Whose space is it anyway?

A response to a post reminds me of another position occasion.

You are driving down the highway in the RH lane (because you only stay left to pass - right?). You come upon an entrance ramp and you see that 3 cars are looking to merge onto the highway. You also know that you will be right in the merge area when they will. What do you do? You have several options:

1. Slow down or speed up so that they can merge. I don't like either. If you slow down, they wil slow down and you don't change anything, and I hate to accelerate into a situation - you just reduce the time you have to react.

2. Move over into the left hand lane. What - that is the passing lane! Well, what are you doing? You are passing cars that are not yet up to speed. Here you allow the drivers a clear shot to merge.

Now this second choice has problems of it's own. If there is no one in the LH lane you are lucky; however, this is not likely. You are most likely going to have to merge yourself to move over. You should have been watching traffic so you know whether it is moving faster (usually) than you. In this case you will have to speed up. If you don't want to, it gets tricky. You need to slow down to let the car on the left pass you, then move over. At the same time you are slowing down, remember to keep a space so that if you can't get over, you still leave room for people to merge into your lane. Complicated? Yes, but if driving was easy, we should have no accidents and I would not have to write this blog .

Being able to let people in is an art form, and if done right it actually helps traffic move faster and smoother. It comes down to the basic rule - you should respect other people's space and they should respect yours. By trying to help others, you raise the Driving Intelligence of the road, a concept I will explain in the next post.

Assume the Position

A few posts back, I mentioned positioning your car so that other drivers would see what you were going to do. Now, listen on how you can help other drivers.

Way back when, I was at a race where two drivers where fighting it out for position. Another car had crashed and ended up in the middle of the track. As the two cars approached, the first car waited until the last minute to dart to one side, leaving the second driver no time to react. He swerved and spun down the track, actually going into the pits and hitting another car (not to mention just missing all the mechanics who jumped out of the way). It was a very dangerous situation because the first driver blocked the second from seeing the accident.

It is the same on the road. If a car is making a left turn, if you stay to the left of the lane, you block drivers behind you from seeing him until the last minute. While you might not be involved in an accident, you might be the cause. If a driver is going to turn left, slow down and move right, so that drivers behind you can see PAST you. This is especially critical if you are driving a truck or SUV.

Now, the drivers behind you SHOULD be leaving enough room, but in many cases they do not. Common courtesy works both ways - someday you might be the second car......

This is also very important on congested highways, where stop and go traffic is the norm. By moving to one side or the other you can help prevent the chain reaction crash that is so typical. Giving other drivers as much information as soon as possible helps make the roads safer for everyone.

Pot(hole) Luck

For those in the winter areas, the recent warming is a welcome change.

Unfortunately, there is a down side - potholes.

As the ground under the pavement thaws, the subgrade and base wash out and potholes form as cars drive over the weakened road.

With many cars having aluminum wheels and low profile tires, hitting a pothole can run into many hundreds of dollars.

Don't assume that puddle up ahead is not a pothole. Be alert and slow down on side roads. On highways and other high speed roads, leave plenty of room and watch the car in front - if you see him hit a pothole you will have time to slow down or move over slightly to miss it.

Myth of Myths

There are many articles concerning old wives tales and conventional wisdom when it comes to car maintenance. One that you often see is that it is a myth to change your oil every 3,000 miles. Well even these new theories can be myths. Let's look at motor oil and how if relates to modern cars.

First, you do need to check your motor oil every 2 weeks or 2 tank fulls whichever comes first. Car manufactures consider 600 miles per quart of oil an acceptable usage, even though many cars go thousands of miles per quart. Since most cars contain about 4 quarts of oil, would you want to drive missing 25% of your oil?

Second, you should change your oil at least 2 times a year. With cars not requiring the same amount of maintenance as in years past, it is not unusual for cars to go years without major repairs. That does not mean that things don't go wrong and preventative maintenance is better than waiting for things to fail. Getting your car in in the early spring and late fall* for an oil change and general look over is a good habit to get into. For someone doing 20,000 miles per year, putting another oil change visit in the summer keeps you up to most auto manufacturer's schedule, although 4 times a year is not expensive and out of line with protecting your investment..

Third, consider using synthetic oil in your car, especially if you live in areas where it gets very cold in the winter. The synthetic oil will flow easier at low temperatures and put less strain on your starting system and may even extend the life of your battery. Now synthetic oil is only a few dollars more than conventional oil, but may shops try to charge an outrageous premium. If synthetic oil is more than $10 - $15 extra per oil change, consider going somewhere else.

Fourth, always change the filter with the oil change. Some people are particular about what oil filter goes on their engine, although today, virtually all oil filters do a great job. If you do insist on bringing your own filter (and in some cases oil) a shop may balk at first, but sit down and talk to them and they will usually work with you, albeit at about the same total cost to you as if they supplied the parts. Remember, you are not doing this to save money, but to be consistent on the parts used.

Fifth, keep a quart of oil around, but when faced with needing to add oil, it is more important to add the oil than to worry about the brand.

Sixth, oil that looks dirty is not necessarily bad, but oil that gets dirty right after a change is usually a sign that all the oil was not drained or the engine has a lot of dirt built up. Do an oil change earlier the next time, make sure it is done with a hot engine and they let it drain completely.

So do you have to change your oil every 3000 miles? The answer is mileage and time have to be considered. Of course you could do the change yourself and save some money - that will be for another day.

* For those fortunate to live where it is summer all year, twice a year is still a good target for your oil changes- you just have the luxury of scheduling the seasons!

What's your position?

Have you ever seen a person make a right turn from the left lane? How about someone trying to cut in to a line of cars while even with you? Both of these are cases of bad positioning. Now before we go any further, there are two ways to communicate with other drivers - signals (both hand and lights) and positioning. There are many instances where both are used together, but today we are just going to focus on positioning.

When you are trying to communicate with another driver about what you plan to do, the worst thing you can do is send conflicting signals. The driver who moves left before turning right is one of those. If a driver slows and moves slightly to the right in the lane, they give the impression that he or she is turning right. A driver who wants to merge into a line of cars does not barrel to the front, but picks a logical space in-between cars and signals their intentions. A person looking to parallel part, stops before the space with their blinkers on, waits until the car behind recognizes them and then pulls forward and backs into the space.

The one obvious use of positioning is when making a left turn under a traffic light. If space allows you pull forward and to the left, not entering the other lane but leaving room for cars going straight to move around you on the right. [note: in most states it is legal to pass on the right in this case, but because something is legal, it doesn't make it safe. The passing car should slowly move around the stopped car.] Just staying in line gives the wrong impression to cars behind and I have seen cases where a car illegally tries to pass, on the left, the car waiting to turn left!

In future posts I will talk about other cases where positioning is important to safe driving.

I can see clearly now

One of the things they check when you get your license is your eyesight. If eyesight is so important, then why do you handicap it by driving around with dirty windows? Especially at night, dirty windows can cut down you vision and make it difficult to drive.

In the winter you have the double whammy of dirt on the outside and film on the inside. The outside is obvious, some rain, snow, and mud (at least no bugs when it is cold), but the inside gets dirty too. When you run the defroster you blow moist air over the inside of the windows, and this attracts dirt. The film that accumulates cuts down on your vision and increases the amount of glare you have to deal with. At least on the outside you can run your wipers to try and clear the mess (You do have good windshield wiper blades and windshield wiper fluid?- Right?)

At least once a week, take some glass cleaner and a few paper towels and go over the inside of the windows. Don't forget to get all the rear view mirrors. You will be astonished at the amount of dirt that comes off and how well you can see again.

As to cleaning materials, the latest home window cleaners are not what they used to be. I prefer the special car window cleaners and the type that comes in a pressurized spray can seem to work the best, although you have to store them where it is warm. As far as what to use to wipe, paper towels seem to be the best, although if you hate to waste resources, then a good cloth towel, washed often will also do. One of the best materials to use is blank newspaper, especially the end rolls you can pick up at your local printing location.

For windows really coated with wax, a non-abrasive powder like Bon Ami on a wet towel digs through the grime and actually polishes the glass. Always be careful when using anything that might scratch or dull the windows.

ChrisZ