CHEVROLET CAVALIER 1995 3.G Owners Manual

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 0 Section 4 Your Driving and the Road
Defensive Driving
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. The
best advice anyone can give about driving is: Drive
defensively.
Please start with a very important safety device in your
Chevrolet: Buckle up. (See “Safety Belts” in
the Index.)
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.
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.
4-1

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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 affects four things that anyone needs to drive a
vehicle:
0 Judgment
0 Muscular Coordination
0 Vision
0 Attentiveness
Police records show that almost
half of all motor
vehicle-related deaths involve alcohol. In most cases,
these deaths are the result
of someone who was drinking
and driving. In recent years, some 18,000 annual motor
vehicle-related deaths have been associated with the use
of alcohol, with more
than 300,000 people injured.
Many adults
-- by some estimates, nearly half the adult
population
-- choose never to drink alcohol, so they
never drive after drinking. For persons under 21, it’s
against the law in every
U.S. state to drink alcohol.
There are good medical, psychological and
developmental reasons for these laws. The
obvious way
to solve this highway safety problem
is for people never to drink alcohol and then drive. But
what
if people do? How much is “too much” if the
driver plans to drive? It’s 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 Concentration (BAC)
of someone
who is drinking depends upon four things:
0 How much alcohol consumed
0 The drinker’s body weight
0 The amount of food that is consumed before and
during drinking
consume the alcohol
The length of time it has taken the drinker to
According
to the American Medical Association, a
180-pound
(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 1-1/2 ounces
(45 ml) of a liquor like whiskey, gin or vodka.
4-2 -

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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
somewhat lower BAC level.
There is a gender difference, too. Women generally have
a lower relative percentage of body water than men.
Since alcohol is carried in body water, this means that a
woman generally will reach a higher BAC level than a man
of her same
body weight when each has the same
number of drinks.
The law in many
U.S. states sets the legal limit at a BAC
of 0.10 percent. In a growing number of U.S. states, and
throughout Canada, the limit is
0.08 percent. In some
other countries
it’s even lower. The BAC limit for all
commercial drivers in the
U.S. is 0.04 percent.
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 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 a collision
increases sharply for drivers who have a
BAC of
0.05 percent or above. A driver with a BAC level of
0.06 percent has doubled his or her chance of having a
collision. At a BAC level
of 0.10 percent, the chance of
this driver having a collision is twelve times greater; at a
level of
0.15 percent, the chance is twenty-five times
greater!
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Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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.
“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 even a moderate 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, especially injuries to the brain, spinal cord or
heart. This means that when anyone who has been
drinking
-- driver or passenger -- is in a crash, that
person’s chance of being killed or permanently disabled
is higher than if the person had not been drinking.

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine 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.
Braking
Braking action involves perception time and reaction
time.
First, you have to decide to push on the brake pedal.
That's
perception time. Then you have to bring up your
foot and do it. That's
reaction time.
Average reaction time is about 3/4 of a second. But
that's only an average. It might be less with
one driver
and as long as two or three seconds or more with
another. Age, physical condition, alertness, coordination,
and eyesight all play a part.
So do alcohol, drugs and
frustration. But even in
3/4 of a second, a vehicle
moving at
60 mph (100 kdh) travels 66 feet (20 m).
That could be a lot of distance in an emergency, so
keeping enough space between your vehicle and others
is important.
And,
of course, actual stopping distances vary greatly
with the surface
of the road (whether it's pavement or
gravel); the condition
of the road (wet, dry, icy); tire
tread; and the condition
of your brakes.
4-5

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Avoid needless heavy braking. Some people drive in
spurts
-- heavy acceleration followed by heavy braking
-- rather than keeping pace with traffic. This is a
mistake. Your brakes may not have time to cool between
hard stops. Your brakes will wear out much faster
if you
do a lot of heavy braking. If you keep pace with the
traffic and allow realistic following distances, you will
eliminate a lot
of unnecessary braking. That means
better braking and longer brake life.
If your engine ever stops while you’re driving, brake
normally but don’t pump
your brakes. If you do, the
pedal may get harder to push down. If your engine
stops,
you will still have some power brake assist. But
you will
use it when you brake. Once the power assist is
used up, it may take longer to stop and the brake pedal
will be harder to push.
Anti-Lock Brakes (ABS)
Your Chevrolet has an advanced electronic braking
system that will help prevent
a braking skid.
This light on
the
instrument panel will
come on briefly when
you start your vehicle.
When you start
your vehicle, or when you begin to drive
away,
you may hear a momentary motor or clicking
noise. And you may even notice that
your brake pedal
moves
a little while this is going on. This is the ABS
system testing itself. If there’s a problem with the
anti-lock brake system,
the anti-lock brake system
warning light will stay
on or flash.
See “Anti-Lock Brake System Warning Light” in the
Index.

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Here's how anti-lock works. Let's say the road is wet.
Yo~1'1-e driving safely. Suddenly an animal jumps out
in
front of YOLI.
You slam on the brakes. Here's what happens with ABS.
A computer senses that wheels are slowing down. If one
of the wheels is about to stop rolling, the computer will
separately work
the brakes at each front wheel and at the
rear wheels. The anti-lock
system can change the brake pressure
faster than any driver could. The computer is
programmed to make the most
of available tire and road
conditions.
You can steer around the obstacle while braking hard.
As you brake, your computer keeps receiving updates on
wheel speed and controls braking pressure accordingly.

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Remember: Anti-lock doesn’t change the time you need
to get your foot up
to the brake pedal. If you get too
close to the vehicle in front of you, you won’t have time
to apply your brakes if that vehicle suddenly slows or
stops. Always leave enough room up ahead to stop, even
though
you have anti-lock brakes.
To Use Anti-Lock
Don’t pump the brakes. Just hold the brake pedal down
and let anti-lock work for you. You may feel the system
working, or you may notice some noise, but this
is
normal.
Braking in Emergencies
Use your anti-lock braking system when you need to.
With anti-lock,
you can steer and brake at the same
time. In many emergencies, steering can help you more
than even the very best braking.
Steering
Power Steering
If you lose power steering assist because the engine
stops or the system is
not functioning, you can steer but
it will take much more effort.
Steering Tips
Driving on Curves
It’s important to take curves at a reasonable speed.
A lot of the “driver lost control” accidents mentioned on
the news happen on curves. Here’s why:
Experienced driver or beginner, each
of us is subject to
the same laws of physics when driving
on curves. The
traction
of the tires against the road surface makes it
possible for the vehicle to change its path when you turn
the front wheels. If there’s no traction, inertia will keep
the vehicle going in the same direction. If you’ve ever
tried
to steer a vehicle on wet ice, you’ll understand this.
The traction
you can get in a curve depends on the
condition of your tires and the road surface, the angle at
which the curve is banked, and your speed. While you’re in
a curve, speed
is the one factor you can control.
Suppose you’re steering through
a sharp curve. Then you
suddenly accelerate. Both control systems -- steering and
acceleration
-- have to do their work where the tires meet
the road. Adding the sudden acceleration can demand too
much
of those places. You can lose control.
What should
you do if this ever happens? Ease up on the
accelerator pedal, steer the vehicle the way you want it
to go, and slow down.
4-8

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Speed limit signs near curves warn that you should
adjust
your speed. Of course, the posted speeds are
based on good weather and road conditions. Under less
favorable conditions you’ll want
to go slower.
If you need to reduce your speed as you approach a
curve, do
it before you enter the curve, while your front
wheels are straight ahead.
Try to adjust your speed
so you can “drive” through the
curve. Maintain a reasonable, steady speed. Wait to
accelerate until you are out of the curve, and then
accelerate gently
into the straightaway.
Steering in Emergencies
There are times when steering can be more effective than
braking. For example, you come over
a hill and find a
truck stopped
in your lane, or a car suddenly pulls out
from nowhere, or a child darts out from between parked
cars and stops right
in front of you. You can avoid these
problems by braking
-- if you can stop in time. But
sometimes
you can’t; there isn’t room. That’s the time for
evasive action
-- steering around the problem.
Your Chevrolet can perform very well
in emergencies
like these. First apply your brakes. (See “Braking
in
Emergencies” earlier in this section.) It is better to
remove
as much speed as you can from a possible collision. Then
steer around the problem,
to the left or
right depending on the space available.
An emergency like this requires close attention and a
quick decision. If
you are holding the steering wheel at
the recommended
9 and 3 o’clock positions, you can
turn it
a full 180 degrees very quickly without removing
either hand. But
you have to act fast, steer quickly, and
just as quickly straighten the wheel once
you have
avoided the object.
The
fxt that such emergency situations are always
possible
is a good reason to practice defensive driving at
all times and wear safety belts properly.
4-9

Downloaded from www.Manualslib.com manuals search engine Off-Road Recovery Passing
You may find sometime that your right wheels have
dropped off‘ the edge
of a road onto the shoulder 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 until the
right front tire contacts the pavement edge. Then turn
your steering wheel to go straight down the roadway.
I
SLOW DOWN
edge of paved surface
.- LEFT QUARTEH lunm
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.
So here are some tips for passing:
0 “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.
0 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.
4-10