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How to Drive in the Rain

AndrewSalmon — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 05:01:21 +0000

When it rains, suddenly, it seems like no one knows how to drive. The truth is that the problem isn’t that people don’t know how to drive – it’s just that they’re still driving like they’re on a nice dry road. Driving in the rain is a whole different style of driving, and people need to realize and adjust their driving to compensate.

Rain tends to increase the rate of accidents because it impairs the ability of drivers to see. When it’s dark outside and the rain is pounding against the windshield so fast that the windshield wipers aren’t doing much good, it’s easy to lose track of what’s going on outside of the car. Heavy rain not only obscures a driver’s vision; it also cuts down on the amount of light coming from streetlights and headlights.

Another reason why rain causes accidents is because wet asphalt doesn’t provide as much traction as dry asphalt does. When people drive in the rain without changing the way they make turns and brake, they aren’t taking into consideration the fact that their wheels aren’t interacting with the ground the same way as usual. If it has just rained for the first time in a long while, you need to be even more careful; the rain stirs up all the oil and grease that built up on the road since the last time, and instead of just driving on a wet street, you’re also driving on a slick one. If it rains consistently, though, this isn’t as big of a problem since the rain constantly washes away the oil and grease build-up.

If you want to stay safe while it’s raining, the best thing you can do is to go slower; this is not the time to go speeding through the roads, even if they are empty. Traffic tends to get heavier during the rain due to lack of visibility. Also, if it’s a particularly heavy rain, your route may become flooded or closed off, causing you to need additional time to make a last minute detour.

When it’s time to brake, start braking earlier than usual and do it more gradually. The same goes for turns; due to lack of traction, braking or turning sharply may cause you to swerve. Make sure to actually use your turn signals so other drivers can take your intended route into consideration.

Although you may think it’s a good idea to use cruise control to make sure you won’t speed in the rain, it’s not. For example, if you start to hydroplane on the road, your cruise control might try to accelerate the car to compensate – something you definitely do not need in this type of situation. Cruise control is also not a good idea in the rain because it encourages you to take your foot off the pedal, which in turn decreases your reaction time.

Take some time to visit completeinsurance.ca to learn more about car insurance from BMO.

The Benefits Of Specialised Driving Glasses

carlover — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 03:32:34 +0000

Visual clarity is a hugely important element when it comes to driving safely; if you don’t have an optimal view of the road in front of you, then you’re putting the your own safety at risk, as well as the safety of your passengers and of other road users. As a result, tens of thousands of people every year are investing in specialised driving glasses and sunglasses. But what are the benefits of these frames and lenses? Exactly how do they improve visual clarity?

When you’re driving in the sun, it goes without saying that glare is an irritating and potentially dangerous element of driving, particularly if the sun is right in front of you. In this situation, many people will simply opt to wear traditional, non-specialised sunglasses, as this reduces glare and improves vision. The problem with this however is the danger presented by changeable weather (which is a pertinent consideration in the United Kingdom); if the sun passes behind a cloud, or the light levels drop dramatically, you find yourself with greatly reduced vision – an obvious hazard when you’re driving. Specialised driving glasses feature polarised photochromic lenses, which adapt to changing light levels. This means your eyewear is constantly adapting to the light, ensuring constant visual clarity and optical performance. The polarised lenses also provide 100% UV protection, giving you the same level of coverage gained from traditional sunglasses.

As well as reacting to the amount of light, driving glasses will drastically reduce glare, which can be as much an issue in the winter months as it can in the summer. Glare from buildings, white road markings and wet roads can be hugely hazardous to drivers, especially when travelling at speed. Specialised driving glasses remove this threat, allowing you to concentrate on driving without the worry of being temporarily blinded.

Most modern driving glasses and sunglasses also feature a ‘wrapped’ design, which curves around the head. This not only offers a stylish design feature, but maximises peripheral vision and protection. This is a clear benefit when driving, as the higher your clarity of vision at any angle the safer you’re likely to be on the road.

Guest post by John from Direct Sight. We provide high quality designer and non-designer eyewear, including both prescription and non-prescription glasses and sunglasses.

The truth about car hire in Australia

admin — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 22:19:20 +0000

Australia:

There’s nothing quite like a holiday in Australia, driving around, visiting incredible places and seeing the sights. You can also save yourself a lot of time and money by hiring a car for your holidays, as well as traveling in comfort. Wherever you go in Australia, you can find good car hire very easily, particularly the big name brands, which provide excellent service and surprisingly cheap deals.

A quick comparison of available deals will soon find some easy –on-the-budget options and pin down your costs for you before you even leave home. These car rentals literally pay for themselves and they’re very convenient, locking in your transport from the moment you start your holiday. You can book your car rental online, and have it waiting at the airport to meet you when you arrive. How much simpler could it get?

Another thing which often surprises consumers is the quality of the vehicles. Australian motorists like real cars, not roller skates, and car rental companies make sure their customers get the best. You can get an excellent, current model car with everything you could possibly need, with no trouble at all. Whether you’re going outback or just driving around the big cities, whatever you want, they can get it for you.

You’ll also find that you can get the absolute latest in car technology with your hire car. If you want a reversing camera, reverse sensors, car phone kit or built in technology, it’s available. This is more than gadgetry; these are extremely useful safety and communications tools and they can prevent big problems on the road.

The “trick” to getting the best car rental deals

The only “trick” to getting excellent car hire deals in Australia is simple enough. Talk to the car hire people and tell them what you need. If you’ve got a family and are on a two month holiday in a particular area of Australia, it’ll take about 3 seconds for the car hire people to find a good vehicle. You’ll get a car that will get you around Kakadu, across the Nullabor, or through Sydney traffic without even getting a murmur out of the brakes.

The best approach to explaining your needs is to define them clearly. If you need a family car, good fuel economy and lots of elbow room, say so. If you want a classy urban car that drives like a dream and can tow a yacht, just ask. Put a bit of thought into your car hire needs, and you’ll get everything you want.

(Note: In particular, think about size. Smaller cars may look cheaper, but if they’re too small, the driving experience can get a bit tense and irritating. Make sure you get a car that allows you some room for people, necessities and peace of mind when you’re buying anything you have to carry in the car.)

You really can get great car hire deals in Australia. Also remember the car hire people are there to help, and they can give you useful tips about getting around.

Road Deaths Decrease as Petrol Prices Rise

carlover — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:23:36 +0000

The current economic climate, of which petrol prices are a prominent feature, has brought doom and gloom globally as people lose their jobs and are forced to cut back on spending leading thriftier, leaner less fulfilling lives. However, as the old adage goes, every cloud has a silver lining, and the one surrounding the fuel price situation is particularly shiny; fewer road deaths.

It has been noted that, throughout the U.S, the number of road deaths that occur on a year on year are inversely proportional to petrol prices, i.e. historical figures support the trend of a rise in petrol prices causing a fall in road deaths.

In order to gain some insight, it is worth knowing that back in 2008 it was recognised that higher fuel prices in Columbus Ohio meant significantly few deaths in the period March-May in comparison to the same period in 2007, with an average 13% drop. Thirty one other states reported a drop of at least 10%. As a point of reference the last time the U.S experience such a sharp fall was through the Arab oil embargo which took place between 1973 and 1974 when fatalities fell by 17%.

Today, as oil prices tickle the $4 per barrel mark, it is expected that road deaths will take a similar tumble in what can only be called a fortunate and welcome side-effect of global economic conditions. So why does this phenomenon occur? It is not difficult to fathom that high fuel prices means less road users and a fall in accidents deaths by default.

Additionally, higher fuel prices mean that motorists who can still afford to run a vehicle are encouraged to slow up in attempt to prolong the contents of their fuel tank for as long as possible. This creates a win win situation for drivers, their fellow road users and pedestrians, even if it does mean leaving a little earlier to get to work on time. Lower petrol prices are not all doom and gloom!

Joe is a road safety campaigner and blogger working for a car rental firm

What it takes to own electric or plug-in hybrid cars?

admin — Sun, 15 May 2011 12:08:01 +0000

I am big fan of hybrid cars and electric cars and I was thinking of buying one. I start to read reviews and tests and everything looks great. But?

But? – What it takes to own and what we need if we are planing to become a proud owners of electric car, or plug-in hybrid car?
The answer is very simple. We need a power socket so we can charge our electric or plug-in hybrid car.
Me and my family… We are living in the apartment building and I park my car on the public parking lot in front of my apartment building. Sometimes my car is parked just a few meters from my balcony (second floor) and sometimes 30 meters from the same place. So I really do not have a perfect conditions to plug my future electric car or plug-in hybrid in the power outlet. I have a problem with this and probably this is a problem for a thousand an millions of people who like to reduce their carbon footprint and reduce pollution with buying a electric or plug-in hybrid cars.

The solution is to talk with your community or municipality leaders or administration to provide you and your neighbors with a parking lot only for electric or plug-ins. This parking lot needs to be no more than 300 meters far from your building. The other solution is to talk with your boss or the company owner where you work (You have a job right?) so he can push and install a power sockets in your company parking lot. This way you can charge your electric car or plug in hybrid home or at your job.

I hope you can add some meaningful thoughts and comments to this issue, because I believe there are other solutions out there but none of them come to my mind until this moment…

Meeting Your Maker On A Motorbike

carlover — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:46:10 +0000

What’s the appeal of a motorbike? I confess, I have never ridden one, although I was involved in the marketing campaign for the newly re-launched Norton Brand some years ago. Steve McQueen famously found riding a bike a drug. He used a TT Special 650 Triumph painted olive drab to make it look like a WWII BMW for the “wire jump scene” in the movie “The Great Escape”. They couldn’t use genuine 1943-44 BMWs because they couldn’t take the punishment meted out to them at the speeds McQueen was going. In fact, he was pushing the bike so fast and hard that the German stuntmen chasing him couldn’t keep up. McQueen was therefore also required to “double” for his Nazi pursuers, effectively chasing himself.

motorbike accident:

Biking certainly seems to make your heart pound and constantly challenges your abilities as well as giving a raw and undiluted sensation of sheer speed, connecting the rider with the environment in a way that you just wouldn’t get cocooned in a car. While you might be insulated from a true appreciation of the environment, at least if you are surrounded by a safety cage with crumple zones and the like accidents in cars are less likely to be serious or even fatal. That’s not the case on two wheels, where the rider is much more exposed and vulnerable.

Some of the most prominent motorbike accident fatalities include:

T. E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia). This up until then little known British army officer had what was really little more than a liaison role in the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule at the tail end of the First World War. It was his portrayal by Peter O’Toole in David Lean’s 1963 epic that really made him a posthumous stellar celebrity. He met his end on 19^thMay 1935 on a bike in England, swerving to avoid two small boys so the story goes.

Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr. This Apollo era astronaut was the third human being to walk on the Moon in the Apollo 12 mission. He flew previous Gemini missions and spent more time in space on board Skylab, the converted Saturn SIVB stage orbiting workshop and make shift -space station that met it’s fiery end across the Australian outback and in the Pacific just 5 ½ years after its launch in 1973. On July 8^th 1999 while motorcycling in Ojai, California he ran off the road and crashed. His injuries were initially thought to be minor, but he died about six hours later. He was buried with full military honours at Arlington National Cemetery.

The author works with a company that specialises in no win no fee UK compensation claim cases and is particularly active in seeking compensation for motorbike accident claims.

Incredible ‘Light Graffiti’ Supercars

carlover — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:05:27 +0000

How exactly innovative entrepeneur Marc Cameron and photographer Mark Brown managed to create modern supercars using nothing more than light bulbs and a long-exposure lens is beyond me, but either way, they’re incredibly impressive:

I originally saw the light graffiti supercar idea on the Top Gear website, from the same unique pair of artists. Since this image though, they’ve taken their light supercars all over London, producing some fantastic imagery:

They even manage a Range Rover sport, although how they did the writing on the front I’ll never know:

Written by Paul, who works for a company specialising in motorhome servicing and motorhome rentals.

Will Japan’s Auto Industry Recover?

carlover — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:11:03 +0000

One of the biggest challenges now facing companies in coping with the global economic recovery is the damage done to one of the world’s most major economies. The full extent of the economic impact of the earthquake, tsunami and ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan is only now becoming apparent, with hundreds of factories shut, rolling blackouts planned and predictions from economists that the country is about to nose dive into recession.

Japanese tsunami – damaged car yard
Major companies including Toyota, Nissan and Honda shut down all domestic production for several days in to assess death tolls, damage to plant and equipment, and conduct emergency safety reviews. The rolling impact this shutdown many have on those companies’ plants overseas is said to be minimal, but only time will tell if any effect will be felt in Nissan Sunderland for example.

The Kobe earthquake had a larger immediate impact because the epicentre was at confluence of the country’s rail and road transportation networks. The Sendai quake may not have impacted urban Japan very much, but it has affected a far larger area and potentially has far wider implications. Japan’s economy is export-led and with such a large budget deficit and very little room for manoeuvre by the central bank as interest rates are already pretty close to zero, it will be imperative to get the factories and ports open again. Perversely, the required amount of government spending on restoring infrastructure may well be good economic news in the long run for Japan although patriotic Japanese will repatriate their savings and investments to fund it so it may be bad news for the west. One of the biggest losers as far as the UK is concerned could be the insurance industry which has a high exposure in Japanese markets as the claims start to roll in.

Despite the dire situation at present, many Japanese auto firms are planning for the future and recovery by taking the opportunity to completely re-assess their management strategies. It’s as if the tsunami has swept away outmoded or inefficient management practices as well as plant and infrastructure. Cultural diversity training and a working knowledge of the language (the two are not the same) has assumed an increasing importance in recovery plans. Trading agreements, the lifeblood of the Japanese economy, involve a need to understand trading partners’ cultures and overcome communication barriers to negotiate those agreements. This sea of information has an impact on what many now call “matrix management”.

This matrix organization is often imposed through circumstance rather than design as an unplanned consequence of business complexity, multiple reporting lines and global working practices. The Japanese people in general already have a feel for the ambiguity and ever changing impermanent nature of their physical environment. Aesthetically, fragility is treasured in Japanese art because of its ephemeral nature. If Japanese managers know just how uncertain and unpredictable the very ground under their feet can be, they are equally well placed to understand and cope with the change and ambiguity that characterise today’s global trading environment. No set of managers in the world can have a better understanding of change and uncertainty than the Japanese. Harnessing that awareness and knowledge will be as important to the recovery of the Japanese auto industry as infrastructure investment.

Pimp – I mean Limp – my ride…

carlover — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 00:55:06 +0000

My name is Patricia Robbins and I know a few things regarding how to sensibly modify vehicles. This is because I am in charge of checking the levels of safety of every mobility car and all wheelchair accessible vehicles by Constables Mobility.

Until recently, my mother’s partner lived with my family at home in Worthing, UK. And then he got bored after fifteen years of marriage and so walked out on her and his three children. Hey ho, never mind eh? Anyway, my (hardly) tragic background is not the point of this article and instead, bad car modification is. And my now AWOL stepfather was quite the expert at destroying perfectly good vehicles by using them as a platform for his less than credible creativity.

Here then, is a rundown of the five worst ways (from my experiences with step daddy dearest anyway) to attempt to pimp your ride…

Going all “Picasso” on the exterior

This has to be discussed first for it is the most prominent of his constant motorcar cock ups. Just a few episodes of the MTV hit show Pimp My Ride was enough to convince him that he was capable of hand painting glorious designs down the side of his Micra with the same skill set harnessed by West Coast Customs. Needless to say, his “go faster” stripes were neither parallel nor straight. The paint job on the bonnet of his Nissan Largo seven seater which comprised characters from The Nightmare before Christmas movie resembled the handiwork of a pre-schooler.

I don’t even get me started on the time he mixed a packet of glitter with emerald green paint for “a different effect when the sun hits”…

Placing a metal park bench on the rear

A spoiler can really offset the right vehicle and serves to modify air flow – useful for sports cars which are designed to whizz around tracks at great speed. When you live on a council estate and own a Mercury Topaz however, the addition could not be more ill advised! You are not a bad boy racer; you’re just a chav with bad taste!

Needless neons

The only thing that under glow neon lights on a car indicates is that the driver is desperate for attention. Why else would my apparent father figure want to draw attention to his glitter green Nissan NX with crappy skull decals? Oh right, he’s an idiot. Still, at least his short drives to the local Tesco store were made just that little more exciting for him – and amused anyone who happedned to witness the shambles!

Using superglue to re-fabricate the interiors

Mum’s bloke got tired of his boring grey interior and so decided that he would re fabric the whole interior starting with the seats. The MTV pimps had a special, industry strength sewing machine to handle such a task and what did replacement daddy use? Superglue. Funnily enough, this doesn’t bond leather together particularly well. Thankfully it wasn’t too long (around 48 hours) before he realised this and scrapped the idea.

Half assed window tinting

I say “half assed” but really, he put loads of effort into tinting the front and side windows of his Mercury! The law indicates that front windscreens must not be totally blacked out and so he left a strip out for sight purposes. To seal the film to the windows, he went over the edges with clear nail varnish. Classy AND aesthetically pleasing (not)!

Online Car Auctions—What To Be Aware Of

wursti — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:19:27 +0000

Car auctions are not new to those searching for cars for sale, and many companies have been doing business this way for many decades now. However, there is a new trend in the cars for sale auctioning world, and it is online car auctions.

What’s the difference?

Live cars for sale auctions are just that—live. This means that you have to be at a certain geographical location (a mall, an auditorium, etc.), and you need to be there at a certain time. This requires you to move your schedule around, and perhaps even take a leave from work, if the auction happens to be held during a weekday and during office hours. If the auction is also located in a place at some distance from you, then you will have to worry about making necessary travel arrangements. All this, of course, on the hope that you will find a good deal for cars for sale, which, of course, remains nothing more than a hope until you actually do win a bidding round.

Online auctions have changed this, making bidding for cars for sale a much more convenient endeavor, provided that you know how to use the new technologies available. Those who opt for online auctions don’t have to worry about being at a certain place at a certain time. They only have to worry about having an Internet connection and enough free time to join the bids.

Choosing online auction sites

Considering that you are looking to spend thousands of hard-earned dollars in your search for cars for sale, you should be very aware that it is easier to pull off scams over the Internet than in live auctions. For this reason, you really should be discerning about online auction sites. Always do a background check to see how long any particular site has been in business, and what customers have to say about the quality of the site’s service cars for sale. The best kind of recommendation, of course, would come from a professional car dealer whom you trust sufficiently. Try to get as many corroborating recommendations as possible before you decide to trust any site.

Reverse auctions

The traditional way to hold a car auction is to put up cars for sale for bidding, set a minimum price, and then let the various bidders compete. This works in favor of the seller, since they are almost assured of the highest possible price for their cars for sale.

However, with some online car auction sites (interesting, but little known fact is that the Danish term is Bil til salg online), there is a new method called “reverse auctions,” in which the odds are tipped in favor of potential cars for sale buyers, instead of the sellers. The ways this works is that the buyers set their budget, and then dealers subsequently bid against each other in order to secure the buyer’s business. You should explore this option, since you might be able to find a very good deal through this method.