Emergency!

I was recently driving on a divided highway and met an ambulance. I'll admit it, I almost panicked. I couldn't remember if I was supposed to pull over or slow down or do anything. So, being the conscientious driver that I am, I decided to investigate this situation for all of us.

According to the Iowa Department of Transportation, when approaching a stationary emergency vehicle with lights flashing, you must pull into the opposite lane and if this isn't possible you must slow down to pass it. When an emergency vehicle (an ambulance, fire truck or a police car) is coming towards you, you must pull over on the side of the road and stop until the emergency vehicle has passed you. However, as in my situation, when you are on a divided highway you don't have to yield to emergency vehicles that are going the opposite direction from you.

Hopefully this will give you a mental refresher of Driver's Ed and what to do when you see emergency vehicles.

http://www.511ia.org/rules/rulesoftheroad.htm

photo credit

http://blog.pennlive.com/pennsyltucky/2007/09/emergency-vehicle.jpg

Cold Car

Seatbelt. Check. Mirrors. Check. Gas gauge, oil pressure. Check. I had scraped the ice off my windshield, put my boots in the trunk and was ready to head out on the road. I stepped on the gas. My RMP gauge started rising, but nothing else was happening. I pushed on the gas harder. My RPM jumped to 3,000 then 4,000. I knew something was wrong, just not exactly what. I stepped out of my car, into the winter air.

“Dad!”  I ran into the house. “My car won’t go!” “What do you mean?” my dad asked. “It just won’t go.” I repeated. Knowing he would find out what was wrong, I took off in another car. When I returned home later that day, my dad had found the solution to why my car “wouldn’t go”. I had started my car a few minutes before I wanted to leave since it was in the winter and below 20 degrees. Dad had checked the fluids under my trunk and discovered my transmission fluid was low. This was causing my transmission to slip. The cold weather only made it worse. Adding the fluid and letting my car warm up for 10 minutes made all the difference in the world. With winter nearly on us, winterizing vehicles is very important. Go to this site for more information on preparing for winter driving.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-driving-safety/accidents-hazardous-conditions/how-to-prepare-your-car-for-winter1.htm

photo credit: www.cars.justelite.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/_carsf004.jpg 

Eventful Trip Back

It was finally Thanksgiving break. My friends and I were headed back home and having a great time on the road trip. As we traveled northbound on Interstate 35 we happened across an ambulance. Its lights were off and they had a body in the stretcher. As we drove by we watched as they covered the entire body of the victim. Each of us had the same reaction, did we just see someone die on the side of the road. At first we thought it was morbidly eventful. How many times does a person see a dead body along the roadside? However, as the surprise wore off I began to think, “that could have been anybody in the body bag.” I looked at myself. I wasn’t wearing a seat belt; it’s more comfortable to sleep without one. It made me slightly nervous. I began to respect the roads a little more….with a seatbelt on.

image from www.opsi.gov.uk/ si/si2006/06189201.gif

We live in Iowa. We live right in the middle of Iowa. We are surrounded by farms growing corn and soy beans, accessible via rural, gravel roads. Now, because a lot of us are living in Iowa, many have gone down at least one gravel road while here. 

However, there is a huge difference between people who have gone down them once or twice and people that do it regularly. The "first timers" tend to drive slowly and carefully, fearful of the way the gravel moves when its driven on. The people who have lived in Iowa for years have become so comfortable with these roads, they often speed. Speeding on gravel means less traction, so if a driver must avoid something suddenly, they may end up in a ditch. It is also seems to be the norm in rural areas to not wear your seat belts regularly. These two habits are dangerous enough on their own, but when combined, it can make for one terrible crash.

BE SMART-always wear your seat belt and take care when driving on gravel roads.

Image Credit: DL Ennis, Visual Thoughts http://dlennis.wordpress.com/2007/12/

Traveling for Turkey?

The Drive-Ride Team would like to urge you to use your seat belt during the Thanksgiving holiday, one of the most heavily traveled times of the year.

In 2008, seat belts saved an estimated 13,250 lives. An additional 4,152 lives could have been saved if seat belts had been worn at the time of the crashes.

Source: NHTSA (pdf)