Safety Tips & Advanced Technology to Reduce Accidents

Just 2 weeks ago, I suggested placing something on the dash of a friends minivan to help their teenager learn to judge where the passenger tires are in the lane.

When I was learning how to drive, I would drive on a 4 lane in Florida with lots of reflectors and see how long I could keep up running them over. I got pretty good even in corners. I used a double point of reference with the windshield wiper and a bump in the center of the hood. Always impressed my friends when I could hit a can in the road or parkinglot with the passenger tires.

Drew

There are certain details about vehicles/surroundings, that I have learned can be an indicator of the need for extra caution, such as:

• Temporary license plates which can indicate that the driver may be new.
• Condition of the vehicle (Emergency spare at 60mph, for example).
• Proximity to fast food restaurants (Last minute lane changes, sudden stops).
• Tandem trailer rigs in high winds.
• Proximity to large truck depots with long haul OTR operations.

I learned to drive in the back roads in Lanark County, Ontario. It is situated on the Canadian Shield, and as such, there is lots of winding twisting roads navigating the worn down rock folds of the ancient mountain range. I learned that it is very important to keep to your own side of the road, especially when cresting hills, and left turning corners. (we drive on the right side of the road here)

Too often on these backroads, the width of the gravel road is only wide enough for two exact vehicle-widths, and so if you even hedging toward the center of the road, you are in danger, when you crest that hill. Also, lots of these hills are peaking with a curve or turn at the top, so if you are speeding at all, you really have to be on your game to make sure you don't overshoot into the oncoming lane.

I haven't had many accidents, but when I was 15, (underage/unlicencesed/uninsured) I was driving our old beater snowmobile, and took a sharp corner with high banks, and had a near-head on with another snowmobile... (we hooked skis.) I would not have happened if I had the discipline of keeping to my side, instead of enjoying the speed rush of following a racing line around the sharp corner.

Chris

I find that careful adjustment of the side mirror helps to avoid a blind spot when changing lanes. When I adjust the left (driver) side mirror, I move closer to the driver's side window and then adjust the mirror. It positions the mirror a little to the left, thereby eliminating the blind spot. Of course you still need to check the rear view mirror before making the change.

Here is a nice link that explains it in more detail. http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~gdguo/driving/BlindSpot.htm

I like that!

Cheers,

Stu.

In 2005, when I was moving from Ontario to Alberta, I got rid of most of my belongings, and packed everything else in my 4door saturn Ion II. It was full to the rafters... I could see out the two side mirrors, and the front windshield.. so very much like driving a truck. I couldn't even check blind spots by over-the-shoulder checks (much)

so I had to maintain continuous 360 degree awareness of the vehicles around you, and basically count cars.. know where they are and what they are doing at all times.. pick a lane and stay there, as much as possible. drive the center lane through the cities.. (as I wasn't exiting in the cities)

Back in the day.. shortly after I had become a licenced driver (17 yrs old) I was in the city with my parents, and they were staying, so I was to drive the car back to the farm, an hour away. It was a foggy evening... but I pretty much raced all the way... really scary now that I think of it... 100 km/h on a two lane country road.. in the dense fog.. with curves. 2 seconds visibility.. pretty dumb.

Nowadays.. I go slow enough in the fog (very little in alberta) to give many more seconds of response time, and stick strongly to my own lane.

I'd like it hear your ferrari story?

Here is another thread that discusses safety tips for new motorcycle riders.