1993 Buick Regal Owner's Manual - Page 137

Defensive drivingreally means "be ready for anything." On city streets, rural roads, or freeways, means it "always expect the unexpected.'' Assume that pedestrians or other drivers going to be are careless and make mistakes. Anticipatewhat they might do. Be ready for their mistakes. Expect children to dash out from behind.parked cars, often followedby other children. Expect occupants in parked cars to open doors into traffic. Watch for movement in parked cars -- someone may be about to open a door. Expect other drivers torun stop signs when you are on a through street. Be ready to brake if necessary as you go through intersections. You may not have to use the brake, but if you do, you will be ready. If you're driving through a shopping centerparking lot where there are well-marked lanes, directional arrows, and designated parking areas, expect some drivers to ignore all these markings and dash straight toward one part of the lot. Pedestrians can be careless. Watch for them. In general, you must give way to pedestrians even if you know you have theright of way. Rear-end collisions are aboutthe most preventable of accidents. Yet they are common. Allow enough 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. Here's a final bit of information about defensivedriving. The most dangerous time for driving in the U.S. is very early on Sunday morning. In fact, GM Research studies show that the most and the least dangerous times for driving, every week, fall on the same day. That day is Sunday. The most dangerous time is Sunday from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. The safest timeis Sunday from 10 a.m. to11 a.m. Driving the same distanceon a Sunday at 3 a.m. isn't just a little more dangerousthan it is at 10 a.m. It's about 134 times more dangerous! That leads to the next section. Drunken Driving Death and injury associated with drinking and driving is a national, tragedy. It's the number one contributorto the highway death toll, claiming thousands of victims every year. Alcohol takes away three things that anyone needs to drive avehicle: Judgment 0 0 Muscular Coordination Vision 135