Patrick James

With the spate of bad weather Ireland is having, including Snow and Ice, many people are wondering what to do when driving in these adverse conditions.

Firstly (as advised by the AA), it should be said that if you know there’s likely to be ice on the roads and your journey isn’t important, stay at home. Choosing to drive on an icy road means that you’re choosing to take a ton or so of self propelled metal onto the public highway with no sure way of stopping or controlling it. It’s not always possible to avoid driving in icy conditions but if you can, you should.

If driving in icy or snowy conditions drivers should:

• Remember it takes longer to stop in icy conditions than on a dry road. Drive slowly and allow extra room between your vehicle and the vehicle in front
• Use the highest gear possible to avoid wheel spin
• Manoeuvre gently, avoid harsh braking and acceleration
• To brake on ice or snow without locking your wheels, get into a low gear earlier than normal, allow your speed to fall and use the brake pedal gently
• Remember that heavy snowfall and rain reduce visibility. Use dipped headlights and decrease speed
• Watch out for black ice, especially in sheltered areas on roads

In the event of a minor skid do the following:

• If you start to skid, release the brake pedal fully and stay off the brake
• Turn the steering wheel in the same direction as the skid and ease off the accelerator at the same time
• Avoid over correction with too much steering

If driving in stormy conditions drivers should:

• Watch out for falling/fallen debris on the road and vehicles veering across the road
• Control of a vehicle may be affected by strong cross winds. High sided vehicles and motorcyclists are particularly vulnerable to strong winds
• Allow extra distance between you and the vehicle in front (i.e. don’t tailgate), especially when driving behind heavy goods vehicles
• Allow extra space between you and vulnerable road users such as cyclists and motorcyclists
• Use dipped headlights at all times of poor visibility
• Check tyres to ensure minimum tread depth of 1.6mm and correct tyre pressureHidden dangers at zero degrees

Hidden dangers at zero degrees:

• Black ice. Normally, you can’t see black ice. However, if the pavement looks shiny and black instead of grey-white, be suspicious.
• Shaded areas.
• Bridges and overpasses. Ice tends to form on them before it does elsewhere.
• Intersections. Car exhaust and packed snow cause intersections to ice up quickly.

Turn off your cruise controlWhen the road is slippery, turn off your cruise control system. Snow, ice, slush or even rain can cause wheel-spin and loss of control.The only way to stop this wheel-spin and maintain control is to immediately reduce power. However, an activated cruise control system will continue to apply power, keeping the wheels spinning. By the time you disengage the cruise control, you may have lost control.

Vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are advised to be seen, wear bright clothing with reflective armbands, or a reflective belt or carry a torch.

I found this worthwhile piece in FOXY Lady Drivers Club and I think many of our readers may be interested:

Apparently in 2010 the EU COULD allow vehicle manufacturers to restrict access for independent garages to get at the information and tools they need to diagnose and/or repair the latest cars and sophisticated on-board technology. The outcome of this would mean the motorist going to a franchised dealership for such services and, as things stand, typically paying more for labour costs than they are likely to in an independent garage.

Naive perhaps (why would the EU want to do this?) if the industry I know best tells me that this is a real risk, then I shall (on behalf of FOXY and UK female consumers of course) support the independent garages’ ‘Right to Repair’ campaign because the consumer must always be the winner, and increased competition is what makes this happen.

In short, leading independent garages must be able to compete fairly with leading franchised garages because the eventual outcome of increased competition is in the best interest of all motorists.p>

Read Article:

A recent report on ireland.com exposes a worrying statistic regarding learner drivers:
On average 240 provisional drivers are appearing before the courts each month for driving unaccompanied, according to figures released by the Courts Services.

Up until October 24th this year, 2,452 provisional drivers have appeared in court for the offence.

The number of cases is lower than in 2006 when 4,490 cases for this offence came before the courts, or around 370 a month. The Courts Services has no data on how many of these cases resulted in a conviction.

Last week, Motors reported that Kildare District Court’s Judge Murrough Connellan planned to disqualify provisional-licence holders who appeared before him charged with driving unaccompanied or without L-plates.

Read Article:

Close the blinds, bar the doors and huddle together for safety. It?s Halloween: the night for ghouls and ghosts to run free — not to mention hooligans who?ll see your brand new Lexus GS430 as the ultimate target for their ?tricks.” A few eggs, some toilet paper and maybe a few cans of shaving cream are all the ingredients required for a good old-fashioned car trashing. AskMen.com are offering some very interesting and useful tips to help if your car gets vandalised.In case your memories are a little foggy (from all the sugar highs that night), use the tips below to help save your car from permanent damage.

Eggs
What to expect in the morning:
It?s a morning not unlike any other. You shower, dress and get ready for work — then you step outside to the horror of all horrors: your baby smattered with eggs from nose to tail. Scrambled immediately comes to mind and the whiff of cooked eggs may make you nauseous for years to come? but don?t panic. Walk back inside, pick up the phone and call work — you?ll need a day off for this one.

READ ARTICLE: Shaving Foam, Mini-Pumpkins, Wet Toilet Paper, Silly String,

This is a particularly dangerous time for motorists as “On Halloween, your neighborhood literally will be crawling with creatures, and it’s your job to be sure they take their treats home safely. While the roaming ghosts, goblins and assorted critters aren’t real, they do represent legitimate safety concerns for drivers.”

progressive.com have put together a fantastic list with a couple of useful tips to help everyone bring home treats — not tragedies:

IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) website in a very interesting and useful piece, are reporting on Mike Kavanagh, General Manager, IAM Fleet, commenting on the latest road safety statistics said, “Irish road safety continues to be a very real concern. Ireland has taken some great steps in tackling this issue, such as the introduction of penalty points and increases in alcohol testing. To keep reducing the number of deaths, we need to better prepare our drivers for the reality of Ireland’s roads.”

IAM has provided the following tips for individual drivers to help keep safe on Irish roads:

Ø Always drive at a speed that you can stop safely in the distance seen to be clear

Ø Try to create space around your vehicle. As a minimum keep a two second gap between you and the vehicle in front – Remember the 2 Second Rule

Continue reading “Safety On Irish Roads.” »

I have never been one of those people who believe that a “little knowledge can be a dangerous thing”… quite the opposite, I believe that everyone should know a bit about the car they are driving. Below is a list of useful car information on your car’s workings, from The Family Car Web Magazine:

• Engine: Including Block, Heads, Pistons & Valves

• Cooling System: Including Radiator, Thermostat, Water Pump, Heater & Hoses

• Charging System: Including Alternator, Regulator & Battery

• Ignition System: Includes Spark Plugs, Distributor, Ignition Wires & Coil

• Automatic Transmissions: Understand the concepts behind what goes on inside these technological marvels and what goes into repairing them when they fail.

• Brakes: Including Disk & Drum Brakes, Master Cylinder, Power Booster & Anti-lock Brakes

• Wheel Alignment: With explanations of Caster, Camber, Toe-in along with other angles that are important to know about. Continue reading “A Little Knowledge… Car Maintenance Know How!” »

In the “have-your-cake” bid to save the planet and keep cars on the road, it seems we are testing running cars on everything imaginable, including vegetable oil. Running a car on vegetable oil is not as far-fetched as it might seem…

Vegetable oil cars? They already exist! And we’re not talking about biodiesel here, we’re talking about driving a car that runs on a vegetable oil diesel fuel alternative.

Sure, you’ve heard about biodiesel, but what about vegetable oil cars? No need for transesterification or any other vegetable oil diesel conversion, these cars run on plain old veggie oil.”

Source: Gas Mileage Tips READ ARTICLE:

by Patrick James