1993 Pontiac Firebird Owner's Manual - Page 148

1993 Pontiac Firebird Manual

Page 148 highlights

Passing Off-Road Recovery You may find sometime that your right wheels have dropped off the edge of a road onto the shoulder(A) while you're driving. If the level of the shoulder is only slightly below the pavement, recovery should be fairly easy. Ease off the accelerator and then, if there is nothing in the way, steer so that your vehicle straddles theedge of the pavement. You can turn the steering wheel up to 1/4 turn (B) until the right front tire contacts the pavement edge. Then turn your steering wheel to go straight down the roadway. [f the shoulder appears to be about four inches (100 mm) or more below the pavement, this difference can cause problems. If there is not enough room to pull entirely onto the shoulder and stop, then follow the same procedures. But if the right front tire scrubs against the side of the pavement, do NOT steer more sharply. With too much steering angle, the vehicle may jump back onto the road with so much steering input that it crosses over into the oncoming traffic before you can bring it back under control. Instead, ease off again on the accelerator and steering input, straddle the pavement once more, then try again. The driver of a vehicle about to pass another on a two-lane highway waits for just the right moment, accelerates, moves around the vehicle ahead, then goes back into the right lane again. A simple maneuver? Not necessarily! Passing another vehicle on a two-lane highway is a potentially dangerous move, since the passing vehicle occupies the same lane as oncoming traffic for several seconds. A miscalculation, an error in judgment, or a brief surrender to frustration or anger can suddenly put thepassing driver face to face with the worst of alltraffic accidents - the head-on collision.

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Off-Road Recovery
You
may find
sometime
that
your
right
wheels
have
dropped
off
the
edge
of a
road
onto
the
shoulder
(A)
while
you’re
driving.
If the
level
of
the shoulder
is
only
slightly
below
the
pavement,
recovery
should
be
fairly
easy.
Ease
off
the
accelerator
and
then,
if
there
is
nothing
in
the
way, steer
so
that
your
vehicle
straddles
the edge of
the
pavement.
You
can
turn
the steering
wheel
up to
1/4
turn
(B)
until
the
right
front
tire
contacts
the
pavement
edge.
Then
turn
your
steering
wheel to go
straight
down
the
roadway.
[f
the shoulder appears to be about four
inches
(100
mm) or more below the
pavement, this difference can cause
problems.
If there is
not enough room to
pull
entirely onto the shoulder and stop,
then
follow
the same procedures. But
if
the right front tire scrubs against the side
of
the pavement, do
NOT
steer more
sharply.
With too much steering angle, the
vehicle
may jump back onto the
road
with
so
much steering input
that
it crosses over
into
the oncoming traffic before you
can
bring
it
back
under control. Instead, ease
off again
on
the accelerator and steering
input, straddle
the
pavement once more,
then
try again.
Passing
The driver
of
a vehicle about to pass
another
on
a two-lane highway waits for
just the right moment, accelerates, moves
around
the
vehicle
ahead, then goes back
into
the right lane again.
A
simple
maneuver?
Not necessarily! Passing another vehicle
on
a two-lane highway
is
a
potentially
dangerous move, since
the
passing
vehicle occupies the same lane as
oncoming
traffic for several seconds.
A
miscalculation, an error
in
judgment, or a
brief surrender to frustration or anger can
suddenly
put
the passing driver face to
face
with
the
worst
of
all traffic accidents
-
the
head-on collision.