MOTORING CORNER : “How to service your car”

Now that we are experiencing unusual rains, I think I should say something in that line. When we talk of driving, it is not the act of merely picking the “car keys”, unlocking the doors, pushing the ignition key in, starting the vehicle and being able to drive off! Driving is much more than that. Anyone worth calling a driver does not do it as simple as that. This is what differentiates the “men from boys” (an expert from the mediocre). If you are driving along a road in the rain or on a muddy road and you find your car going into a skid, what should you do? The most obvious thing for an amateur is to slam on the brakes and keep the pedal pushed down, this way; the vehicle could even skid off the road, leading to an accident. Likewise, an abruptly turning of the steering wheel might worsen the skid; basing on the inertia factor where it is assumed that, once an object is in motion, it will always want to remain so, any interruption will be resisted. The best way forward would be trying to gently turn the steering wheel in a direction of the skid and applying as little pressure on the breaks as possible. If the skid is on a flat surface, accelerate lightly, if downhill, let the vehicle move very slowly and uniformly. Where visibility is poor due to bad weather, whatever the time of day, you should have your headlights turned on; this way, other road users will be able to spot you. Likewise, you will spot others out due to their own headlights. Avoid full beam because they will overwhelm oncoming drivers and sidelights are often not bright enough in bad weather to help other drivers to see you. Fog lights should only be used when visibility is severely reduced, and switched off as soon as visibility improves. Fog lights can blind other drivers and if you are stopped by police for driving with fog lights when they are not necessary, then you might be fined. When to you use your hazard lights (double indicators); you should use your hazard lights to warn other drivers of nearby hazards. Thanking someone and parking is common use of the hazard lights but they are not the intended use. Cases like, your vehicle or another one in front is broken down etc. When you see amber light on a set of traffic lights you are approaching should you slow down. Unfortunately, lots of motorists speed up when the light changes to amber so that they can get through the lights and don’t have to wait. As the highway code states, you should only continue if you are so close to the stop line when the light changes to amber, that it would be dangerous for you to stop possibly causing an accident, or if the amber light appears once you have gone over the stop line. The best course of action is to slow down a little as you approach the lights, so that if they do change to amber you are able to stop safely. As for pedestrians, there is the tendency of them crossing when the lights on their side are red, simply because the road has no vehicles does not give them the right to “jump” the lights. I can assure them, if hit by a car that has a right of way, the courts of law will not rule in their favour; what they are doing amounts to violating the road laws and carelessness. motoringcorner@live.co.uk

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MOTORING CORNER : “How to service your car”