[SAFE DRIVING: ADVANCED SKILLS AND PROBLEMS]

[Music] my son tom and i were on our big vacation trip and this morning we were ready to leave bright and early tom had seen to it that the car had a thorough checkup and he wanted to do all the driving on his brand new driver's license today we'd be on mountain roads and tomorrow across the desert driving the calls for advanced skills and techniques it could be dangerous for an untrained or careless driver that's a good thing to do when you're going into a blind curve and on a sharp downgrade slip into a lower gear or range and let the engine help hold the car back this way you don't have to ride the brakes when you do need brakes use a gentle on off on off snubbing action when we spotted a car with a flat parked on the shoulder of a curve tom decided to help he pulled up behind her in the little parking space off the road that other car might have rolled off the jack if tom hadn't worked fast we always carry two of these wood blocks they're handy to have we weren't in any big rush so tom helped change the tire being careful not to jostle the car while removing the wheel later in the day we hit patches of snow slush and water on the road call for an alert driver tom used the brakes gently feather pedaling before he entered a curve that's good driving because braking during a turn may cause a skid and it's good driving to reduce your speed because on roads like this it takes at least twice as long to stop your car when we hit ice tom pulled over off the road to put on chains was this worth the trouble well we saw what can happen without chains spinning the wheels just makes things worse dry brush or branches or a shovel full of gravel or ashes will usually solve the problem but this driver was prepared burlap sacks will do the trick if you start gently of course chains are best but it helps to know these other tricks now let her in easy don't spin the wheels and out she goes but tom and i felt safer with our chains giving us better traction on the slippery road in less than an hour we reached the pass we were out of the snow but a dense fog filled the canyon as we dropped down into it tom turned on his lights and made sure they were on low beam and he reduced his speed to make up for his reduced visibility suddenly we were in it fog 10 miles an hour could be too much speed here to make matters worse the fog began to condense on our windshield tom had played it smart when he had the wiper blades checked this morning in fog high beam headlights cause glare that's why low beam or even parking lights are better but your lights won't always pick up cars parked too close to the road or there may be pedestrians or stray livestock cars can pop out of nowhere on curbs so remember keep a sharp lookout turn on your low lights and slow down down to a crawl if necessary a little later the fog turned into rain in places mud had washed out over the road it could be dangerous rounding a curve or hitting an unexpected dip then a car appeared with its headlights on high beam tom flicked his lights but the other driver wasn't on the ball tom knew how to focus his eyes away from the oncoming lights by looking at the right edge of the road so the glare didn't bother him the next car did it right when our cars were still far apart he dimmed his headlights think of it this way when you first feel the other fellas lights dim yours it's that simple danger signs are hard to see in fog or rain but the dangers are just as great or greater so common sense says go slow be ready eye strain and fatigue take the fun and the safety out of driving so we decided to pull into town here and take a break one hour and one good meal later it was dark the rain had stopped but of course visibility was still low the great majority of accidents occur at night so tom knew he had to stay on the alert headlights are a matter of courtesy and safety against a stream of oncoming cars keep your lights on low beam for their protection and yours when you're traveling on high beam remember the rule as soon as you feel the other car's lights dim yours he'll do the same if he's smart the basic rule of night driving is never over drive your lights watch what do you see here a guard rail and a sharp left turn at high speed you could be into something like this almost before you saw it that's why you must always drive slow enough to be able to stop safely within the distance clearly visible ahead never overdrive your lights watch why are we stopping can you see look sharp watch the headlights of that other car pedestrians bicycles other cars they all appear from nowhere at night and they may swerve in front of you at any time you must always be ready to stop on short notice in the business district tom had to keep a sharp lookout to spot traffic lights and pedestrians who might decide to cross anywhere as for us we decided that this town was a good place to spend the night by eight o'clock the next morning we were well out in the desert country and it was hot here visibility was excellent so 55 seemed a reasonable speed but our engine began to run hot we were close to boiling tom reduced speed so our engine would run cooler doing less work then something happen it could happen anywhere and whatever it is dirt in your eye or a bug buzzing around inside the car is only one thing to do the safe driver never keeps on driving when there's something distracting his attention it's only a matter of a minute or so to repair the damage but in that minute you may save your life driving even under the best conditions demands your full attention did i say full attention look a sunlight flash on a windshield tom had the right-of-way he was on the through highway you might figure he shouldn't have to worry but what do you know about that other driver ever hear of the last clear chance to avoid an accident tom had it and he took it a clear intersection a simple rule of right-of-way yet our trip could have ended right there never depend on the other driver expect the worst drive defensively of course on a long trip it's a good idea to stop now and then and relax during one of our breaks tom wrote a postcard to his mother i never heard the last of it having a wonderful trip i'm doing all the driving so don't worry about us at all now look who's the expert driver in our family but maybe it's true i'm glad tom learned to drive safely in regular driver education courses that gives him a special kind of insurance a life policy that will always help keep him out of accidents [Music] you