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Accident Avoidance Training for Teens

Your teen is 16. He or she has spent hours yawning in the driver’s ed classroom, and scaring you to death on the roads while learning to drive. They pass the test. They have a license—and now your nightmares begin. Although we’re making safer cars, they do not drive themselves. Can your teen handle an emergency situation, swerve to avoid a deer and not go out of control? Probably not. That’s where accident avoidance training could bridge the gap, and help ease your worries...

Top 10 Dumb Driving Moves

What’s the dumbest thing you’ve seen another driver do lately? Now, confess the dumbest driving move you’ve made recently. Since this is supposed to be a fun story, stay away from driver’s ed lectures about driving under the influence, going 50 mph in a school zone and having unrestrained kids bouncing around in the back of an SUV. All of our Top 10 Dumb Driving Moves could end tragically—that possibility exists every time a vehicle is moving. However, today we’re trying to be humorous-dumb, not heartbreaking-dumb...

Super Scooter

When high gas prices hit town last summer so did the scooters, as everyone from coeds to professionals to retirees suddenly perked up to a simple, enjoyable mode of transportation that Europeans have embraced for years. With two small wheels, friendly styling, lightweight and small-displacement engines, scooters are perfect for urban errand-running and commuting. But that’s about where the fun stops, because the same easy-to-live-with features that make scooters heroic in town also ensure they’ll rarely stray past the city limits...

Off-Road Driving Safety Tips

Going off roading? Here are your choices:..

Not Guilty!

To beat a traffic ticket, you needn't be a close friend of the governor or have attended kindergarten with the chief of police. In fact, it's likely neither of those will help as much as this simple tip: Plead not guilty...

Aging Driver Safety

Johnell Brooks was a passenger when her grandmother ran two red lights in quick succession. When Johnell spoke up, her grandmother replied: "Honey, I haven't been able to see stoplights in years. If the car in front goes, so do I." Brooks forced her family to face the fact that her grandmother, who suffered from macular degeneration, was going to hurt herself or kill someone else. When her grandmother lost her driving privileges and, thus, her independence, she blamed Johnell...

Throwaway Road Trip

It was at dusk, the point in the afternoon when you're still wearing your sunglasses but probably shouldn't, that the real risk of long-hauling our throwaway Rav4 sprouted ugly pig wings and squealed into the sky...

Fuel Gauge Lies

Does it seem like your gas gauge stays on "Full" for a long time before lollygagging down to the halfway mark? Then does it skip almost immediately from half to one-quarter? Have you driven seemingly forever with the fuel warning light on?..

Summer Tires in Snow

Driving on ultra-high performance tires on a snow-covered road is like trying to negotiate Copper Mountain's expert-level "Drain Pipe" ski run on water skis. Both are skis: What's the problem? Even on tires billed as "ultra-high performance all-season," driving in the snow is like negotiating that black-diamond run on cross-country skis: It's possible, but it's not the best choice...

Road Gator Wrestling

Starting in mid-May, those who drive Sunbelt roads begin seeing the occasional 18-wheeler truck tire tread lying beside or on the highway. Some call them "road gators." We presume that's because they'll take a bite out of your car if you run over one. Hit a road gator that's lying on its side and it'll slice open the engine or transmission oil pan, rip off a brake or fuel line or snap off a suspension component...

10 Tips for Parents of Teenage Drivers

Every year, teenage drivers are involved in about 8,000 fatal vehicle crashes. Yearly, about 5,000 teens—drivers and passengers—die in car accidents. Another 400,000 or more are injured, with 30,000 of those requiring hospitalization. Keeping teen drivers and passengers safe is arguably the most challenging of parental tasks. It's one that I'm currently tackling...

10 Tips to Trump Driving Boredom

The very word automobile grew from an invention that enabled us to miraculously move ourselves about. Back in the days of handlebar moustaches and steam engines, the automobile was looked upon as an oddity of the super rich. While we take automobiles almost for granted today, working folks of yesteryear could only dream of speeding down the road behind the wheel of a Stanley Steamer. As time went on the automobile became more affordable and utilitarian. Henry Ford and his desire to build a car for the masses changed everything with the Model T. In modern times the automobile has become an essential part of our lives. As with any aspect of modern society, driving can become drudgery if we let it happen. Don't let the joy of driving become lost on utility. Taking some simple steps can get you and your ride out of automotive dullsville...

ABS and Stability Control

If only vehicles had a time machine and a credit card reader...

Alternatives to Street Racing

Every form of speed competition, from the Kentucky Derby to NASCAR, originated from one cocky racer challenging another to prove whose ride was fastest. Even as motorsports events have grown into an organized, multi-billion-dollar business, homegrown hot rodders continue to throw down the gauntlet, with challenges played out on back roads where people get arrested, hurt or even killed...

Are You Equipped for Roadside Emergencies?

You've filled your travel mug to the brim with hot coffee, plugged your cell phone into the dash, and your road atlas is tucked into the door pocket. So now you're ready to head down the road, right? Well, maybe—but what's in your trunk? Are you prepared for a breakdown?..

At-Home Test for Senior Drivers

Giving up a driver's license is a devastating decision for seniors in America's mobile society. Knowing when to relinquish the driver's seat is difficult for individual drivers to gauge because there is no driving test in most states for senior license holders. With tragic results, some seniors continue to drive beyond their capability to do so. How does the senior or the senior's family gauge their level of driving skill? With a new tool just released by the AAA, seniors can test eight physical and mental abilities that are the strongest predictors of crash risk among older drivers. "Roadwise Review: A Tool to Help Seniors Drive Safely Longer," is a CD-ROM that seniors can use in their own homes to gauge their driving ability...

Behind the Wheel of a Big Rig

Imagine you're motoring down a curvy backroad. It's so narrow that when you're 18 inches away from the fog line on the right, the left side of your vehicle is no more than that away from the centerline. Touching mirrors with passing vehicles is a real concern. Your brakes promise little stopping power. Your tires don't provide much grip, which is good—the vehicle is so top heavy that sticky tires would result in a tip over...

Big Rig Blues

The television movie "Duel" began Steven Spielberg's directorial career and forever changed the way drivers view big rigs. Separating fact from fiction, however, casts a much less demonic aura over those mastodons of the highway. In fact, without the big rigs and their cargo, 82 percent of the country's communities would be without groceries and other goods...

Car Fire - What to do if your Car catches Fire

Smoke and/or the acrid smell of burning wires—these are not sensual assaults to be ignored when you're heading down the highway. Just like in Monopoly: Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Drive directly to the shoulder of the road and turn off the ignition...

Cargo-carrying tips for your truck

Axioms like, "A tidy desk is the sign of an empty mind," and, "Housecleaning makes you ugly," were undoubtedly coined by messy people. Even those of us who thrive in what we defend as organized chaos have to admit there are places where tidiness is a near necessity. One of those is in our vehicle...

Defensive Driving

Refuse to be an auto-accident victim...

Defusing Road Rage

One man cuts another off on an interstate in Virginia, and a deadly vehicular duel begins on the roadway. This particular July evening it ends in the death of one man and the arrest of the other—and another incident of road rage captures national headlines. Is there a berserk maniac behind every steering wheel?..

Drive Like a Cop

The FBI says police officers are about as likely to be killed in a vehicle crash as with a criminal's gun. Cops drive in a high-threat, workload-intensive environment: blaring sirens, flashing computers, screaming radios, civilian drivers seemingly bent on kamikaze attacks, and, at their destination, angry bad guys who don't particularly respect public servants. All reasons that cops take driving very seriously. With feedback from officers in the field, law-enforcement driving instructors have compiled numerous tips to help their students avoid becoming a statistic. Here, we pass those along to you...

Driving Cheap

Driving is a costly business, but most Americans have no practical alternatives. Besides, no other mode of transportation offers the same level of freedom to go where you want, when you want. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to save a few dollars here and there in every phase of car ownership. These savings can add up over the total time you own your car. Depending on your level of commitment, you can save literally thousands...

Driving in Water or Floods

It's the stuff of nightmares: You're in your vehicle, in a body of water and you're sinking. Never mind how you got there, it's the getting out that's critical. As in most life-threatening situations, keeping your wits and knowing what to do give you the best chances for survival...

Dumb and Dumber Driving Mistakes

Imagine that you're driving on the highway and you notice something really strange about the car in front of you. Not only does the driver have her head tilted to one side to hold a cell phone in place, but she also has her bare right foot on the dash in order to—get this—paint her toenails! We're not making this up—a driving instructor from the AAA actually witnessed this event, and carefully avoided disturbing the concentration of this rolling cosmetologist...

Gas Saving Tips

During the last gas crisis in the Persian Gulf in the 1970s, American motorists could only squeeze 15 miles out of a gallon of gas, however, that gallon only cost 38 cents. Today, gas prices have spiked to more than two dollars a gallon in some areas of the country—and light trucks, the most popular selling vehicles, are thirsty vehicles. A barrel of crude oil hit $40 last month, but slipped back down to $30 the day before the second Gulf War was launched...

Giving Teens a Driving Edge

The usual driver's education course doesn't prepare teens for dangerous situations, where their skills and the vehicle are on the edge of disaster like an out-of-control car that doesn't respond to panic steering and braking. Former racecar driver Jeff Payne, founder of Driver's Edge, wants teens to be in control of their vehicle—particularly in panic situations. He is taking a dozen professional drivers on a national tour of 13 cities around the country to provide real-life training for young drivers that could save their lives and will certainly add to their driving skills...

Handling a Skid

"Turn in the direction of the skid," said your Driver's Ed teacher. It was bad advice. Unless, that is, he took you to a track or a snowy parking lot and allowed you to develop skill in catching a slide...

Handling Defined

A good handling car—you know EXACTLY what that means. So did my grandmother. And I guarantee her definition didn't agree with yours...

Horse Trailering

What do you need for selecting the best horse-towing rig and successfully using it? Good horse sense, of course. When you're new to the adventure of trailering your horse(s) to events or trailheads, you can always ask fellow horse people for their suggestions. What you'll end up with is as many different opinions as sources. Most of those opinions will be valid, but it's up to you to sort through them and figure out what applies to your situation. The following information is designed to help you in that process, let you know what's available and what's necessary...

How to Beat a Traffic Ticket

If you drive much, it's inevitable that one day you're gonna get nailed. Even if you're not an inveterate speeder or lane-changing fanatic, eventually you'll be caught tuning the radio when you should have been noticing a reduction in the posted limit, you'll make an ill-considered lane change or commit one of literally hundreds of other driving errors. Most of these infractions will slide by unnoticed, but every once in a while you'll do the wrong thing at the wrong time and attract the attention of the law. If the officer issues you a ticket, you face a fine, points on your license, raised (or cancelled) insurance rates and—if you've been driving like a real barbarian—even suspension of your license...

Hybrids in the Carpool Lane

If not subjected to outright road rage, solo hybrid drivers on California's commuter lanes have at least had to deal with bad manners. That's partly in response to the state's freeway commuter lane-use having been expanded beyond the original multi-passenger vehicles to now include single-occupant hybrids, in order to encourage fuel economy...

Involve Yourself: Become a Better Driver

There you are, stuck in traffic on the 405 some Friday afternoon. You've spent a fair share of days behind the wheel of a car, and you think, "I'm good. Real good." Rolling into Silverlake adjacent to visit the Shortstop for a well-deserved beverage, you wheel your doom-mobile into a perfect parallel parking maneuver (six inches from the curb, decent clearance both in front and behind, wheels curbed—just like in San Fran). Afterward, pulling out onto Sunset Blvd., you stop far enough back so pedestrians can pass in front of you, you signal your intentions and wait for the appropriate opportunity before heading back onto the highways and byways of America—home of the free, land of the brave, parking lot for the insane...

Know Your Car

From the right seat it was clear that my student in the high-performance driving school was approaching the hairpin corner far too fast. But he braked only lightly. "Brake," I urged. "Brake hard!" I pleaded. "BRAKE! BRAKE!" I screamed. Yet he acted as if he'd trapped a kitten's tail between pedal and foot, then we went bounding off the road. Later, I asked what, if anything, was he thinking. "I was afraid of skidding," he said. My response: "You'd rather crash than skid?" No answer...

Mud Driving Tips and Advice

Off road maniacs seek it out; we played in it as kids, some may have even eaten it. But on the road, it seems to take on a life of its own as it spreads its maliciousness over asphalt or sits on the side waiting to swallow vehicles in one belch. It's mud...

Off Roading with Care

Enamored by the freedom and capability of a 4x4, you went out and bought an SUV. It looks great and holds everything and everybody you'd ever want to share a drive with. Now you've grown restless with pavement. The only dirt your SUV has seen is from a distance. You crave a new adventure, but have no idea where to begin. You've checked out the off-road magazines and sense the pictured terrain goes beyond the concept of mere adventure. Plus your showroom new ride bears little resemblance to the featured vehicles...

Rain Driving Survival

In a lot of regions of the country, rain driving is an unavoidable part of getting around. You either learn to deal with it, or else you spend massive amounts of time stranded at home, staring at rain-spattered windows with baleful eyes. In drier regions of the country, it's possible to drive for years and get little experience in the wet. In either case, wet-weather smarts can make you a safer driver and reduce your stress level when the drops begin to fall...

Scooter Travel

You have to "have it bad" for motor scooters, according to one website dedicated to the Vespa brand. Vespa, in fact, may be the quintessential example of the scooter one visualizes when thinking of these personable, two-wheeled vehicles, perhaps reminded of "Toad" crashing his into Mel's Drive-In in the classic cruising film, "American Graffiti."..

Senior Drivers: Time to Take the Keys?

Driving is a privilege that, in the minds of most Americans, has evolved into a right. The facts speak for themselves, however, when age and health concerns inhibit someone's ability to handle a moving vehicle even at slow speeds. Faced with taking this privilege away, this freedom, is cause for concern as families try to balance what's best for everyone while not hurting the elders we so respect...

Simple Tips for Safer Trips

According to the Federal Government, something on the order of 80 percent of all crashes is due to driver error. This means, they didn't have to happen. In fact, some people are of the strong conviction that essentially all crashes are due to driver error...

Steps to Improve Handling

The first step toward improving your car's handling is to honestly assess where and how you'll be driving it. A car modified to whip through a tight autocross course will likely attempt to spin out on a full-sized road racing circuit—and will almost certainly be treacherous in a public-road driving-skill pop-quiz. (Imagine encountering an old, dripping-coolant beater on your favorite on-ramp.) Most everyone this side of pit wall will be happier with light changes that improve handling feel. A simple switch from touring all-season tires to high-performance summer rubber may be all it takes...

Surviving Winter Roads

To paraphrase Formula 1 World Champion and Indy winner Emerson Fittipaldi: on snowy and icy roads, bad drivers go too slow where the traction is good, and too fast where there's little grip. Here's the key on both the racetrack and winter roads: know where you MUST go slow and where you MAY go fast...

Teen Driver Survival Tips

Parents of teenagers: I share your pain...

Teen Graduated Licensing

Sweet sixteen is the most hazardous year in a driver's highway lifetime and giving a lift to teen friends ups the danger exponentially. In the United States, 16 year olds have almost 10 times the crash risk of drivers ages 30-59 and almost three times the risk of older teenagers, according to a 1996 California study of the perils of learning to drive. Teens make up only 6.8 percent of the driving population, but they are involved in 14 percent of all fatal crashes on the highway, according to government crash statistics...

Test Driving Tips

The test drive is one of the most important parts of buying a car. No matter what the car reviews say, if a vehicle doesn't fit you and your lifestyle, you're going to become dissatisfied with it long before that payment book is empty. The test drive is your opportunity to make your own personal assessment in a thorough, hands-on manner. If you're attentive to the details here, you can quickly tell whether or not you and the vehicle are meant for a long-term relationship...

The Downlow of Handling

Many think that the keys to good handling are super-low profile tires, stiff springs, rock-hard shocks, wrist-thick "sway" bars, and slammed-to-the-ground suspensions. "Many" are mistaken. Done haphazardly, these "improvements" can make a car SLOWER around a racetrack and punishing on the street...

The Importance of Coolant

Whether you call it engine coolant or antifreeze, the fluid in your radiator multi-tasks, circulating throughout your engine block and keeping the works purring like a kitten...

The Mature Driver

The boomers are heading over the hill into retirement. The graying of the American motorist is prompting changes in roadway and vehicle design as well as driver licensing. By 2030, nearly 70 million American drivers will be over the age of 65...

Tips from a Professional Speeder

News flash: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration may soon begin cracking down on excessive speed with high-tech devices...

Top 10 Driving Tips

Virtually all Americans think they are "above average" or "average" drivers. (The four percent that are "below average" are everywhere!) Most U.S. males think they should be in NASCAR instead of Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. It's nice we have such positive self-images...

Tow Far, Tow Good: Essential Tips

Towing a trailer is not as simple as some might think. On the other hand, it's not an overly difficult skill to learn either. The following tips can help to ensure that your towing experience is a positive and safe one, whatever your level of experience. Our first part will cover items to check and practice before heading out, and the second part will go into detailed tips on handling...

Tow Far, Tow Good: Trailer Handling

In our first installment on towing tips, we covered five basic points on preparing for a trip, from maintenance to practicing various maneuvers. Now we'll go into a bit more detail on the actual handling of your tow vehicle and trailer while underway...

Towing Basics

Master tow-vehicle drivers appear to have the skill to thread a needle with their trailers. Whether it's a boat, cargo trailer or camper in tow, the trailer seems psychically connected to the driver's brain, rather than hitched to his tow vehicle. For beginners, towing can be intimidating, but even experienced trailer operators have had their learning curves and difficult experiences. Outfitted with the right information, the right equipment and diligent practice, you too can readily master the art of towing...

Unintended Acceleration

News Item: A woman, who was driving a neighbor's car, crashed into her own house, through the kitchen, out the back, across the yard, through the fence, across the alley and into a ditch. "It accelerated and the brakes wouldn't work," she said...