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01 29th, 2010| 
Defensive Driving Tips On Vehicle Lane Changes
Lane changes can be one of the easiest maneuvers with a vehicle, and can be one of the hardest maneuvers at the same time. Changing lanes requires processing information and making a safe decision well in advance to make the maneuver a simple and safe task. The faster your speed is, the faster you have to process information, which in turn makes it a little more difficult. There are important defensive driving procedures you must do, before making a lane change. Look ahead and plan ahead. If you plan well in advance, the maneuver becomes a lot easier and safer. Checking your path ahead before you consider changing lanes is the number one priority. What traffic and pedestrians are doing ahead of you is the first step in processing information and making a decision. You must always check your path ahead for vehicle traffic changes, and controlled intersections that affect these changes. There are many potential hazards that you should be looking for. You have to be looking ahead for vehicles slowing down and possibly stopping in front of you, and making sure you?re on the look out for pedestrians that may step off the curb up ahead. Also checking for vehicles that may possibly come out in front of you, or from another merging lane. A good indication of what traffic and pedestrians are going to do ahead of you would be motorist signaling ahead of you with a signal and or brake lights. If their signaling to turn, they have to slow down and possibly stop for other traffic or pedestrians, depending on circumstances where they are turning. All this information is important, because it affects everybody in motion. While your checking your path ahead, you have to know what is happening behind you. If you use your rearview mirror all the time, you will always know what is happening around you. Using the rearview mirror, gives you a bigger picture than your side mirrors. Checking your rearview mirror should be done at a glance only. Your main concern is in front of you. When glancing at your rearview mirror, you should be glancing for traffic coming up faster than you, also vehicles signaling to change lanes behind you. They may be picking up speed to pass your vehicle. In order to make a safe lane change, you have to either slow down to let traffic get by you, or speed up to stay ahead of traffic, without going over the speed limit. If you?re doing the same speed as traffic behind you, they won?t catch up to you, unless you start braking. If traffic is doing the same speed, you should accelerate slightly to maneuver over to the other lane, unless there is a good reason not to. Once you know what is happening both ahead of you and behind your vehicle. The number three procedure is signaling to let traffic know your intentions on the direction you plan on maneuvering. The signaling procedure is for communicating to other drivers. If you signal and let other drivers know what you?re doing, they may slow down to let you make the safe lane change. Warning other vehicles of your intention to change lanes, include vehicles ahead of you and behind you. Drivers negotiating to maneuver out in front of you may stay where they are, if they see your signal to move over, possibly into the lane that they want to maneuver into. People do not always do what there suppose to do, so anticipate the worst. Take nothing for granted! It may be a safer lane change beyond traffic waiting to come out, if you have time. You also have to consider not surprising the vehicles close to your vehicle by signaling as they approach the corner side of your vehicle. They may panic and brake, thinking you?re moving over sooner. Wait until they are beside your vehicle and your signal is out of their sight before you signal to warn other traffic behind your vehicle. This seems like a lot of info for just a signal, but communicating with other drivers are important in defensive driving. After you have signaled and you know everything is clear ahead of you and behind. Take a quick glance over to your blind spot, and make sure there is nobody sitting along side your vehicle. Stay in your lane, if it is not safe. When you check your shoulder, it?s only supposed to be a glance. You still have one more important procedure before maneuvering into the other lane. Recheck the lane ahead of you, just before you turn the steering wheel to make sure nobody is stopping or coming out into your path. Once you have glanced over your shoulder and looked forward, gradually maneuver over right away with a slight adjustment of the steering wheel. Only if it?s safe! You do not want to be maneuvering over, if there is a vehicle stopping in front of you, or coming out in front of your intended path. If you cannot make the maneuver right after the shoulder check, cancel everything and start over. The worst scenario would be traveling an extra block in town. Do not make lane changes at intersections. Make sure lane changes are done before and after intersections. Intersections include any crossroad, side road, lane or street. Constantly planning well in advance and constantly using your mirrors, will help you become a better defensive driver. I hope these defensive driving tips help your goal in becoming a safe driver. For more information on this topic, please consult with a family member and a recognized Driving School on defensive driving techniques. Owned and operated a Driving School for several years. Taught over 2000 kids and adults how to drive. 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Are Radar Detectors Legal in the US and in which States are they Prohibited?
A good number of the people with cars in the United States have their own radar detectors. Their reason is that they feel that the speed limit at present is very low. Most of the American people are not satisfied with moderate speed while driving. They want to be the fastest driver on the road as well as get to the places they re going in record time; they want to be always in the race. The radar detector serves as their alarm whenever there are police near them. Once the radar detector alarm sounds, they can ease on the gas and slow down their speed. Because of the radar detectors being known to every motorist, cops are hiding, in alleyways or behind bridges in order to avoid being detected by the radar detectors. Motorists on the other hand are being clever themselves, they are aware of these techniques from the police, so more enhanced, top-dollar detectors have entered the market. Though the policemen are always improving their chances of catching the radar detector users, they are unable to make the streets of the United States radar detector-free. Radar detectors are legal in many cities and states in the United States. But this does not mean that radar detector units are legal in all of the states in the US. Here are some of the states that deem radar detectors illegal: 1. The usage of radar detectors are prohibited in the Commonwealth of Virginia. They have laws banning the use of radar detectors. Not only are radar detectors illegal to use in Virginia, they are also illegal to have in the vehicle. 2. Radar detectors and radar jammers are illegal in the District of Columbia. The passing of their laws to ban the use of radar detectors was set in 1995. 3. In Illinois, radar detectors are only regulated in commercial vehicles of over 26,001 pounds. 4. On US military bases, they are legal to have but illegal to use. 5. Radar jammers are illegal in the states of Utah, California, Oklahoma, Colorado and Nebraska. 6. Radar detectors are not specifically regulated, but things hanging from windshields are not permitted in the state of Minnesota. 7. For motor vehicles over 18,000 pounds and any other commercial motor vehicles over 10,000 pounds in New York, radar detectors are illegal. And other states that prohibit the use of radar detectors are the following: Alabama Arizona Arkansas Colorado Delaware Florida Georgia Idaho Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Mississippi Missouri Montana Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey Mew Mexico North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Vermont Washington Wisconsin Wyoming The state of Connecticut on the contrary has cancelled its anti-radar detector law in 1998 which make this radar detector now legal in this state.Nicola Kennedy publishes articles and reports and provides news, views and information about <a href="http://www.radar-detecting.info">radar detectors</a> at Radar Detecting Information. This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact. All rights reserved. Copyright Radar-Detecting.info
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3 Places not to go when you sell a car
Car dealershipsMainly because of their industry, car salesmen have a bad reputation in general. Sure, there are some car salesmen out there who are great people, contribute to charity, good with children, but bottom line; they still sell cars for a living. Point being, if someone wants to sell a car and they go to a dealership they will have to interact with a salesman whose one goal is to sell them a car. They don’t care that you want to sell a car, all they care about is the new vehicle they want you to buy. Particularly this coming year of 2007, it has been predicted that used car sales will rise as new car sales decline. This means that those car salesmen at dealerships will be chasing their customers with added desperation trying to defeat those projections. Do yourself a favor when you want to sell a car and avoid the headache and potential purchase that comes along with a dealership. The local newspaperWhile it may seem simple to place an ad in your local rag and deal with individual buyers yourself, beware of the many issues that may arise from this avenue. To begin with you are forced to reveal your contact information, which lets face it, in this day and age can be a bad idea. Not to mention that you are forced to meet with strangers (always do it in a crowded public place), and allow them to test drive your vehicle. This poses a liability problem to your insurance carrier, and could be a personal liability for obvious reasons. In addition to close contact with strangers, there is also the issue of haggling, selling and convincing reluctant potential buyers, not to mention people who aren’t serious about buying wasting your time. Another serious issue is payment fraud. Selling a big ticket item isn’t something to be taken lightly and almost any type of payment you take can be fraudulent. If you must sell a car yourself be sure to only accept cashiers checks made out to you, and as an added step you should meet the buyer at the bank the check is drawn off of and never turn over the keys until you have negotiated the check and have cash (or another cashiers check you purchased) in your hand. A high visibility parking lotMany people simply buy a ‘For Sale’ sign and slap it in a window of the vehicle they want to get rid of. Quite frankly, driving with a for sale sign in the window isn’t a good way to advertise, talk about dealing with strangers. No one wants people yelling offers to them at stoplights, and while moving there is no way to make the copy large enough for passing vehicles to see. Many people will take their car and its ‘For Sale’ sign and put it in a parking lot with high visibility and lots of traffic. Beyond the obvious angry business owners and parking violations, this is another method of selling that requires your contact information becoming public knowledge. Not only can that incur unwanted attention, but it also gives that angry business owner or code enforcement officer a quick and easy way to track you down. There is a solutionIt may seem hopeless when you want to sell a car, there are flaws with almost any method you use. However, the newest and perhaps the most easy alternative lies in your computer. The internet offers any number of websites that make selling your car a snap. Not only do most of them come to you, but many offer cash to sellers. Utilizing affiliates within the industries helps them to eliminate your footwork and get you a reasonable price. <b>About the Author:</b> My name is Paige Filler and I'm a creative writer with a love of all things that go vroom. I do my homework to bring thought and innovation into everything I write about the auto industry. You can find more of my stuff at <a href="http://www.cash4usedcars.com/" target="blank">Cash 4 Used Cars</a>, and <a href="http://blog.cash4usedcars.com/" target="blank"> this blog.</a>
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