More highways are coming. Improvements in road conditions will be evident. Motorists should therefore take the necessary precautions so as not to fall prey to ‘highway hypnosis’. That is why it is vital for drivers to be alert, aware, and awake...
A driver is only as safe as the motor vehicle he drives. “Without an engine that operates at full efficiency, a car is a hazard on the roads and a source of stress for its driver,” warns Kurt Harding, auto mechanic. “Any motor vehicle demands...
Can you imagine having your engine overheating in the middle of a busy street? This means stress, frustration, and lots of honking horns by impatient motorists. “The cooling system is one of the hardest-working systems of the motor car,” says Derek...
The Advanced Driver Training Centre has as its mantra ‘Driving to save lives, time and money’. However, it behaves us, as defensive drivers, to become ‘fuel savers’. Fuel is described as “any substance burned for heat or power”. It is a substance...
The decision for drivers to communicate with other motorists is a sensible one. It helps to reduce risk in a possible conflict situation. By communicating, we tell others where we are or what we plan to do. For a conflict to occur, we need people...
Each year, unfortunately, a number of citizens lose their lives in auto accidents. Before this article was published, the road fatalities were 347 in Jamaica. Naturally, this is a shocking and tragic total. The IPDE is an organised ‘thinking-doing...
‘Christmas is a-coming, and the goose is getting fat ...,’ goes an old song. Christmas is around the corner, and the malls, shopping plazas, and parking lots are full to capacity. At this time of the year, shoppers seem to become so vulnerable....
Many difficulties could be avoided if we accepted the motorcycle as a vehicle. Drivers, bike riders, and bicycle riders use up a portion of the roadways together. “By cooperating, they can avoid conflicts,” says Kanute Haire, Director of the Road...
Just Like oil and water do not mix, distractions and driving should never be mixed on our roadways. Treat your vehicle like a beast of burden, and it will treat you like a wagon master. Abuse it, and it will lash back at you like a wild animal....
The tyres on your car lead a very hard life, from flexing for hundreds of kilometres every minute to rolling over bumps, iron, potholes, rough asphalt, concrete, stones, and gravel. The tyres on motor vehicles, slide on patches of oil, slosh...
Whether rain or shine, hurricane, storm, sunshine, or calm, speed kills. The sign on our roads that reads ‘SPEED KILLS... KILL YOUR SPEED’ should never be taken lightly. An erratic pace, punctuated by bursts of great speed and periods of creeping,...
The faster you drive, the more dangerous the slide. A driver should never take a skid for a joke but should remain calm. Automobile experts suggest that drivers stay as calm as possible when they are about to fall prey to a skid. According to The...
A motorist’s driving habit can have a serious impact on fuel consumption. “Certainly, the basis of a well-maintained car is a well-tuned engine,” advised Andrew Brown, an experienced auto mechanic with over 30 years’ experience in the motoring...
Is driving in bad weather more dangerous, and is the risk greater? Do drivers tend to pay more attention during this time? The motorist who habitually drives one-handed, gazing serenely at the outside, generally comes to and operates at full effort...
Paul Coke, a car enthusiast, describes a battery as the life or heart of a car.“If the battery is dead nothing will work,” Coke says. It’s 5 a.m., you have a long day ahead and your desire is to ‘beat’ the traffic for work. However, you turn the...
Dean m, who has been driving for over 10 years, describes the tyre on a motor car as a big rubber donut. Donuts can be eaten, but tyres eat the road. Apart from providing a comfortable ride and adhesion to propel and to stop the car, the tyres play...
September is just around the corner. Once again, the various roadworks will punctuate the flow of motor vehicles of all sizes, shapes, models, brands, and colours all over. There will be returning students, new students, parents, and guardians...
As a driver, you are ready to roll. You turn the ignition. The engine starts but fails to keep running. This problem is related to the concept of stalling. Stalling occurs when an engine starts but fails to keep running. “The condition is often...
“A car without good working brakes is like a plane without good landing gear. There is nothing else that can bring the motor vehicle to a stop except the brakes,” says Dereck Gentles, an auto mechanic with over 40 years’ experience in the motoring...
How can car owners prevent their vehicles from exposing their real age? A motor car can show its years in the way it looks and the way it sounds. It is often said that a car’s biggest single enemy is rust. This corrosive action works day and...
