1993 Chevrolet Cavalier Owner's Manual - Page 130

Your Driving and the Road Defensive Driving run The best advice anyone can give about Expect other drivers to stop signs driving is: Drive defensively. when you are on a through street. Be Please start with a very important safety ready to brake if necessary as you go through intersections. Youmay not have device in your Chevrolet: Buckle up. to use the brake, but you do, you will if (See theIndex under Safety Belts.) be ready. Defensive driving really means "be If you're driving through a shopping ready for anything." On city streets, center parking lot where there wellare rural roads, or freeways, it means marked lanes, directional arrows, and "always expect the unexpected." designated parking areas, expect some Assume that pedestriansor other drivers drivers to ignore all these markings and are going to be careless and make dash straight toward one part the lot. of mistakes. Anticipate what they might Pedestrians can be careless. Watch for do. Be ready for their mistakes. them. In general, you must give way to Expect childrento dash out from behind pedestrians even if you know you have parked cars, often followedby other the right of way. children. Expect occupantsin parked cars to open doors into traffic. Watch for Rear-end collisionsare about the most preventable of accidents. Yet they are movement in parked cars-someone common. Allow enough following may be about to opena door. 23 1 distance. It's the best defensive driving maneuver, in both city andrural driving. You never know when the vehicle in frontof you is going to brake or turn suddenly. Here's a final bitof information about defensive driving. The most dangerous time for driving in theU.S. is very early on Sunday morning. In fact, GM Research studies showthat the most and the least dangerous times for driving, every week, fall on the sameday. That day is Sunday. The most dangerous time is Sunday from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. The safest time is Sunday from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Driving the same distance on a Sunday at 3 a.m. isn't just a little more dangerous than it is at 10 a.m. It's about 134 times more dangerous! That leads to the next section.