angry driver’s ed teachers distract you!
Before you begin accelerating, look for gaps in the stream of traffic in the lane into which you’ll be merging. Try to gauge the speed of the oncoming cars in order to identify a gap that you can fit into easily. You don’t want to reach full speed and then realize you have nowhere to go.
Once you’ve identified a gap, turn on your blinker to indicate your intent to merge and begin to accelerate. Notice that access ramps end in an “acceleration lane” and that, at first, this lane is separated from the highway by a solid white or yellow line. This line serves as a good indicator for where you should begin and end your acceleration. Use the acceleration space provided; don’t cross the solid line, as this could confuse other drivers on the highway, resulting in a collision.
As you accelerate, however, make sure to keep a safe distance between your car and the car in front of you on the entrance ramp. Always expect the unexpected! If a car ahead of you suddenly stops or slows down, you want to make sure that you have time to react. When you’ve reached the “gap” that you’ve identified, move into the empty space. Be careful not to slow down right before you integrate into the new lane; this is a common and dangerous error!
Once you’ve succeeded in merging into the lane, acclimate to the new flow of traffic. Try not to slow down the other cars in the lane or tailgate those ahead of you. If you’re entering a road via an unfamiliar access point, pay particularly close attention to the signs and markings. If you see a “no merge” sign, you’ll have to stop and yield to oncoming traffic instead of merging.
As always, be patient, pay attention, and respect the rules of the road! With practice, you’ll be able to merge safely and without suffering a major panic attack.
