All posts in On the Road

Do You Drive For Work? Steps You Can Take To Stay Safe On The Road

by Carsurfer Admin on 2015/10/21 in Trucks with Comments Off on Do You Drive For Work? Steps You Can Take To Stay Safe On The Road

Ask any truck driver knows, driving for a living can take a toll on a person. Driving can be a dangerous job, and truck drivers must always be on their toes. If you drive for work or are thinking of doing so, there are steps you can take to stay safe on the road.

Get The Right License

The first thing that you must do is to make sure that you have the right license. Earn your commercial driver’s license from a school that belongs to an association like the Commercial Vehicle Training Association. You will be taught good habits and will learn how to keep yourself safe on the road. To get started, you can find out about the commercial licensing here.

Take Care Of Yourself

As a truck driver, you need to take care of yourself. Long hours on the open road can be taxing on the mind and body. It can be difficult to eat right on the road, but try to make sure that you do. Stopping at a grocery store, buying fresh foods, and storing them in your cooler is far healthier than eating at every greasy spoon along the way. Staying healthy is a key component in staying safe.

Get Enough Sleep

While you are at it, make sure that you are getting enough sleep. You may be tempted to push it through the night to make better time, but you put yourself and everyone on the road in danger when you do so. Stop to rest when you feel like you need to. Arriving at your destination safely is more important than arriving early.

Understand Your Truck

Any truck driver worth their salt knows their rig. Whether it is your own or a company-owned truck, you should have a close relationship with your vehicle. Know its parts, and know how it operates. Perform an inspection before every trip. Check your wheels, your brakes and lights. Make sure your truck is well-maintained. If it is a company-owned truck, be sure to follow the maintenance policies and procedures laid forth by your employer.

Driving for long-hours across the open road is as safe as you make it. While there are certainly things out of a driver’s control, there are many things that you do control. Make sure you have the right license, keep your rig maintained, and stay on top of your health. When you do these things, you make the road a safer place for yourself and every driver you share it with.

New Teen Driver At Home? Six Tips For Teaching Them Responsibility On The Road

by Carsurfer Admin on 2015/10/19 in On the Road with Comments Off on New Teen Driver At Home? Six Tips For Teaching Them Responsibility On The Road

A driver’s license is a major rite of passage for a teenager. It is also a source of anxiety for parents. The following tips are designed to help your teen become a responsible driver and soothe your frayed nerves

Lead by Example

Your children learn life skills by modeling your behavior. This includes safe driving habits. Make sure you practice good behavior by buckling up, avoid using your cell phone, and staying focused and calm.

Encourage Financial Responsibility

Your teen is more likely to act responsibly if they have a financial stake in vehicle ownership. Encourage your new driver to contribute their own funds toward the purchase and maintenance of their vehicle. You can find used cars at an affordable price at places like the Autobank of Kansas City. Used cars have a much more reachable price tag for teens, and it can help them feel more responsible when they are helping to pay. You can also have them help pay for things like insurance, so they understand that driving is a privilege. 

Encourage Communication

It is a fact of life that young people will make mistakes. Make sure your teen knows they can count on you if they get into a situation they cannot handle. You can even establish a code word that signals that they need help if they are unable to speak freely. You can turn the situation into a teachable moment later when you can both discuss the issue calmly.

Set Boundaries

It is best to set realistic restrictions on your teen’s driving privileges during the first few months. For example, you can limit driving to daytime hours or require that they have an adult driver with them until you are comfortable with their skills. You should discuss these limitations with your teen ahead of time to avoid arguments later.

Create a Contract

Many parents have their young driver sign a contract before hitting the road. The contract should detail the rules that your teen is expected to follow regarding car use, maintenance, and safety. The contract should clearly state how you will monitor behavior, as well as the consequences for breaking the rules. You can even include a set of graduated privileges if your teen honors the agreement.

Discuss Road Hazards

Most parents discuss the dangers of drinking and driving with their kids. That is certainly important but does not cover many of the hazards faced by today’s teen drivers. Distractions from cell phones, tablets, and smartwatches cause thousands of accidents each year. Parents should discuss these issues with teens often. You may even want to disable vehicle features that make it easy to use electronic devices while driving.

Finally, it never hurts to enroll your teen in a professional driver’s education course. This may even earn you a discount on your insurance. You can instill good driving habits in your kids at a young age.

Road Trip Safety: Five Things You Can Do To Stay Safe On The Road

by Carsurfer Admin on 2015/10/14 in On the Road with Comments Off on Road Trip Safety: Five Things You Can Do To Stay Safe On The Road

You and your friends have been planning your upcoming trip for weeks, if not months. You can’t wait to travel across the state, or even across the country, and you feel ready to see the sights and explore what Mother Nature has to offer. But you and your friends will also spend a lot of time in the car, and if you’re not careful, you may find yourself stranded on a little-traveled road. So what can you do to ensure your next trip goes as smoothly and safely as possible?

1. Go for a Tune-up

Even if your car seems in great shape now, little problems may quickly escalate into much larger issues during your extended journey. Take your car to a professional mechanic and have him or her inspect it from the top of its antenna down to the tread of its tires. Don’t forget to check the fluid levels, battery charge, and air filter as well.

Hold onto your records of all your repairs. If something does go wrong on the road, you can bring up the issue with your mechanic later.

2. Pack an Emergency Kit

Despite a thorough tune-up, you should always prepare for the worst. If you ever become involved in an accident or if poor road conditions force you off the road, make sure you have the following on hand:

  • Water
  • Snacks
  • Blankets
  • Flashlight
  • Jumper cables
  • Flares
  • Phone charger
  • First Aid kit

Feel free to expand your emergency kit to include personal items such as insulin and other medication.

3. Plan for Breaks

Although you and your friends want to arrive at your destination as quickly as possible, remember to include frequent rest stops, breaks, and naps in your itinerary. According to the AAA Foundation, those who sleep six to seven hours a night are twice as likely to crash as those who sleep eight hours or more.

As a general rule, pull over and stretch your legs every few hours, even if you don’t feel tired or sleepy. Use the opportunity to snack, enjoy some fresh air, or take a quick nap.

If you have a strict schedule to keep, use your rest stop as a chance to switch drivers, so your driver always feels fresh and alert.

4. Familiarize Yourself with Local Weather and Roads

While your car’s GPS or your phone’s navigation app come in handy, you might not have the best signals out in the wild. As an extra precaution, bring along a physical map and carefully study any confusing roads or turns. Understand the local speed limits as well as any laws that may prohibit you from talking or texting on your phone while driving.

Furthermore, keep an eye on the skies. Just because weather looks nice when you started your trip doesn’t mean it will stay that way as you progress. If possible, search the web for traffic alerts or tune your radio to local weather stations.

4. Keep Insurance/Registration and Emergency Contact Information In Glove Box

The above tips will help you stay safe, no matter where you choose to travel. However, while you may do everything right to avoid collisions, you can’t always predict what other drivers will do. If you get in a collision, it’s important to have all updated paperwork for the other driver or police officer. If you get injured due to someone else’s neglect, be sure to talk to a personal injury attorney like Marc Johnston.

Road trips can be an exciting time when planned and prepared for. Taking extras steps can help you stay safe on the road and avoid collisions.

Road Safety: Ways to Improve It

by Carsurfer Admin on 2015/10/07 in On the Road with Comments Off on Road Safety: Ways to Improve It

All of us drivers are very well aware of how rapidly the number of vehicles on the roads increase on daily basis. Not only the traffic is becoming more frequent, the speeds are increasing too, either due to people always being late or faster and faster cars being produce. Regardless of the cause, staying safe on the roads should be everyone’s priority. This is a team effort and each and every driver needs to contribute. Therefore, here are several suggestions on how to improve road safety applicable to all kinds of vehicles and driving experience.

Buckle up

Make fastening your seatbelt the first thing you need to do before turning the engine on. And do it every time you drive. Every time. It does not matter whether you are going for a long ride or merely around the corner to get some eggs from the nearby shop. Seatbelts save lives and it is the least you can do for your personal safety. After all, how can you expect someone else to look after you when on the road if you fail to do such a simple thing as fastening a seatbelt is.

Slow down

Yes, another no brainer, most of the drivers would say. Then, how come there are so many fatal accidents with speeding as a cause? Risking yours and other people’s lives just because you are late for a meeting or want to get to the show five minutes earlier makes absolutely no sense. Furthermore, if the sign says 50, or 70, or 90 for that matter, it does not mean that you have to drive as fast. Relax, slow down 5 mph and immensely improve safety by this simple action.

Keep your eyes on the road

Do not text and drive, do not talk on the phone unless you use a hands free kit and do not reach for a sandwich at a glove department. Keep your eyes on the road at all times. You need to be aware of everything that is happening on the road, sometimes you will have to react to other people’s mistakes. Furthermore, proper road line marking makes a world of difference and is very helpful in improving road safety. There is nothing worse than an unmarked road on a dark and rainy day. Therefore, keep your eyes open.

Have a clear mind

Driving under the influence of alcohol or any psychoactive substance is an incredibly risky activity. Your reflexes, vision, orientation abilities and motor skills will all be highly influenced and the odds of being involved in some kind of an accident will skyrocket. Relying on the false feeling of supremacy that occurs in a large number of cases when alcohol and drugs consumption is in question lead to too many traffic accidents. Do not be a part of that lethal circle, drive with a clear mind and blood.

Take breaks

Remember the rule, two hours of driving demand at least a 15 minute break. Stop for a cup of coffee, stretch your legs or drink some water or juice, whatever recuperates you best and only then continue to drive. Also, before going long-distance make sure you have a good night sleep. That is an absolutely required precondition.

All these suggestions may seem familiar and common knowledge, but not implementing only a single one of them enormously increases a chance of an accident. Driving is a responsible activity and should be treated as such.

10 Interesting Road Rules in Canada

by Carsurfer Admin on 2015/08/26 in On the Road with Comments Off on 10 Interesting Road Rules in Canada

Even though cars are used in (almost) the same manner all over the world, rules of the road differ from country to country. Most countries have similar rules, and all are built with the same purpose: to keep both the driver and other people safe.

When it comes to Canada, rules are similar: you drive on the right side of the road, speed limit in urban areas is 40km/h and it is compulsory for all inside the vehicle to be wearing a seatbelt. However, there are some interesting road rules in Canada which you might not know of. Here are ten such rules:

  1. In Montreal, you may not park a car in such a way that it is blocking your own driveway (even though it is, in fact, your own driveway).
  2. In the same state, if you have parked your car in the street, it is illegal to wash it there. You can, however, wash it in your driveway, just make sure you don’t block it in the process.
  3. Cars parked in public places must be locked, and their windows must be down to less than the width of a hand. (This one boggles the mind a little. What if it rains or snows, do people in Montreal just deal with wet interiors?)
  4. In Quebec, you are not allowed to turn right on a red light. Since it is expected and legal to turn right in Ontario, people travelling between these two countries must be careful, otherwise they’ll get fined.
  5. Riding a one-horse-open-sleigh, like the one in the Jingle Bells song, is legal, but you have to make sure you have the right amount of bells attached to the sleigh or the harness. That amount is two, and if you happen to have one, or none, you might be fined $5.
  6. In Toronto, it’s illegal to ride a streetcar on Sunday if you’ve been eating garlic. No need to throw away the garlic for good though, just save it until Monday.
  7. The strangest provincial law regarding the road comes from New Brunswick. To break the law in this Atlantic province, you simply need to drive on the road.
  8. In the Province of Quebec, you can be ticketed for driving in the passing lane even if you are not blocking anyone.
  9. Quebec law requires residents to have winter tires from Dec. 15 to Mar. 15. Ontario has no such law, which means if you’re driving from Ontario to Quebec in this period, you might get fined.The fine is up to $1,000.

Some laws are freaky and most often not practiced, while others are practiced frequently. Just because a law is outdated, don’t mean some law enforcement officer somewhere won’t give you a ticket for it. Obey the law, no matter how strange it might sound to you.

If you are interested in passing the Ontario G1 practice testthat is required before you can get your driver’s license, go to Apna Toronto to see more.

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →