Backing Up Is Hard To Do!

Listen to the Oldies stations and you'll hear Neil Sedaka complain about this all the time. Oh, I'm sorry. He sings about breaking up. Well they're both difficult, but once you get the hang of backing up, you can scratch that off your worry list.

Actually, reversing is not tough, however reversing in a straight line often frustrates most beginners and their parents.

Why? Well maybe because the correct backing stance is uncomfortable, or the view out the back window seems weird, maybe the car is moving too fast, or perhaps someone believes that one has to steer in the opposite direction of where one really wants the car to go. The latter misconception thwarts most new drivers.

Follow these steps to ease the burden of backing:

1. Find a nice quiet intersection where the streets join at a 90 degree angle. Have your teen pull into the curb (about a foot or two away from the vertical portion). Make sure your vehicle is parallel to this curb as it's much easier to back up in a straight line if you're already set up for it by driving straight forward. You're going to have her back straight along the curb and stop just before the cross walk.

2. Have your teen pivot her upper body to the her right so she can look over her right shoulder and out the back window. The rear view mirror should not be used for this maneuver. She should grip the steering wheel at the 12 o'clock position with her left hand. Make sure she doesn't succumb to the natural tendency to tilt the steering wheel to the left while in this stance. Initially she'll have to take extra care to separate left-hand movement from movement of her right shoulder and her head.

3. Reverses should be executed slowly. Speed should be controlled with the brake almost exclusively. Your teen should rarely have to use the accelerator for this. Her right foot should always be covering the brake.

4. Tell her to steer in the direction she wants the back end of the car to go. Make this even easier by eliminating all references to right or left. Instead she will now steer towards either the curb or the middle of the street. Steering corrections should be minuscule. The bigger the corrections, the harder it is to maintain steady course.

Just remember - have her keep her eye on the course, move slow and steer straight. She'll pass this event on the road test with flying colors.

I Don't Care If It's April: You Still Have To Clean the Snow Off Your Car!

"Idleness is sweet, and its consequences are cruel" ~ John Quincy Adams

Global Warming indeed! Is that why we had snow in Cleveland on Sunday and snow in Chicago today?

Anyway, the Global Warming has really snarled traffic here in Chicagoland. Seems everyone has forgotten how to drive in it. The snow is that wet, heavy kind that can give you a heart attack if you try to shovel it off your driveway too energetically. I guess that's why so many folks forgo cleaning the snow off their vehicles. They're merely trying to avoid cardiac arrests. Some people are in such bad shape they don't even bother to clear it off their windshields.

I can see moving mounds of snow on our roads - vans in snow camouflage! The drivers are guiding their vehicles by looking through tiny slits. What are they doing? They're totally blind - cut off from all knowledge of what the traffic is doing around them.

Others have taken a little trouble - they've at least cleaned off their windows. But the snow remains on the roof and hood. The snow on top flys back on the vehicles behind when these guys accelerate. It slides forward and down the windshield when they brake. The snow on the hood blows onto the windshield during acceleration, thus negating the initial cleaning effort.

People, it's not that hard to take a brush and a scraper to the car. Come on. Clean the snow off before you move out.

After all, we're not trying to avoid detection like the troops on the Russian Front back in the 1940's. We actually have a better chance of survival if we're plainly visible these days.

See and be seen.

What About Blind Spots?

"More and more people are buying bigger and bigger, ... and the bigger the vehicle the bigger the blind spot" ~ Consumer Reports

When are you going to teach your teen driver about blind spots? And how are you going to approach blind spots so the kid remembers that they're important - even vital?

The time to address the subject is when you're establishing that pre-driving routine - just about the point you're explaining how to adjust the mirrors. By the way you'll want to do this on a nice day, if it's raining you will get wet. Do this in your driveway or an empty section of a parking lot to be safe.

Here's what you're going to do. Remember the side-view mirrors have to be adjusted so that in his regular seated driving position, your teen can see a only sliver of the vehicle in each mirror.

1. After the mirrors are properly adjusted, stand outside the car several feet away from the driver's side mirror. Your teen should be able to see your reflection.


2. Slowly, step straight backward while your teen watches you "disappear" from the side-view mirror.


3. Continue moving backwards until he reacquires you in the rear-view mirror.


4. Repeat several times on each side of the car until he knows where each blind spot begins and ends.

Now that the kid knows the meaning of blind spots and where they are, you'll have to teach him how to deal with them. While he's still behind the wheel of a non-moving car have him pretend that he is preparing to change lanes. Have him follow this sequence for a lane change to the left:

1. Check the rear-view mirror.


2. Check the left side exterior mirror.


3. Glance back over the left shoulder to ensure there is no vehicle in this blind spot.


4. If all is clear, activate left turn signal and steer left.

Repeat this procedure for both left and right sides. Repetition is the Mother of Learning. Build this procedure into his muscle memory. Checking blind spots has got to become automatic.

This will be his introduction to blind spots. There are some lessons you'll use to reinforce this knowledge, but this where he finds out that mirrors don't show everything and that he's got to move his head around to get the complete picture.

I'm Not Going Too Fast!! I'm Right At The Limit!

"In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed" ~ Charles Darwin

Young Alfonso is driving 50 mph, the posted speed limit on this stretch of Rte 59. We're closing in fast on the Dodge Ram to our front.

"Time to start slowing down, kiddo." I say matter of factly.

"Why, I'm right at the speed limit!" he complains.

"Yeah, but the guy in front of us isn't and we're not playing tag. Do you think we can make this Malibu jump over him?"

"Oh!" says Alfonso as he brakes gently - just 4 seconds behind the Ram. Not a bad interval, but not as good as the 12 second gap we had once enjoyed.

I suppose most people just expect things to unfold exactly according to their plans and forget that sometimes we have to adapt to less than ideal conditions.

The guys who designed the roads posted those speed limits for ideal conditions. Ideal usually meaning dry straight aways with maximum traction, perfect visibility, and little or no traffic.

When was the last time you drove under ideal conditions? Yeah, just what I thought.

That means that you are not going to be driving the posted speed limit in traffic jams, blizzards, monsoons, or fog banks. It also means you're going to reduce your speed (that's fancy talk for slow down) before you drive into a curve.

Basically you have to remember the STV formula. If you're driving in tight areas and space is at a premium - slow down. If the road is slick and you don't have much traction - slow down. If the rain is coming down in sheets and your visibility to the front is a mere fifty feet - slow down. The posted speed limit no longer applies.

Adapt to the situation and prevail.