Too Damn Fast - Driving tip 12-25-2010

In the last 2 weeks at least 8 people have been killed on Connecticut roads. There were young people and old(er) people. They were on highways and side roads. The one thing they had in common is speed. Not always illegal speed, but speed none the less. One thing they don't teach you in driver's ed is that speed is not your friend - it is your enemy. For the one thing you can't fudge are the laws of physics. That says an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by another object. Some great examples are on this web site by Dirk Oden. He did the figures so I didn't have to.

A crash at 45 mph is like jumping out of a 7 story window. In crash at 30 mph your body has a force of over 1200 lbs. Forces go up with the square of the speed. The next time you are driving down the highway at 60 miles an hour, try to imagine hitting a bridge abutment. Seat belts, airbags, etc would be of no use, you would probably die instantly.

"But I see race cars crash at much higher speeds and the driver walks away", you might say. Well several things factor into this. First, the driver has a much higher level of safety gear. At least 4 times the seat belt protection, a full cage around the driver and helmet designed to protect his head. A car designed to fly apart and dissipate the forces. The tracks are designed with tire walls, safer barriers and sand traps, all to reduce the forces on the car. Also drivers know that speed is their enemy and they do everything to get rid of as much speed as possible. Big fat racing tires slow the car down in a hurry, either with brakes or by sliding sideways. Even with all of this, drivers are hurt and killed each year.

So what can you do? It would be hypocritical to say never go over the speed limit. Sometimes that is not practical and will be a discussion for another post. So here is what you can do:

1. Make sure your car is safe for the conditions you are driving under. Low tread tires may be okay on a dry summer day, but could turn deadly on a cold, rainy autumn night.

2. Don't drive when you are tired, sick, under the influence of anything, including cold medicine.

3. Keep a proper distance between your car and the cars around you. Not just the one in front but the ones on the side and in back of you also.

4. If you know the road, expect the unexpected. The ice in the turn when you don't expect it. The kid that runs out to get his ball. The car broken down around the blind corner.

5. And if you don't know the road? Now you should be almost paranoid. One thing I learned from riding motorcycles is don't trust any drivers. This is good advice especially when you are driving in unknown territory. You are already distracted and your reactions slower.

6. Never drive a car thinking you are better than you are. Teenagers drive like they can defy the laws of physics. Adults drive like they own the road and expect people to get out of their way when they are late for an appointment. Older drivers think that experience makes up for loss of reaction time.

7. Take a professional high speed driving school and learn how to handle a car and what to expect.

8. If you really want to go fast - go to a race track or go kart track. Racing on the street will get someone killed - it may not be you, but could you live with that?

ChrisZ

Driving tip 12-18-2010

I am starting a weekly note on driving and car care. I hope this gets me in the habit of writing a short article each week.

If you like this please pass the link over to someone else.

Thanks

ChrisZ

The Perfect Storm

It was the perfect storm - the accident was inevitable - but it didn't happen. Why?

There were 5 cars in a row - driving about 45 mph. The first car needed to stop and turn left across traffic. Did they signal? Did they slow down early enough to alert those behind? Evidently not, as the resulting accordion effect resulted in the 4th and 5th cars skidding to a stop. I was the fifth car. How did I get sucked in? Wasn't I staying back far enough? Wasn't I watching beyond the car in front?

I made 2 mistakes which almost put me in an accident. And if I can - you can - learn from my mistakes.

First, the road bent slightly to the right. Normally I move back and forth, especially if the car in front is a truck or SUV like this time. But I was cut out of seeing traffic in front of me. Second I was distracted when a gust of wind blew some papers around the passenger compartment. Normally either one of these is no problem as I leave enough room to stop in case of a problem (remember the 2 to 3 second rule?). But together, they were enough to eat up a second or 2 and that left me no cushion.

The person in front of me swerved to the right and I swerved to the left. Tires squealing as they exceeded their friction point as I threshold braked. Whew!

Of course the first person never knew they almost caused a major accident. They stopped in the middle of the road, where there was enough room to get around if they had positioned their car right. They did not slow down soon enough, or if they realized they waited to long, they could have gone past and come back.

So to review:

1. If you can't see past the car in front of you slow down
2. If you get distracted - slow down.

Your car will stay in one piece longer.

Left turns - after you

If you are going to try an make a left turn in today's world, here is as good a description as I can find:

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/forum/content.php?59

Also what can come away from this is positioning your wheels when you are NOT moving.

Always be one step ahead of the other driver. Plan for the unplanned. After a while how and where you place your car, to signal other drivers of your attention and to also protect yourself, will become automatic.

Seat belts

If I was going to look for information on seat belts and accidents, this is a great site I found:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/seatb.html

The question is:

Is it better to be belted in or not?

The answer is:

If you wear a seat belt, statistics say about 20% of drivers will still die in an accident.

If you don't wear a seat belt, about 70% of unbelted drivers die in accidents.

The real question is "'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?"

Do you like to watch people?

You are driving down the road and you notice a person in a gas station, pulling away from the pumps, and stopping just short of the road. You know the person wants to move into traffic, but what else can you learn? First, even though you cannot trust it, does the person have their turn signal on? I will bet most of the time they will not. However, you can still figure out which way the person is going but looking at how they angle the car in the exit and which way they are looking.

You can learn a lot about a driver by watching. Is the driver young or old? Are they on a cell phone (illegal in most states) or arguing with their kids in the back seat? Do they seem attentive or ready to nod off?

How about their car? Is it weaving back in forth? Driving too fast for conditions? Driving slower than conditions - like the driver is trying to find his or her destination and might suddenly make a turn?

Now think of your driving - what signals are you sending to others? Are you telling them what you are going to do or are you sending mixed signals?

See, it is fun to watch people.

Seat Belt use

Having driven race cars for 30+ years, and seeing some major accidents (including some of my own), also having been in 3 accidents during this time on the road, I think the following PSA is one of the best I have seen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM&feature=player_embedded

I will add more as I find them - they physics is undeniable - you are safer with belts than without.

Winter driving alert!

With winter comes snow and different driving techniques. One of the problems is not going but stopping. One of the tricks was when stopping on slick roads was to move over near the curb and use the sand which washed to the side of the road to help with traction - well, maybe not anymore. With more towns using a sand-free salt mixture to help keep the roads clear, there is no more sand on the side of the road! In fact, since the salt melts the snow and it runs to the side where it refreezes, the old trick may be worse. So the new thought is, go slow, test for traction and stay where it is best. Slow cars on freezing roads will eventually melt the ice due to pressure and heat from the car itself. Don't assume that clear roads are ice free roads.