What to do in a hail storm

http://www.comedydefensivedriving.com/texas/ This video tip will let you know what to do when an emergency situation occurs while you are driving. Hail storms can cause severe damage to your car and can even harm you if you get caught off guard. Watch the whole series of short tips! Also, feel free to share the videos as well if you want, the more people to learn about this the better!

Have you ever been curious about the way hail is formed? Hail formation requires the perfect environment of strong, upward sweeping motions or currents of air. Each time the hail formation is swept up through the clouds, another layer or concentric ring is added to it. This happens over and over again until the formation is heavier than the wind is strong and it falls to the earth.

Another thing that I find interesting is that hail is usually described as the size of a sports ball, while tumors are usually described as the size of a breakfast fruit…just an observation.

Tips for driving in a hail storm

• Keep your radio tuned in to a weather channel.

• Be sure to use your headlights. Most states require you use them in rain anyway.

• Slow down. Call your boss or whomever you are trying to impress and tell them you are going to be delayed by weather. Tell them how hard you will be to replace!

• Allow extra breaking distance between you and the car ahead of you (use a 6 second rule for wet weather or a 9 second rule for icy weather).

• Move your car to a covered area and sit there until the weather alert has ended. A parking garage would be ideal as hail tends to bounce back up after hitting the ground at such a high speed and may bounce into your direction.

• If you stop, keep your seat belt on and put on your hazard lights. If pulling over to the shoulder of a freeway, put your signal light on instead, as if you are planning to re-enter the freeway.

• Whatever you do, if you stop under an overpass, pull onto the shoulder, do not stop in the traffic lane. Otherwise, people will think that you have already been hit in the head by the hail.

• Be extra careful in intersections for people who may not be able to stop.

• Be careful stopping or driving near power lines that may be weighed down with ice.

If you practice these recommendations when driving in bad weather, you’ll make it safer for you and everyone around you. And remember, if there is the slightest warning of approaching hail or any other kind of inclement weather, don’t drive unless it is absolutely necessary.

Until next week…keep your car and your head wrinkle-free.

Daun Thompson

Driving In Bad Weather – Comedy Defensive Driving

The post DRIVING IN BAD WEATHER? – HAIL NO! appeared first on Comedy Defensive Driving®.

If this should happen in the future, perhaps it is best to know how to “conserve” fuel, rather than hoarding it. Here a few tips that may help…

• Check your tire pressure often (great time to check for nails and/or an ex-girlfriend’s nail file jammed in the grooves).
• Avoid idling (fact: bank robbers may be causing a fuel crisis)
• Keep your engine tuned regularly (keep it purring like a kitten…kittens eat less than a full grown cat)
• Check for extra junk in the trunk (d.i.v.o.r.c.e.)
• Be certain to use your manufacturer’s recommended grade of oil
• Keep it close to the speed limit on the highway. It will also save you from a ticket from Johnny Law.
• Try to coast to a stop. This will surely honk other people off (check…and double check).
• Avoid slowly crawling up to a speed. 15 seconds to accelerate to 50 mph uses less fuel than taking 30 seconds to reach the same speed (this will also save you from a stray bullet from the guy in the diesel truck behind you).
• Close the car windows and run the A/C. Conserving on A/C does not really help, especially at high speeds. Be comfortable on your journey…you cheapskate!

Some refer to these driving techniques as hypermiling. Most of these techniques improve your car’s fuel efficiency by reducing the demands placed on the engine. So, it’s possible to improve fuel economy by 37% just by changing the way your drive. But, there are also some hypermiling methods that are controversial and could pose an element of danger…such as riding in a big rig’s draft. Not cool, dude…your Honda Accord could become a Honda accordion!

Until next week… Cool it on the fuel.

Daun Thompson
Writer / Comedienne / Artist

Fuel Shortage

The post Fuel Shortage appeared first on Comedy Defensive Driving®.

When your vehicle’s tires lose traction with the road surface, it is hydroplaning. If you’re driving in the rain and there’s more water on the road than your tires can safely push away, you could find yourself unable to control the steering, speed and braking of your vehicle. Without control of your vehicle, you could easily slide into other cars or worse, slide over into oncoming traffic or slide off the road and hit any number of things.

If it’s just stopped raining, there may be areas of roadway that still have puddles, and that’s all it takes for a vehicle to hydroplane and lose control. Once you hit a puddle of any depth or a wet area of roadway, there’s water pressure in front of the wheels that pushes the water under the tires.

At that point, your tires are actually skimming the surface of the water as they’re separated from the road surface by that thin layer of water and therefore, they lose traction and start sliding.

Vehicle hydroplaning can be extremely dangerous depending on the road surface, surrounding vehicles or other obstacles, or even worse on a back road where you may end up sliding down an embankment.

Causes of Hydroplaning

• The amount of water or depth of the water on road surfaces. There doesn’t have to be a lot of water on the road surface to start hydroplaning. One puddle, if it’s deep enough, can cause loss of traction and sliding.
• When the tires lose traction with the road and virtually just skim the surface of the water, hydroplaning occurs.
• Driving too fast for the road conditions can cause hydroplaning since the tires may be rotating faster than they can displace the water from the tread.
• Improperly inflated tires can easily cause a vehicle to hydroplane. Whether your tires are under- or over-inflated, they can lose contact with the road surface, which will cause the vehicle to slide on top of the water instead of the tire tread displacing the water efficiently.
• Worn tires won’t have enough tread to displace the water and maintain efficient contact with a wet road and in effect cause hydroplaning. So it’s important to check your tires’ tread depth, especially if you tend to put a lot of miles on them. It’s recommended to replace your tires when the tread measures 1/16 of an inch.
• As mentioned, the entire road surface doesn’t have to be wet to cause hydroplaning. Puddles of water on the road can be enough to cause loss of traction.
• Overloading a vehicle; carrying more weight than the vehicle is intended to carry causes more pressure on the tires than recommended and the tires can lose enough contact with the road to start hydroplaning.
• The wrong size tires for your vehicle can even cause it to hydroplane, so be sure to only put tires on your vehicle that are meant for that vehicle.
• The tread pattern on the tires can be a cause for a vehicle to hydroplane. Some tread patterns may look cool, but may not displace water efficiently enough for the tire to maintain traction.

How to Recover from Hydroplaning

You want to experience a safe recovery from hydroplaning to avoid any accidents. There are ways to get out of it. Here’s what to do when hydroplaning:

• First, remain calm. It’s best to not panic and to understand what your vehicle is doing and why.
• Immediately take your foot off the accelerator. If you’re using cruise control, turn it off by gently tapping on the brake once. You never want to use your brakes in response to sliding. That may make the situation worse and you may skid out of control completely.
• You need to regain control of your steering and the best way to do that is to realign your tires in the same direction as your vehicle. Even though it might seem like the wrong thing to do, you need to turn your steering wheel into the slide, in the same direction that your car is sliding. This puts your tires in direct alignment to your vehicle and aids in getting back control of your car.
• Once you feel your tires regaining traction with the road surface, slow your car by tapping gently on the brakes and you’ll drive out of the hydroplane.

After you’ve fully recovered, you may want to pull off the road and take a few breaths to completely calm down before venturing on in your travels.

The post What is Hydroplaning? appeared first on Comedy Defensive Driving®.

So, if something like this happened to you, would you know how to escape? According to Jeff Rossen who does NBC’s Today Show Rossen Reports, since 2001 law requires that all cars must be equipped with an escape latch in the trunk of a car. And, he says, that most people are unaware that this latch actually glows in the dark. So, now would be a good time to take a gander inside your trunk to locate the latch. If you cannot find it, this would be a good excuse to open the factory seal on that car manual that you’ve never looked at. If you still have no luck locating it, ask someone at your dealership or perhaps your auto mechanic may even be able to help you to locate it.

Always expect the unexpected. And be ready for whatever situation may present itself to you. Perhaps this may save your life someday and keep your mug from being a headline in the news.

Until next week…

Daun Thompson
Writer / Comedienne / Artist

Locked In a Car Trunk – Comedy Defensive Driving

The post Locked In a Car Trunk – How to Escape appeared first on Comedy Defensive Driving®.

“Seems it never rains in southern California
Seems I often heard this kind of talk before
It never rains in California
But girls don’t they warn ya
It pours, man it pours”

So, apparently it does rain in California. Much like Texas, it doesn’t rain for a long time, and then it’s like a monsoon. The news has already been reporting flash floods and cars being washed away with people trapped inside, which is your worst nightmare. My daughter’s new car came with manual windows and locks. Her father said he specifically purchased it this way in the event that, if she drove into deep water, her electrical system wouldn’t be compromised and she could roll down her crank windows and unlock her doors to escape. And, while this sounds well thought out on his part, the car was purchased that way because he’s basically cheap. You realize I’m just kidding, right? (Or am I???)

The misconception is that cars won’t float because they are too heavy. But a car can actually float in less than a foot of water. And large trucks and SUV’s float even faster because their large inflated tires make them even more buoyant. When water is rising fast, it can overtake your car in an instant. So, how do you survive if you get trapped in a flash flood? First of all, if the water is rising quickly, roll the window down so you can escape. Get onto the roof, the highest part of the vehicle. Stay low and hang on. Since the car can flip in only 6 feet of water, you wouldn’t stand a chance if you stayed inside the car.

If this sounds like the scariest situation you could ever find yourself in, the best advice is to just stay out of flooded areas altogether. Even if the water looks calm, the road beneath could be washed out and misleading. If rescuers are dispatched and have to risk their lives to save yours, you could very well be billed for being rescued. Some states call it the “Stupid Motorist Law.”

Until next week…

Daun Thompson
Writer / Comedienne / Artist

Flash Floods and Cars – Comedy Defensive Driving

The post Flash Floods and Cars – Driving Safely in Poor Conditions appeared first on Comedy Defensive Driving®.

It appears that driving instructors are teaching new drivers to stop behind a crosswalk line and count three seconds before leaving a stop sign or taking a right turn at a red light. Although laws don’t indicate that the car needs to stop for a required amount of time, it actually indicates that your car has to “settle.” But, counting three seconds will insure that your car has settled. New drivers may not understand what it means for a car to “settle,” so, most driving instructors are teaching them to stop and count 3, 4, or even 5 seconds. Some teach them to just say “S.T.O.P.” But the majority of new drivers are being taught 3 seconds, which is better since other drivers are so impatient. 5 seconds may get you a honk or even a bit of road rage directed your way.

Creating a safe following distance or stopping distance has increased from a 2 second rule to a three second rule while driving on dry pavement. The method to do this is to begin counting 3 seconds once the vehicle in front of you is passing a stationary object like a tree, a mile marker or a dead deer (make sure it’s dead, though, if it gets up and walks away, it isn’t stationary). This rule should be doubled to a 6 second rule on wet pavement and tripled to a 9 second rule on icy or snowy pavement. So, the slicker the roadway, the more space you want to create between you and the car ahead.

And, as for dropping food on the floor, that is up to you. Although I have read that it doesn’t matter how long something is left on the floor, the contamination depends upon how much bacteria is actually on the floor. So, if you’re a risk-taker, and a rule breaker, just remember that it’s probably a super bad idea to eat something dropped on the floor of your jail cell.

Until next week…

Daun Thompson
Writer / Comedienne / Artist

Three Second Rule – Comedy Defensive Driving

The post THREE SECOND RULE appeared first on Comedy Defensive Driving®.

The post Roadside Assistance appeared first on Comedy Defensive Driving®.

The post Carjacking appeared first on Comedy Defensive Driving®.

So, plan to slow down. It’s called Fall Back. So just try to be laid back. Leave earlier if you can (so it’s good and dark). Leave time to clean your windshield and windows for good visibility. In addition to an emergency kit, pack a few other useful items such as a flashlight, blanket, umbrella, ice scraper and even a pair of sunglasses for sunrise and sunset glare. Drive slower and be cautious for stopped cars, accidents and pedestrians. And don’t forget about the fall stirring up the critters. There will definitely be more suicidal squirrels on the road, gathering nuts or doing whatever they do. You just know they’re going to dart back across the road. That, you can anticipate. While the changes in weather, you cannot.

Until next week…

Daun Thompson
Writer / Comedienne / Artist

Fall Driving – Comedy Defensive Driving

The post Fall Driving appeared first on Comedy Defensive Driving®.

So, if your car has been sitting in the hot sun, even if only 60 degrees, it is best to roll down the windows to allow the benzene fumes to escape (into the ozone…now we have another problem). Then, after a few minutes, you may turn on the a/c and perhaps wait a few minutes before entering the car. Even at 60 degrees, the Benzene level goes up to 2000-4000mg, 40 times the acceptable level of toxins.

Acceptable Benzene level is 50mg per sq ft., but no Benzene would be ideal, right? Well, it’s not that simple. Because Benzene is found in many other products since it is mainly used as a component of crude oil. Any petroleum-based products such as gasoline, solvents, plastics, synthetic fibers, dyes, glues and detergents will likely contain Benzene. And it’s also found in tobacco smoke.

So, best bet is to play it safe. When in doubt, ventilate! Roll down the windows and inhale that nice, fresh air. Or is it?

Until next week…

Daun Thompson
Writer / Comedienne / Artist

That Toxic New Car Smell – Comedy Defensive Driving

The post That Toxic New Car Smell appeared first on Comedy Defensive Driving®.