PONTIAC GRAND-AM 1993 Owners Manual

Notes
... 120
ProCarManuals.com

Part 4
Your Driving and the Road
Here you’ll find information about
driving on different kinds of roads
and in varying weather conditions
.
We’ve also included many other
useful tips on driving
.
Roadsigns ...................................................... 122
Defensive Driving ................................................ 126
Drunken Driving ................................................. 127
Control of a Vehicle ............................................... 129
Steering Tips
................................................... 136
Steering in Emergencies .......................................... 137
DrivingatNight
.................................................. 142
Driving in the Rain
............................................... 144
Driving in
Fog, Mist and Haze ...................................... 146
Freeway Driving
................................................. 148
Driving a Long Distance ........................................... EO
Hill and Mountain Roads ........................................... 152
ParkingonHills .................................................. 154
Winter Driving
................................................... E6
Towing a Trailer ..................... ......................... 159
Braking
....................................................... 130
Anti-LockBrakes
............................................... 131
Passing
....................................................... 138
CityDriving ..................................................... 147
121
ProCarManuals.com

Your Driving and the Road
rn Road Signs
The road signs you see everywhere are
coded by color, shape and symbols. It’s
a good idea to know these codes
so that
you can quickly grasp the basic meaning
or intent
of the sign even before you
have a chance to read it.
STOP DO NOT WRONG
ENTER WAY
Color of Road Signs
Red means Stop. It may also indicate
that some movement is not allowed.
Examples are
Do Not Enter and Wrong
Way.
Green
is used to guide the driver. Green
signs may indicate upcoming freeway
exits or show the direction
you should
turn to reach a particular place.
RR ADVANCE NARROW NO PASSING
CROSSING BRIDGE ZONE
Yellow indicates a general warning.
Slow down and be careful when you see
a yellow sign.
It may signal a railroad
crossing ahead, a no passing zone,
or
some other potentially dangerous
situation. Likewise, a yellow solid line
painted
on the road means Don’t Cross.
Blue
signs with white letters show
motorists’ services.
... 122
ProCarManuals.com

LOW
SHOULDER WORKERS
AHEAD FLAGGER
AHEAD
Orange indicates road construction or
maintenance. You’ll want
to slow down
when you see an orange sign, as part
of
the road may be closed off or torn up.
And there may be workers and
maintenance vehicles around, too.
CANOEING SWIMMING
Brown signs point out recreation areas
or points of historic or cultural interest.
T
Shape of Road Signs
The shape of the sign will tell you
something, too.
An octagonal (eight-sided) sign means
Stop. It is always red with white letters.
A triangle, pointed downward, indicates
Yield. It assigns the right of way to
traffic on certain approaches to an
intersection. A
diamond-shaped sign is a warning of
something ahead-for example, a curve,
steep hill,
soft shoulder, or a narrow
bridge.
A
triangular sign also is used on two-
lane roads to indicate a
No Passing
Zone. This sign will be on the left side
of the roadway.
C
ProCarManuals.com

‘Your Driving and the Road
KEEP LEFT OR RIGHT TURN
RIGHT THROUGH ONLY
Shape of Road Signs (CONI)
Rectangular (square
or oblong) signs
show speed limits, parking regulations,
give directions, and such information as
distances to cities.
Symbols on Road Signs Traffic lights
There are many international road signs We’re
all familiar with traffic lights or I in use today.
NO U NO NO TURN PARKING BICYCLES
The basic message of many of these
signs is in pictures or graphic symbols.
A picture within a circle with a diagonal
line across it shows what
not to do. stop lights. Often green arrows are being
used in
the lights for improved traffic
control. On some multilane roads, green
arrows light up, indicating that traffic in
one or more lanes can move or make a
turn. Green arrows don’t mean “go no
matter what.” You’ll still need to
proceed with caution, yielding the right of way to pedestrians and sometimes to
other vehicles.
Some traffic
lights also use red arrows
to signify that you must stop before
turning on red.
ProCarManuals.com

REVERSIBLE tANE ON MULTtlANE ROADWAY
Many city roads and expressways, and
even bridges, use reversible-lane traffic
control during rush hours.
A red X light
above a lane means no driving in that
lane at that time.
A green arrow means
you may drive in that lane. Look for the
signs posted to warn drivers what hours
and days these systems are in effect.
NO PASSING ZONE
Pavement Markings
Pavement markings add to traffic signs
and signals. They give information to
drivers without taking attention from the
roadway.
A solid yellow line on your
side of the road or lane means
Don’t
Cross.
bur Own Signals
Drivers signal to others, too. It’s not
only more polite, it’s safer to let other
drivers
know what you are doing. And
in some places the law requires driver
signals.
Turn and Lane Change Signals:
Always signal when you plan to turn or
change lanes.
If necessary,
you can use hand signals
out the window:
Left arm straight out
for
a left turn, down for slow or about-
to-stop, and up for a right turn.
Slowing Down: If time allows, tap the
brake pedal once or twice
in advance of
slowing
or stopping. This warns the
driver behind you.
Disabled: Your four-way flashers signal
that your vehicle is disabled
or is a
hazard. See the
Index under Hazard
Warning Flashers.
liffk Ofiiceer
The traffic police officer is also a source
of important information. The officer’s
signals govern, no matter what the
traffic lights or other signs
say.
The next section discusses some of the
road conditions you may encounter.
125
ProCarManuals.com

Defensive Driving
The best advice anyone can give about
driving is: Drive defensively.
Please start with a very important safety
device in your Pontiac: Buckle up. (See
the
Index under Safety Belts.)
Defensive driving really means “be
ready for anything.” On city streets,
rural roads, or freeways, it means
“always expect the unexpected
.”
Assume that pedestrians or other drivers
are going to be careless and make
mistakes. Anticipate what they might
do. Be ready for their mistakes.
Expect children to dash out from behind
parked cars, often followed
by 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.
126
Expect other drivers to run 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
center parking 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 canbe careless. Watch for
them.
In general, you must give way to
pedestrians even if you know you have
the right of way.
Rear-end collisions are about the 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
defensive driving. 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 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.
ProCarManuals.com

Drunken Driving
Death and injury associated with
drinking and driving is a national
tragedy. It's the number one contributor
to the highway death toll, claiming
thousands
of victims every year.
Alcohol takes away three things that
anyone
needs to drive a vehicle:
Judgment
Muscular Coordination
Vision
Police records show that half
of all
motor vehicle-related deaths involve alcohol-a driver,
a passenger or
someone else, such as a pedestrian, had
been drinking. In most cases, these deaths are the result
of someone who
was drinking and driving. Over 25,000
motor vehicle-related deaths occur each
year because
of alcohol, and thousands
of people are injured. person plans
to drive? Ideally, no one
should drink alcohol and then drive. But
if one does, then what's
"too much" can
be
a lot less than many might think.
Although it depends on each person and
situation, here is some general
information
on the problem.
The Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of
someone who
is drinking depends upon
four things:
How much alcohol is in the drink.
The drinker's body weight.
The amount of food that is consumed
before and during drinking.
The length of time it has taken the
drinker to consume the alcohol. According to the American
Medical
Association,
a 1SO-pund (82 kg) person
who drinks three 12-ounce (355 ml)
bottles of beer in an hour will end up
with
a BAC of about 0.06 percent. The
person would reach the same BAC
by
drinking three 4-ounce (120 ml) glasses
of wine or three mixed
drinks if each
had 1% ounces (45 ml) of a liquor like
whiskey, gin or
vodka.
It's the amount of alcohol that counts.
For example, if the same person drank
three double martinis
(3 ounces or
90 ml of liquor each) within an hour,
the person's BAC would be close to
0.12 percent. A person who consumes
food
just before or during drinking will
have a slightly lower BAC level.
127
ProCarManuals.com

Your Driving and the Road
Drunken Driving (CONI)
The law in most U.S. states sets the
legal
limit at a BAC of 0.10 percent. In
Canada the limit is
0.08 percent, and in
some other countries it’s lower than
that. The BAC will be over
0.10 percent
after three to six drinks
(in one hour). Of
course, as we’ve seen, it depends on
how much alcohol is in the drinks, and
how quickly the person drinks them.
But it’s very important to keep in mind
that the ability to drive is affected well
below a BAC
of 0.10 percent. Research
shows that the driving skills of many people
are impaired at a BAC
approaching
0.05 percent, and that the
effects are worse at night. All drivers
are impaired at BAC levels above
0.05
percent. Statistics show that the chance
of being in an accident increases sharply
for drivers who have a BAC of
0.05
percent or above. A driver with a BAC
level of
0.06 percent (three beers in one
hour
for a 180-pound or 82 kg person)
has doubled his or her chance of having
an accident. At a BAC level of
0.10
percent, the chance of that driver having
an accident is six times greater; at a
level
of 0.15 percent, the chances are
twenty-five times greater! And, the
body takes about an hour to rid itself of the alcohol in one drink.
No amount of
coffee or number of cold showers will
speed that up.
ProCarManuals.com

“I’ll be careful” isn’t the right answer.
What if there’s an emergency, a need to take sudden action, as when a child
darts into the street?
A person with a
higher
BAC might not be able to react
quickly enough to avoid the collision.
There’s something else about drinking
and driving that many people don’t
know. Medical research shows that
alcohol in a person’s system can make
crash injuries worse. That’s especially
true for brain, spinal cord and heart
injuries. That means that if anyone who
has been drinking-driver or
passenger-is in a crash, the chance of
being killed or permanently disabled is
higher than
if that person had not been
drinking. And we’ve already seen that the
chance of a crash itself is higher for
drinking drivers.
I
i Drinking and then driving is L b very dangerous. Your reflexes,
perceptions, and judgment will be
affected by even a small amount
of
alcohol. You could have a
serious-or even fatal-accident if
you drive after drinking. Please
don’t drink and drive or ride with a
driver who has been drinking.
Ride home in a cab; or if you’re
with a group, designate a driver
who will not drink.
I
rn Control of a Vehicle
You have three systems that make your
vehicle
go where you want it to go.
They are the brakes, the steering and the
accelerator. All three systems
have to do
their work at the places where the tires
meet the road.
Sometimes, as when you’re driving on
snow or ice, it’s easy to ask more of
those control systems than the tires and
road can provide. That means
you can
lose control of your vehicle.
ProCarManuals.com