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There are few occasions more nerve-wracking for parents than when their children get behind the wheel and drive off by themselves for the first time. Parents can prepare their offspring for that solo trip by making sure that they’ve had plenty of behind-the-wheel practice plus time in a classroom with a good driving instructor. But how do you find a driving school that will give your child that good foundation?
About 85 percent of American vehicle occupants wear seat belts, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). That percentage has come a long way from 58 percent in 1994. In addition to highly publicized safety campaigns, stricter laws have done much to encourage seat belt use.
When a car and a large truck crash, there’s little question about which vehicle is more likely to come out on top. In 2009 (the latest year for which data are available), 3,380 people were killed in collisions that involved large trucks — and three-fourths of them were occupants of the non-truck vehicles, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Of the 74,000 people injured in vehicle collisions with trucks that same year, three-fourths of them were the occupants of the other vehicles.
Having a lightweight vehicle is advantageous when it comes to fuel efficiency. Yet when it comes to safety, larger vehicles are often safer. That’s why it’s important that all drivers learn how to share the road safely with big rigs.
Justin Stoltzfus
For many, driving is a routine. We take for granted that we’ll get to work and school and home again. But on the road, things can change in a split second. A tire blows out. Your brakes fail. Another car swerves in front of you. Here’s how to deal with some of the most common emergencies the road can throw at you.
If you’re heading out to a national park or anywhere rustic enough to bring close encounters with wildlife, don’t leave food in your car. The smell of food can be enough to entice bears, which will stop at nothing to reach their goal.
Most drivers know that the consequences for driving drunk can be severe — and that the results can be devastating. Yet there are other substances besides alcohol that make driving dangerous.
Although not as widely discussed as drunk driving, “drugged driving” can have the same disastrous effects.
Need an incentive to keep your eyes (and your attention) on the road? Consider a recent survey of the driving and cell phone habits of students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). It found that more than more than one-third of the students surveyed use some mobile phone app while behind the wheel, even as they’re maneuvering through traffic.
Crawford Frazer
Imagine your car has broken down. Night has fallen, you’re in the middle of nowhere and the only lights for miles are the headlights of your car. Are you prepared? There’s no telling when something may go wrong on the road, so it pays to have a roadside emergency kit in your car.
Walking and biking are great ways to get exercise and save on driving expenses like gas and vehicle maintenance. But as good as it can be for you, it can be dangerous as well. In 2009, roughly 4,000 pedestrians were killed — that’s 12 percent of all crash deaths in the United States, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). But don’t let statistics scare you into setting aside your sneakers.
Maybe your car got totaled in an accident, and you need to find a reputable body shop ASAP. Or maybe you simply need a tune-up. Given the potential expense involved, you’ll want to know you’re getting your money’s worth. So how do you know you can trust your mechanic?
