1995 Cadillac DeVille Owner's Manual - Page 195

Assume that pedestrians orother drivers arc going to be careless and make mistakes. Anticipate what they might do. Be ready for their mistakes. Rear-end collisions are about the most preventable o f accidents. Yet they are common. Allow cnough 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. DRUNKEN DRIWNG Death andinjury associated with drinking and driving is a national tragedy. It's the numbcr one contributor to thehighway death toll, claiming thousands o f victims everyyear. Alcohol affects four things that anyone needs to drive a vehicle: Judgment 0 0 MuscularCoordination Vision Attentiveness Police records show that almost half of a l l motor vehicle-rclated dcaths involve alcohol. In most cases. these deaths are the result o f somonc who was drinking and driving. I n recent years, sum(: 18.000 a n n u a l motor vehiclerelated deaths have been associated w i t h the L ~ S C f ;11cohol,w i t h o more than 300,000 people injurcd. Many a d ~ ~ l-- s some cstimatcs, ncarly h a l f the d u l t t by population -- choose never to drink alcohol, so they ncver drive after drinking. For persons under 21, it's against the law in every U.S. state to drink alcohol. There are good medical, psychological and developmental reasonsfor these laws. The obvious way to solve this highway safety problem is for people never to drink alcohol and then drive. But what if people do? How much is "too much'' if the driver plans to drive? It's a lot less than many might think. Although it depends on each person situation. here is some general and information on the problem.