Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 1993 - Defensive Driving

Your Driving and the Road
Defensive Driving
, The best advice anyone can give about
144
driving is: Drive defensively.
Please start with a very important safety
device in your Oldsmobile: Buckle up.
(See the
Index under Safety Belts. )
Defensive driving really means “be
ready for anything.”
On city streets,
rural roads, or freeways, it means
“always expect the unexpected.’’
Assume that pedestrians or other
drivers are going to be careless and
make mistakes. Anticipate what they
might do. Be ready for their mistakes.
Expect children to dash out from
behind parked cars, often followed by
other children. Expect occupants in
parked cars to open doors into traffic.
Watch for movement in parked cars-
someone may be about to open a door.
Expect other drivers
t .o run st
,op signs
when you are on a through street. Be
ready to brake if necessary as you go
through intersections.
You may not
have to use the brake, but if you do, you
will be ready.
If you’re driving through a shopping
center parking lot where there are well-
marked lanes, directional arrows, and
designated parking areas, expect some
drivers to ignore all these markings and
dash straight toward one part
of the lot.
Pedestrians can be careless. Watch for
them. In general, you must give way to
pedestrians even if you know you have
the right of way.
Rear-end collisions are about the most
preventable of accidents. Yet they are
common. Allow enough following
distance. It’s the best defensive driving
maneuver, in both city and rural
driving. You never know when the
vehicle in front of you is going to brake
or turn suddenly.
Here’s a final bit of information about
defensive driving. The most dangerous
time for driving in the
U.S. is very early
on Sunday morning. In fact, GM
Research studies show that the most
and the least dangerous times for
driving, every week, fall on the same
day. That day is Sunday. The most
dangerous time is Sunday from 3 a.m.
to
4 a.m. The safest time is Sunday from
10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Driving the same
distance
on a Sunday at 3 a.m. isn’t just
a little more dangerous than it is at
10
a.m. It’s about 134 times more
dangerous!
That leads to the next section.