Road Safety

I attended a road safety workshop last week.
Key pointers that I want to jot down here

• carry a small hammer in your dashboard (not boot)- for emergencies like flood when one is unable to open the window or auto locks
• carry water & snacks
• Seat belts off course
• check side & rearview mirrors before starting
• give a warning right signal when starting after parking by roadside
• follow lane markings- a dotted line means you are allowed to switch lanes, a solid line is equivalent to a median- do not even atempt to cross
• road signs have 3 categories- mandatory- within a circle, warning- within a triangle, information- within a square
• the right distance of your seat from the wheel is ajudged by seeing the angle that your hands/ legs make- 155 degree on the steering wheel or pedals
• the optimum distance between you and the car in the front is 2 seconds- gives you time enough to react when the front car brakes suddenly- now how do you see whether you are at a 2 second distance- say 1 thousand 1 pause pause 1 thousand 2 when the car in front reaches a fixed pole or spot- when you say 2- you should have reached the fixed spot too (while i was counting and maintaining this distance- a car from the next lane filled the spot by the way but that is matter for other post)
• wheel rotation is important- do not leave the 5th wheel new- tyres do wear out- retread/ change
• change wipers- they wear out with time
• Do not look at the speaker while driving- eyes on the road
• switch off mobiles if possible
• The time taken to Observe, Judge, Decide & Act takes 3/4th of a second- so eyes on the road
• Let others go- you be cool
• learn to change tyre (no they did not tell this at the workshop- our tyre punctured and there was no help in the vicinity)- Hubby bravely started but could not get the wheel out-

-lessons- loosen the nuts on tyre before jacking up

- its easy to jack up- if you are finding it difficult you have put the jack wrong!

- Finally- if you cannot- look for a driver of another car to help- most of them know how to change tyres!