The Safe Driver

Why live in a pot hole?

Looking after our vehicles is part of every vehicle owner’s job and driver’s job. Having a vehicle that’s running smoothly means it’ll be a safer vehicle to drive. Ensuring the brakes work properly for example means you can stop in an emergency if needed. Ensuring the wipers clear a smooth space across the windshield means you’ll be able to use your eyes more effectively while driving. Having the headlights light up the road will also help you drive safely on dark roads at night.

Now, you may be asking how a driver looks after a vehicle if they don’t own it. Part of that process is to let the owner of the vehicle know if a warning light comes onto the dashboard or if it starts to make a noise. Relaying this information on to the vehicle can actually save them some hard earned cash.

I recently had to take my family van into the garage to have the cooling system replaced. I rarely drive the vehicle, even though I own it, as my wife uses it most days. The good news is that she kept me up to date with the current issues of the van and when I had a day off, I took it to my local mechanic who did a great job to fix the problem the same day and gave it back to me working better than ever. If my wife didn’t let me know of the problems, it could have cost me a lot more money further down the road; so to speak.

The other part that drivers can do to look after the vehicle is watch where the road defects are as they approach them and avoid driving into them. We’ve been attacked this winter with pot holes in almost every city you’ll travel in. I’m sure my local city doesn’t have a smooth road in it. As I’ve recently said to a few of my students at Young Drivers of Canada, if you’re ever kidnapped, blindfolded and driven somewhere, you’ll know that you’ve left our wonderful city the moment you’re on a smooth road. I’m kidding of course, but that seems to be the case this winter.

Looking ahead and spotting the dark spots on the road is a good way to allow you to keep the vehicle under control and be able to spot any pot holes in time to avoid them. Anything on the worn out road that looks like a deeper than normal puddle, could mean a hidden pot hole. You should avoid driving through those as well.

Avoid looking just over the hood to look for the pot holes though as that may make you miss the other important parts of our daily driving tasks; such as other vehicles, signs traffic lights, etc. However, driving your vehicle into a deep pot hole is dangerous for the safety of the vehicle and for the control of your vehicle.

The suspension system of any vehicle can only take so much tough wear and tear before it breaks. Driving through a deep pot hole where a family of four can vacation in it will kill your suspension. Those need to be spotted immediately and move around them right away. By spotting the potholes early, you can move around them sooner. This will allow the driver behind enough time to spot them early enough to avoid them as well. As a whole, this will improve the longevity of your vehicle since you won’t be driving it in a hole.