BUICK PARK AVENUE 1993 Owners Manual

So here are some tips for passing:
“Drive ahead.” Look down the road, to the sides, and
to crossroads for situations that might affect your
passing patterns.
If you have any doubt whatsoever
about making a successful pass, wait for a better
time.
Watch for traffic signs, pavement markings, and
lines. If you can see a sign up ahead that might
indicate a turn or an intersection, delay your pass. A
broken center line usually indicates it’s all right to
pass (providing the road ahead is clear). Never cross
a solid line
on your side of the lane or a double solid
line, even if the road seems empty of approaching
traffic.
If you suspect that the driver of the vehicle you want
to pass isn’t aware of your presence, tap the
horn a
couple of times before passing.
Do not get too close to the vehicle you want to pass
while you’re awaiting an opportunity. For one thing,
following
too closely reduces your area of vision,
especially if you’re following
a larger vehicle. Also,
you won’t have adequate space if the vehicle ahead
suddenly slows or stops. Keep back a reasonable
distance.
When it looks like a chance to pass is coming up,
start to accelerate but stay in the right lane and don’t
get too close. Time your move
so you will be
increasing speed as
the time comes to move into the
other lane. If the way is clear to pass, you will have a
“running start’’ that more than makes up for the
distance you would lose by dropping back. And if
something happens to cause you to cancel your pass,
you need only slow down and drop back again and
wait for another opportunity.
If other cars are lined up to pass a slow vehicle, wait
your turn.
But take care that someone isn’t trying to
pass you as you pull out to pass the slow vehicle.
Remember to glance over your shoulder and check
the blind spot.
Check your mirrors, glance over your shoulder, and
start your
left lane change signal before moving out
of the right lane to pass. When you are far enough
ahead of the passed vehicle
to see its front in your
inside mirror, activate your right lane change signal
and move back into the right lane. (Remember that
your right outside mirror
is convex. The vehicle you
just passed may seem to be farther away from you
than it really
is.)
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Try not to pass more than one vehicle at a time on
two-lane roads. Reconsider before passing the next
vehicle.
Don’t overtake a slowly moving vehicle too rapidly.
Even though the brake lights are not flashing, it may
be slowing down or starting to turn.
If you’re being passed, make it easy for
the
following driver to get ahead of you. Perhaps you
can ease a little to the right.
Loss of Control
Let’s review what driving experts say about what
happens when the three control systems (brakes, steering
and acceleration) don’t have enough friction where the
tires meet the road to do what the driver has asked.
In any emergency, don’t give up. Keep trying to steer
and constantly seek an escape route or area of less
danger.
Skidding
In a skid, a driver can lose control of the vehicle.
Defensive drivers avoid most skids by taking reasonable
care suited to existing conditions, and by not
“overdriving” those conditions. But skids are always
possible. The three
types of skids correspond to your Buick’s
three control systems. In the braking skid your wheels
aren’t rolling. In
the steering or cornering skid, too
much speed or steering in a curve causes tires to slip and
lose cornering force. And in the acceleration skid too
much throttle causes the driving wheels to spin.
A cornering skid and an acceleration skid are best
handled by easing your foot
off the accelerator pedal.
If your vehicle starts to slide (as when
you turn a corner
on a wet, snow- or ice-covered road), ease your foot off
the accelerator pedal as soon as you feel the vehicle start
to slide. Quickly steer the way you want the vehicle to
go. If
you start steering quickly enough, your vehicle
will straighten
out. As it does, straighten the front
wheels.
Of course, traction is reduced when water, snow, ice,
gravel, or other material is on the road. For safety, you’ll
want to slow down and adjust your driving to these
conditions. It is important
to slow down on slippery
surfaces because stopping distance will be longer and
vehicle control more limited.
While driving on a surface with reduced traction, try
your best to avoid.sudden steering, acceleration, or
braking (including engine braking by shifting to a lower
gear). Any sudden changes could cause the tires to slide.
You may not realize the surface is slippery until your
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vehicle is skidding. Learn to recognize warning clues --
such as enough water, ice or packed snow on the road to
make a “mirrored surface”
-- and slow down when you
have any doubt.
Remember: Any anti-lock braking system (ABS) helps
avoid only the braking skid. Steer the way
you want to
go-
Driving at Night
...,.
.. -
Night driving is more dangerous than day driving. One
reason
is that some drivers are likely to be impaired --
by alcohol or drugs, with night vision problems, or by
fatigue.
Here are some tips on night driving.
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Drive defensively. Remember, this is the most
dangerous time.
Don’t drink and drive. (See “Drunken Driving” in
the Index for more on this problem.)
Adjust your inside rearview mirror to reduce the
glare from headlights behind you.
Since you can’t see as well, you may need to slow
down and keep more space between you and other
vehicles. It’s hard
to tell how fast the vehicle ahead .
is going just by looking at its taillights.
Slow down, especially on higher speed roads. Your
headlights can light up only
so much road ahead.
In remote areas, watch for animals.
If you’re tired, pull off the road in a safe place and
rest.
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Night Vision
No one can see as well at night as in the daytime. But as
we get older these differences increase. A 50-year-old
driver may require at least twice as much light to see the
same thing at night as a 20-year-old.
What you do in the daytime can also affect your night
vision. For example,
if you spend the day in bright
sunshine
you are wise to wear sunglasses. Your eyes will
have less trouble adjusting to night.
But if you’re driving, don’t wear sunglasses at night.
They may cut down
on glare from headlights, but they
also make a lot of things invisible that should remain
visible
- such as parked cars, obstacles, pedestrians, or
even trains blocking railway crossings. You may want to
put on your sunglasses after you have pulled into a
brightly-lighted service
or refreshment area. Eyes
shielded from that glare may adjust more quickly to
darkness back
on the road. But be sure to remove your
sunglasses before you leave the service area.
You can be temporarily blinded by approaching lights. It
can take
a second or two, or even several seconds, for
your eyes to readjust
to the dark. When you are faced
with severe glare (as from a driver who doesn’t lower
the high beams, or a vehicle with misaimed headlights),
slow down a little. Avoid staring directly into the
approaching lights. If there is a line of opposing traffic, make occasional glances over
the line of headlights to
make certain that one
of the vehicles isn’t starting to
move into your lane. Once
you are past the bright lights,
give your eyes time to readjust before resuming speed.
High Beams
If the vehicle approaching you has its high beams on,
signal by flicking yours to high and then back to low
beam. This is the usual signal to lower the headlight
beams. If the other driver still doesn’t lower the beams,
resist the temptation to put your high beams
on. This
only makes two half-blinded drivers.
On a freeway, use your high beams
only in remote areas
where you won’t impair approaching drivers. In some
places, like cities, using high beams is illegal.
When you follow another vehicle on a freeway or
highway, use low beams. True, most vehicles now have
day-night mirrors that enable the driver to reduce glare.
But outside mirrors are not of this type and high beams
from behind can bother the driver ahead.
A Few More Night Driving Suggestions
Keep your windshield and all the glass on your vehicle
clean
-- inside and out. Glare at night is made much
worse by dirt on the glass. Even the inside of the glass
can build up a film caused by dust. Tobacco smoke also
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makes inside glass surfaces very filmy and can be a
vision hazard if it’s left there.
Dirty glass makes lights dazzle and
flash more than
clean glass would, making the pupils of your eyes
contract repeatedly. You might even want to keep a cloth
and some glass cleaner in your vehicle if you need to
clean your glass frequently.
Remember that your headlights light up far less of
a
roadway when you are in a turn or curve.
Driving in the Rain
Keep your eyes moving; that way, it’s easier to pick out
dimly lighted objects.
Just as your headlights should be checked regularly for
proper aim,
so should your eyes be examined regularly.
Some drivers suffer from night blindness
-- the inability
to see in dim light
-- and aren’t even aware of it.
Rain and wet roads can mean driving trouble. On a wet
road you can’t stop, accelerate or turn as well because
your tire-to-road traction isn’t as good as on dry roads.
And, if your tires don’t have much tread left, you’ll get
even less traction.
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It’s always wise to go slower and be cautious if rain
starts to fall while you are driving. The surface may get
wet suddenly when your reflexes are tuned
for driving
on dry pavement.
The heavier the rain, the harder
it is to see. Even if your
windshield wiper blades are
in good shape, a heavy rain
can make it harder to see road signs and traffic signals,
pavement markings,
the edge of the road, and even
people walking. Road spray can often be worse for
vision than rain, especially
if it comes from a dirty road.
So it is wise to keep your wiping equipment in good
shape and keep your windshield washer tank filled.
Replace your windshield wiper inserts when
they show
signs
of streaking or missing areas on the windshield, or
when strips of rubber
start to separate from the inserts.
Driving too fast through large water puddles
or even
going through some car washes can cause problems, too.
The water may affect your brakes. Try to avoid puddles.
But if you can’t, try to slow down before you hit them.
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A CAUTION:
Wet brakes can cause accidents. They won’t
work well in a quick stop and may cause pulling to one side. You could lose control
of the vehicle.
After driving through a large puddle
of water or a
car wash, apply your brake pedal lightly until
your brakes work normally.
Hydroplaning
Hydroplaning is dangerous. So much water can build up
under your tires that they can actually ride on the water.
This can happen if the road is wet enough and you’re
going fast enough. When your vehicle is hydroplaning,
it has little or no contact with the road.
You might not be aware of hydroplaning. You could
drive along for some time without realizing your tires
aren’t in constant contact with the road. You could find
out the hard way: when you have to slow, turn, move out
to pass
-- or if you get hit by a gust of wind. You could
suddenly find yourself out
of control.
Hydroplaning doesn’t happen often. But
it can if your
tires haven’t much tread
or if the pressure in one or more
is low.
It can happen if a lot of water is standing on the road.
If you can
see reflections from trees, telephone
poles, or other vehicles, and raindrops “dimple” the
water’s surface, there could be hydroplaning.
Hydroplaning usually happens at higher speeds. There
just isn’t a’hard and fast rule about hydroplaning. The
best advice is to slow down when it
is raining, and be
careful.
Some Other Rainy Weather Tips
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Turn on your headlights -- not just your parking lights
-- to help make you more visible to others.
Look for hard-to-see vehicles coming from behind..
You may want
to use your headlights even in daytime
if it’s raining hard.
Besides slowing down, allow some extra following
distance. And be especially careful when you pass
another vehicle. Allow yourself more clear room
ahead, and
be prepared to have your view restricted
by road spray.
If the road spray is so heavy you are
actually blinded, drop back. Don’t pass until
conditions improve. Going more slowly is better than
having an accident.
Use your defogger
if it helps.
Have good tires with proper tread depth. (See
“Tires” in the Index.)
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Driving in Fog, Mist and Haze
r
Fog can occur with high humidity or heavy frost. It can
be
so mild that you can see through it for several
hundred feet (meters). Or it might be
so thick that you
can
see only a few feet (meters) ahead. It may come
suddenly to an otherwise clear road. And it can be
a
major hazard. When you
drive into a fog patch, your visibility will be
reduced quickly. The biggest dangers are striking the
vehicle ahead or being struck by the one behind. Try to
"read" the fog density down the road.
If the vehicle
ahead starts
to become less clear or, at night, if the
taillights are harder
to see, the fog is probably
thickening. Slow down
to give traffic behind you a
chance to slow down. Everybody then has a better
chance to avoid hitting the vehicle ahead.
A patch of dense fog may extend only for a few feet
(meters) or for miles (kilometers); you can't really tell
while you're
in it. You can only treat the situation with
extreme care.
One common
fog condition -- sometimes called mist or
ground fog
-- can happen in weather that seems perfect,
especially at night or in the early morning in valley and
low, marshy areas. You can be suddenly enveloped in
thick, wet haze that may even coat your windshield. You
can often spot these fog patches or mist layers with your
headlights. But sometimes they can be waiting for you
as you come over a hill or dip into a shallow valley.
Start
your windshield wipers and washer, to help clear
accumulated road dirt. Slow down carefully.
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Tips on Driving in Fog
If you get caught in fog, turn your headlights on low
beam, even
in daytime. You’ll see -- and be seen --
better.
Don’t
use your high beams. The light will bounce off
the water droplets that make up fog and reflect back at
you.
Use your defogger. In high humidity, even a light
buildup of moisture on the inside of the glass will cut
down on your already limited visibility.
Run your
windshield wipers and washer occasionally. Moisture
can build up on the outside glass, and what seems to be
fog may actually be moisture
on the outside of your
windshield.
Treat dense fog as an emergency. Try to find a place
IO
pull off the road. Of course you want to respect
another’s property, but you might need
to put something
between you and moving vehicles
-- space, trees,
telephone poles, a private driveway, anything that
removes
you from other traffic.
If visibility is near zero and
you must stop but are
unsure whether you are away from the road, turn your
lights on, start your hazard warning flashers, and sound
your horn at intervals or when you hear approaching
traffic. Pass
other vehicles in fog only if you
can see far enough
ahead to pass safely. Even then, be prepared to delay
your pass if you suspect the fog is worse up ahead.
If
other vehicles try to pass you, make it easy for them.
City Driving
L
One of the biggest problems with city streets is the
amount
of traffic on them. You’ll want to watch out for
what
the other drivers are doing and pay attention to
traffic signals.
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Here are ways tohcrease your safety in city driving:
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Know the best way to get to where you are going.
Try not to drive around trying to pick out a familiar
street or landmark. Get a city map and plan your trip
into an unknown part of the city just as you would
for
a cross-country trip.
Try to use the freeways that rim and crisscross most
large cities. You'll save time and energy. (See the
next section, "Freeway Driving.")
Treat a green light as
a warning signal. A traffic light
is there because the corner is busy enough to need it.
When a light turns green, and just before you start to
move, check both ways for vehicles that have not
cleared the intersection or may be running the red
light.
Obey all posted speed limits. But remember that they
are for ideal road, weather and visibility conditions.
You may need to drive below the posted limit in bad
weather or when visibility is especially poor.
Pull
to the right (with care) and stop clear of
intersections when you see or hear emergency
vehicles.
Freeway Driving
Mile for mile, freeways (also called thruways,
parkways, expressways, turnpikes, or superhighways)
are the safest
of all roads. But they have their own
special rules.
The most important advice on freeway driving is: Keep
up with traffic and keep to the right. Drive at the same
speed most
of the other drivers are driving. Too-fast or
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