After a series of articles and posts, I have decided to make a collection of advice in one tread, for the sake of simplicity and accesibility. It is also a good basis for any questions or debates on any of the these issues.
Planning the Trip
1. Set a convenient schedule between places/meetings for driving.
2. Plan your arrival time, with an addition of fifteen minutes to each hour of driving to reduce the stress to arrive on time.
3. Always acknowledge others about a possible delay due to weather conditions or heavy traffic.
4. In bad conditions: Heavy rain, strong winds, mist, hail, snow and ice - don't drive if you really don't have to. Hours of peak heat in the summer should be avoided where possible, as well.
5. Take frequent breaks: Preferably ten minutes each hour or fifteen minutes each hour and a-half, but up to twenty minutes each two and a-half hours for long trips/professional drivers. Take a bigger break after five hours, and never exceed 11 driving hours per 24 hours.
6. Don't drive when tired: Identify drowsy driving early through the symptoms of burning eyes or yawns, and find a safe place to rest in. 20 to 40 minutes of sleep, can give you up to one hour of wakefullness. Works for one time each 36 hours.
Maintaining the car
1. Check the tire pressure each week, two weeks at most. Check visually before any time you enter the car.
2. Check the spare tire for each alternating time you check the other tires.
3. Use a reliable personal gauge to check the tires in the morning, again at the station (add needed amount to hot pressure) and again after inflation to ensure pump accuracy.
4. Check the motoroil, coolant, transmission fluid (where accessible), power steering fluid, brake fluid, wiper fluid and differential fluid (where accessible) for at least each time you check the spare tire (preferably each week). Check the transmission and differential fluid (where not accessible) each three months.
5. Have the car checked once every 8,000 miles or once a year, unless stated otherwise in the manual.
6. Use high quality, synthetic oils. For cars that drive mostly for shot trips in towns, replace the oils in the transmission and engine earlier than the manufacturer's recommendation. Each eighteen months or 12,000 miles is good for the motor, and each 36,000 miles or two years for an automatic transmission is fine. If the car has a milleage of at least 20% of trips out of town - replace the oils at the recommended time.
7. Replace tires each three years or 37,000 miles, if not earlier.
8. Replace the dampers each 50,000 miles.
9. Have the tires inspected and rotated each 8,000 miles or once a year. Have the alignment checked at the same time.
10. Replace brake fluid after two years or 40,000 miles.
Driving Preparations
1. Don't drive in conditions of poor control, including: Fatigue, tiredness from physical activity, hunger, thirst, after heavy meal, when ill, poor emotional state or when under the influence of drugs or alcohol or during advanced pregnancy.
2. Always wear comfortable clothes. Avoid heavy clothing or clothing that is very short.
3. Always use snug-fit, thin-soled, flat-heeled footwear. Driving barefoot, with heels, loose sandals or with bulky boots is dangerous. Also avoid dirty/wet/muddy soles - keep a small rag in the car and wipe the soles clean.
4. Push your rump deep into the back of the seat.
5. Adjust the seat forward so all pedals can be fully depressed with the knees still bent (at about 140 degrees).
6. Adjust backrest to an upright angle, as possible. Adjust steering, if possible, so it is close to you and as parallel to the back angle as possible.
7. Adjust seat height (where possible) to a gap of four to five fingers from the ceiling, or so that the eyes are aligned with the middle or upper third of the windshield.
8. Check position - ensure that the wrist can bend slightly over the top portion of the wheel, without leaning the shoulder-blades forward. Ensure that the dashboard is clearly visible.
9. Always wear the seatbelts: Lower portion on the pelvic (not the stomach) and snug, upper portion on the very edge of the collar bone.
10. Adjust head restraint: So that it is at least as high as your eye-brows and as close as possible to the head (at least six centimeters). Might require changing the angle of the whole backrest.
11. Left foot in the left footrest. Front heel in front of the brakes (slightly offset to the right).
12. Interior mirror: Adjust for clear and full view of the rear window.
13. Left mirror (for right-driving countries) - adjust so you cannot see the edge of your car, and a bit further out.
14. Right mirror: Adjust so that you cannot see the edge of the car, and than three more "clicks" (with an electronic adjustment) or so that you need to move your head to the center of the car to see the edge of the car in the mirror.
15. Additions: Seat covers, steering wheel covers, convex mirrors, additions to the seatbelts, dashboard covers, chrome mats, or anything hanging down the interior mirror - not necessary and might even be dangerous.
16. Both hands on the wheel, at 9 and 3. Palms on the outside of the rim, thumbs on the inside. Maintain a light, but controled grip.
Steering
1. Steer the car positivelly but smoothly and accurately.
Loading
1. Don't overload the car: You can use a few cars or drive a few times back and forth instead.
2. Put the heavy load low and in the front of the trunk (behind the rear seats), in the sides and distribute it equally between both sides.
3. Only carry soft, light bags in the passenger's compartment, by placing them behind the front seats, on the floor.
4. Don't put anything in the range of the airbags. Notice the particularly large area in which the passenger's airbag deploys.
5. Buckle the rear seatbelts when the trunk is loaded.
Children in the car
1. Put children seats, including boosters, in the rear seats, preferably in the middle of the vehicle.
2. Keep the children against the direction of travel for as long as possible, even to the age of three years, if possible.
3. Buckle the seats as snuggly as possible with the seatbelts or Isofix/Latch, so that you cannot push against them at the point in which they are harnessed for as much as a single inch.
4. Ensure that the belts of the seat grip the child so that you cannot manage to grab any slack by pinching the belts at the shoulder area.
5. Use an additional, shatter-proof mirror to view the children the back seat. Use a bigger child or partner to keep watch for the passengers.
Seperation Distance
1. Always maintain at least two FULL seconds from the car in front. Check your following distance a few times in every drive. Wait for the lead car to pass a marker ON the tarmac (paint, shade, surface change) and call out "only a fool breaks the two second's rule."
2. Increase gap for three seconds or more for either of the following conditions: Driving a heavy or heavily-loaded vehicle, driving in slippery conditions, driving in conditions of low concentration or drivers with another driver tailgating you.
3. Check mirrors and identify tailgaters: Immediately increase forward gap by one second (without braking). Use the hazard signals to shake him off. If inefficient, increase gap by one more second. Change lanes or even drop the two right wheels unto the paved shoulder to be free of the tailgater.
4. Safety envelope: Keep right and ensure lateral seperation by moving across the width of your lane to keep as much space between yourself and other cars. Try to adjust your speed gently to keep a free space besides you in at least one side and for a width of at least one lane at all times.
5. When stopped, always maintain a gap where you can see some feet of tarmac seperating you from the car in front.
Anticipation and Planning
1. Look as far ahead as practically possible and plan your moves in advance.
2. Always consider the worst-case scenario, act promptly to avoid it, but be prepared for it - always be aware of the possibility that you might be required for an emergency stop and that you might even need to swerve into an escape route while doing so - plan your escape route in advance!
3. Be smooth and gradual with acceleration, deceleration and steering.
4. Use up space: Make your lane changes as gradual as possible. Merge LEFT as late as you possibly can, and merge right as early as your possibly can.
Managing the traffic behind
1. Check mirrors (interior + exterior) once every five to seven seconds (10 times per minute). Check less in thin traffic (five times per minute) and more in heavy traffic (fifteen times per minute).
2. Slow down early for hazards while taking a few glimpses at the interior mirror. Slow down early enough so the cars behind you catch up with you (and each other) while you are still moving.
3. Aim to stop early, at least two car lengths early. Look for an open escape route to one side: An empty lane, painted traffic island, open shoulder, curb that you can mount. Use up the space in front and the escape route if the cars behind you fail to stop.
4. Keep your forward space and escape route in mind, stay in gear and watch the mirrors, untill at least two cars or one rig stop safely behind you and cover you. Now you can move forward behind the car ahead/traffic lights/crosswalk.
5. In left or right turning lanes at intersections, keep far away from the main carriageway, maintain your escape route for as long as possible and notice the traffic moving besides you, as well.
6. During emergency braking: First brake hard. If, while slowing down, you seem to stop short of the obstacle, ease the brake pressure (after hitting the brakes) to use up all of the space before the obstacle. Use your escape route to get out of the way, if possible.
7. NEVER pull over along a highway/freeway unless there is absolutly no other choice.
Streaming the Traffic
1. Notice traffic congestions at the distance - slow down early and allow the traffic jam to open up before you reach it, so you can drive your way through it without stopping.
2. Accelerate up the whole acceleration lane and merge at the end of the lane.
3. Pull over into the exit ramp as early as possible and slow down once on it and off of the main carriageway.
4. Keep right unless you need to pass a slower vehicle or due to safety reasons. Pull left as late as safely possible, and pull back right as early as safety possible.
5. Merge and allow other cars to merge based on the "zipper" technique: Allow one car to merge and go. Even if two-three more cars push their way through - it doesn't matter.
6. Change lanes in the most flat angle possible, while taking at least two glances at the side mirror (shoulder check unnecessary).
7. Avoid any unnecessary lane changes and overtakes.
Driving through Junctions
1. Never go through an intersection without visually checking both sides to ensure that the traffic is stopped or is going to stop. Check when you are still far from the junction itself.
2. If there isn't a good view or if you are coming down at speed - slow down before the junction.
3. Let go of the gas when entering the intersection.
4. When accelerating into the junction from a stop - if you are the first or second car in line - always enter the junction SLOWLY while checking both sides and than accelerate through.
5. Avoid running amber. Decide on a "point of no-return" based on your speed and the traffic behind you. If the light goes amber before that point - stop!
6. Keep watch for other cars in your direction: They might decid to turn right or left suddenly.
Emergency Braking
1. Brake hard, at once. Do not be intimidated by the juddering of the ABS or the locking of the wheels.
2. Always brake first and than steer. Brake while positioning the car so that it moves diagonally relative to the obstacle and aimed towards the escape route (open shoulder, crossroad with standing traffic, open lane, etc..)
3. If further evasive manuvers are required, wipe off as much speed as possible before veering.
4. Avoiding oncoming traffic: Immediately brake hard and stick right. Keep braking and, if the oncoming driver fails to return to their lane, veer sharply to the right at the last possible moment. Even rolling into a ditch or hitting a lamp post is better than hitting the oncoming vehicle.
Winter Driving
1. Be carefull in heavy rain showers or after a small shower that follows a dry week - increased risk of sliding.
2. Look out for anything slippery up ahead: An oil slick, patch of ice, pool of mudd or deep puddle. Slow down as well as possible before it and try to get around it, if possible. If not, go through it in a straight line and with straight steering.
3. Always check the brakes after going through puddles: A few light squeezes of the pedal will dry the brakes out of any moist.
4. Demist any fumes and clear the windshield from dirt before driving.
5. Keep an open crack up the window for fresh air. Ventilate the cabin by opening up the window for a short gust of wind each twenty to thirty minutes.
Summer Driving
1. In daytime hours - use quality sunglasses, but not too dark ones and without bluky side stalks.
2. Keep light meals and drink plenty of water (1/2 to 3/4 of a liter of water per hour).
3. Ventilate the hot car before entering it.
4. Keep a small crack up the window, ventilate the car by opening a window each twenety to thirty minutes.
Oh yes, I guess that the timing of the post got away from me, didn't it? The new year is a christian one, but nevertheless, since the Gregorian Calender is used in Israel, too, we also note the new year.
You seem like a Car Expert, will surely love to stay in touch with and learn from you )
*link snipped
Astraist wrote:
After a series of articles and posts, I have decided to make a collection of advice in one tread, for the sake of simplicity and accesibility. It is also a good basis for any questions or debates on any of the these issues.
Planning the Trip
1. Set a convenient schedule between places/meetings for driving.
2. Plan your arrival time, with an addition of fifteen minutes to each hour of driving to reduce the stress to arrive on time.
3. Always acknowledge others about a possible delay due to weather conditions or heavy traffic.
4. In bad conditions: Heavy rain, strong winds, mist, hail, snow and ice - don't drive if you really don't have to. Hours of peak heat in the summer should be avoided where possible, as well.
5. Take frequent breaks: Preferably ten minutes each hour or fifteen minutes each hour and a-half, but up to twenty minutes each two and a-half hours for long trips/professional drivers. Take a bigger break after five hours, and never exceed 11 driving hours per 24 hours.
6. Don't drive when tired: Identify drowsy driving early through the symptoms of burning eyes or yawns, and find a safe place to rest in. 20 to 40 minutes of sleep, can give you up to one hour of wakefullness. Works for one time each 36 hours.
Maintaining the car
1. Check the tire pressure each week, two weeks at most. Check visually before any time you enter the car.
2. Check the spare tire for each alternating time you check the other tires.
3. Use a reliable personal gauge to check the tires in the morning, again at the station (add needed amount to hot pressure) and again after inflation to ensure pump accuracy.
4. Check the motoroil, coolant, transmission fluid (where accessible), power steering fluid, brake fluid, wiper fluid and differential fluid (where accessible) for at least each time you check the spare tire (preferably each week). Check the transmission and differential fluid (where not accessible) each three months.
5. Have the car checked once every 8,000 miles or once a year, unless stated otherwise in the manual.
6. Use high quality, synthetic oils. For cars that drive mostly for shot trips in towns, replace the oils in the transmission and engine earlier than the manufacturer's recommendation. Each eighteen months or 12,000 miles is good for the motor, and each 36,000 miles or two years for an automatic transmission is fine. If the car has a milleage of at least 20% of trips out of town - replace the oils at the recommended time.
7. Replace tires each three years or 37,000 miles, if not earlier.
8. Replace the dampers each 50,000 miles.
9. Have the tires inspected and rotated each 8,000 miles or once a year. Have the alignment checked at the same time.
10. Replace brake fluid after two years or 40,000 miles.
Driving Preparations
1. Don't drive in conditions of poor control, including: Fatigue, tiredness from physical activity, hunger, thirst, after heavy meal, when ill, poor emotional state or when under the influence of drugs or alcohol or during advanced pregnancy.
2. Always wear comfortable clothes. Avoid heavy clothing or clothing that is very short.
3. Always use snug-fit, thin-soled, flat-heeled footwear. Driving barefoot, with heels, loose sandals or with bulky boots is dangerous. Also avoid dirty/wet/muddy soles - keep a small rag in the car and wipe the soles clean.
4. Push your rump deep into the back of the seat.
5. Adjust the seat forward so all pedals can be fully depressed with the knees still bent (at about 140 degrees).
6. Adjust backrest to an upright angle, as possible. Adjust steering, if possible, so it is close to you and as parallel to the back angle as possible.
7. Adjust seat height (where possible) to a gap of four to five fingers from the ceiling, or so that the eyes are aligned with the middle or upper third of the windshield.
8. Check position - ensure that the wrist can bend slightly over the top portion of the wheel, without leaning the shoulder-blades forward. Ensure that the dashboard is clearly visible.
9. Always wear the seatbelts: Lower portion on the pelvic (not the stomach) and snug, upper portion on the very edge of the collar bone.
10. Adjust head restraint: So that it is at least as high as your eye-brows and as close as possible to the head (at least six centimeters). Might require changing the angle of the whole backrest.
11. Left foot in the left footrest. Front heel in front of the brakes (slightly offset to the right).
12. Interior mirror: Adjust for clear and full view of the rear window.
13. Left mirror (for right-driving countries) - adjust so you cannot see the edge of your car, and a bit further out.
14. Right mirror: Adjust so that you cannot see the edge of the car, and than three more "clicks" (with an electronic adjustment) or so that you need to move your head to the center of the car to see the edge of the car in the mirror.
15. Additions: Seat covers, steering wheel covers, convex mirrors, additions to the seatbelts, dashboard covers, chrome mats, or anything hanging down the interior mirror - not necessary and might even be dangerous.
16. Both hands on the wheel, at 9 and 3. Palms on the outside of the rim, thumbs on the inside. Maintain a light, but controled grip.
Steering
1. Steer the car positivelly but smoothly and accurately.
Loading
1. Don't overload the car: You can use a few cars or drive a few times back and forth instead.
2. Put the heavy load low and in the front of the trunk (behind the rear seats), in the sides and distribute it equally between both sides.
3. Only carry soft, light bags in the passenger's compartment, by placing them behind the front seats, on the floor.
4. Don't put anything in the range of the airbags. Notice the particularly large area in which the passenger's airbag deploys.
5. Buckle the rear seatbelts when the trunk is loaded.
Children in the car
1. Put children seats, including boosters, in the rear seats, preferably in the middle of the vehicle.
2. Keep the children against the direction of travel for as long as possible, even to the age of three years, if possible.
3. Buckle the seats as snuggly as possible with the seatbelts or Isofix/Latch, so that you cannot push against them at the point in which they are harnessed for as much as a single inch.
4. Ensure that the belts of the seat grip the child so that you cannot manage to grab any slack by pinching the belts at the shoulder area.
5. Use an additional, shatter-proof mirror to view the children the back seat. Use a bigger child or partner to keep watch for the passengers.
Seperation Distance
1. Always maintain at least two FULL seconds from the car in front. Check your following distance a few times in every drive. Wait for the lead car to pass a marker ON the tarmac (paint, shade, surface change) and call out "only a fool breaks the two second's rule."
2. Increase gap for three seconds or more for either of the following conditions: Driving a heavy or heavily-loaded vehicle, driving in slippery conditions, driving in conditions of low concentration or drivers with another driver tailgating you.
3. Check mirrors and identify tailgaters: Immediately increase forward gap by one second (without braking). Use the hazard signals to shake him off. If inefficient, increase gap by one more second. Change lanes or even drop the two right wheels unto the paved shoulder to be free of the tailgater.
4. Safety envelope: Keep right and ensure lateral seperation by moving across the width of your lane to keep as much space between yourself and other cars. Try to adjust your speed gently to keep a free space besides you in at least one side and for a width of at least one lane at all times.
5. When stopped, always maintain a gap where you can see some feet of tarmac seperating you from the car in front.
Anticipation and Planning
1. Look as far ahead as practically possible and plan your moves in advance.
2. Always consider the worst-case scenario, act promptly to avoid it, but be prepared for it - always be aware of the possibility that you might be required for an emergency stop and that you might even need to swerve into an escape route while doing so - plan your escape route in advance!
3. Be smooth and gradual with acceleration, deceleration and steering.
4. Use up space: Make your lane changes as gradual as possible. Merge LEFT as late as you possibly can, and merge right as early as your possibly can.
Managing the traffic behind
1. Check mirrors (interior + exterior) once every five to seven seconds (10 times per minute). Check less in thin traffic (five times per minute) and more in heavy traffic (fifteen times per minute).
2. Slow down early for hazards while taking a few glimpses at the interior mirror. Slow down early enough so the cars behind you catch up with you (and each other) while you are still moving.
3. Aim to stop early, at least two car lengths early. Look for an open escape route to one side: An empty lane, painted traffic island, open shoulder, curb that you can mount. Use up the space in front and the escape route if the cars behind you fail to stop.
4. Keep your forward space and escape route in mind, stay in gear and watch the mirrors, untill at least two cars or one rig stop safely behind you and cover you. Now you can move forward behind the car ahead/traffic lights/crosswalk.
5. In left or right turning lanes at intersections, keep far away from the main carriageway, maintain your escape route for as long as possible and notice the traffic moving besides you, as well.
6. During emergency braking: First brake hard. If, while slowing down, you seem to stop short of the obstacle, ease the brake pressure (after hitting the brakes) to use up all of the space before the obstacle. Use your escape route to get out of the way, if possible.
7. NEVER pull over along a highway/freeway unless there is absolutly no other choice.
Streaming the Traffic
1. Notice traffic congestions at the distance - slow down early and allow the traffic jam to open up before you reach it, so you can drive your way through it without stopping.
2. Accelerate up the whole acceleration lane and merge at the end of the lane.
3. Pull over into the exit ramp as early as possible and slow down once on it and off of the main carriageway.
4. Keep right unless you need to pass a slower vehicle or due to safety reasons. Pull left as late as safely possible, and pull back right as early as safety possible.
5. Merge and allow other cars to merge based on the "zipper" technique: Allow one car to merge and go. Even if two-three more cars push their way through - it doesn't matter.
6. Change lanes in the most flat angle possible, while taking at least two glances at the side mirror (shoulder check unnecessary).
7. Avoid any unnecessary lane changes and overtakes.
Driving through Junctions
1. Never go through an intersection without visually checking both sides to ensure that the traffic is stopped or is going to stop. Check when you are still far from the junction itself.
2. If there isn't a good view or if you are coming down at speed - slow down before the junction.
3. Let go of the gas when entering the intersection.
4. When accelerating into the junction from a stop - if you are the first or second car in line - always enter the junction SLOWLY while checking both sides and than accelerate through.
5. Avoid running amber. Decide on a "point of no-return" based on your speed and the traffic behind you. If the light goes amber before that point - stop!
6. Keep watch for other cars in your direction: They might decid to turn right or left suddenly.
Emergency Braking
1. Brake hard, at once. Do not be intimidated by the juddering of the ABS or the locking of the wheels.
2. Always brake first and than steer. Brake while positioning the car so that it moves diagonally relative to the obstacle and aimed towards the escape route (open shoulder, crossroad with standing traffic, open lane, etc..)
3. If further evasive manuvers are required, wipe off as much speed as possible before veering.
4. Avoiding oncoming traffic: Immediately brake hard and stick right. Keep braking and, if the oncoming driver fails to return to their lane, veer sharply to the right at the last possible moment. Even rolling into a ditch or hitting a lamp post is better than hitting the oncoming vehicle.
Winter Driving
1. Be carefull in heavy rain showers or after a small shower that follows a dry week - increased risk of sliding.
2. Look out for anything slippery up ahead: An oil slick, patch of ice, pool of mudd or deep puddle. Slow down as well as possible before it and try to get around it, if possible. If not, go through it in a straight line and with straight steering.
3. Always check the brakes after going through puddles: A few light squeezes of the pedal will dry the brakes out of any moist.
4. Demist any fumes and clear the windshield from dirt before driving.
5. Keep an open crack up the window for fresh air. Ventilate the cabin by opening up the window for a short gust of wind each twenty to thirty minutes.
Summer Driving
1. In daytime hours - use quality sunglasses, but not too dark ones and without bluky side stalks.
2. Keep light meals and drink plenty of water (1/2 to 3/4 of a liter of water per hour).
3. Ventilate the hot car before entering it.
4. Keep a small crack up the window, ventilate the car by opening a window each twenety to thirty minutes.
Thank you for the last two replies. I am glad that my advice is heared. I recommend writing two-three advice at a time, putting them on your dashboard in a way that does not distract or interfere with straight vision, and excerise them for two-three weeks, and than move on to the next piece of advice.
If you want any other advice, answer to specific cases or explainations to things that you find strange or not understood, I am more than willing to elaborate.
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