Keeping Your Teenage Driver Safe

Your child has just become a teenager and is already behind the wheel. This can be the most frightening part of a parent’s life. According to data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, car crashes take more young lives than all other causes–and in larger proportion than for any other driving age group. And most of the fatal crashes and serious injuries come in the very earliest months of unsupervised driving. But you can help keep these statistics from affecting your child by simply offering them some basic driving rules.
1. Help your teens develop the right habits especially during the first six months of solo driving. Let them know right away these are the rules:
• Use of safety belts is mandatory.
• Teen passengers won’t be allowed initially.
• Night driving will be limited.
• Don’t drive when you are drowsy.
• Distractions (e.g., text messaging) are prohibited.
• Speeding must be expressly prohibited. Since most new drivers don’t have the experience to handle vehicles at high speeds, it’s the source of many deaths and injuries.
• There will be no alcohol or drug use.
2. Set a good driving example in the way you drive:
• Wear your safety belt always.
• Don’t speed.
• Practice defensive driving.
• Don’t use your cell phone.
• Don’t run red lights.
3. Develop a parent/teen driving contract. An example is available from the National Safety Council at www.nsc.org/issues/teendriving/ agreement.pdf. Many states also have sample agreements.
4. Plan to provide your teen with extra practice time in a variety of weather conditions so he or she can gain experience and confidence. If you live in a climate where the winters are challenging, make sure your teens vehicle is up to par. Here are some things you can do:
• Winter weather puts your vehicle’s mechanical systems and performance to the ultimate test, and demands that your vehicle is in excellent condition. Make sure that your tires and all mechanical systems, including your brakes, are in top working order.
• Take your new driver to a vacant, snow or ice covered parking lot where you can safely practice slow-speed maneuvers.
• A novice driver’s first on-the-road experience with winter-weather driving should not be during a major blizzard. Ensure he/she waits until conditions are less severe.
• If possible, have your teenager practice driving on slippery roads in daylight only. Exposure to slippery roads at night should be limited until beginners have gained more experience driving in various types of winter weather.
• Maintain a safe driving distance from the vehicle in front of you.
• Make sure the speed limit is observed and respected.
• Transform the trunk of your vehicle into a winter survival kit by filling it with essential emergency equipment including a flashlight, blankets, jumper cables, sand and a small shovel or ice scraper.
5. Reinforce state graduated licensing programs so teens must have a longer period of supervised driving and more restrictions in the early months.
This is a just a short list, but with your reinforcement, a little time spent with your teen driver might protect your child’s life and at the very least keep their insurance rates from going through the roof.
About the Author: Greg Chapman of Greg Chapman Motors is a knowledgeable and leading provider of used cars, trucks, and SUV’s. Since 1959, Chapman motors has supplied reliable used cars in Austin and the surrounding area. For more information please visit http://www.gregchapmanmotors.com>

Carbon fiber for you car – body kits and more

When cars first replaced horse drawn carriages they did not have to go too fast to be the preferred choice for transportation. They simply had to go faster than a horse drawn carriage. And that was not very fast. Therefore when it was felt that cars needed to be safe as well they made it of sturdy and heavy metal. At that time the weight of the metal did not matter because the car did not have high ambitions about performance.

Therefore cars tended to get heavier and safer. However once the initial excitement of the car was over and market forces began to have effect then the performance of the car became an important factor. There were many refinements which improved the performance but metal continued to be used for making most of the car body. That is because there was no suitable alternative for the strength of metal.

However with the advent of the aircraft and the aircraft industry it became very important to find light weight and strong materials. This led to the invention of carbon fiber composite material which is very light and yet very strong.

Now by reducing the weight of your car you get a lot of benefits. Your fuel economy improves, your car handling improves and your cars power to weight ratio improves which makes your car more lively. Therefore it makes a lot of sense to use carbon fiber components to replace existing heavier components of your car. Therefore you can consider carbon fiber body kits, hood, mirrors and a host of other products all which are as strong as the product they replace but are much lighter. Amongst these a carbon fiber hood is a very popular product.

When you have finished identifying all the components of your car that can be made lighter you can go online to get information on carbon fiber based replacements available for these products. You will marvel at the high tech options that are now available and you will enjoy browsing through a wide range of exciting products made by using cutting edge technology. You can know more about carbon fiber composite based car aftermarket products at www.ilovebodykits.com.

If you’ve perused the Internet very often like I have, you may have come upon some ridiculous pictures of some “redneck” towing rig where the truck’s back wheels are weighed down so much the wheels sag, and are covered partially by the wheel wells, while the front tires look as if they are about to come off the ground.
It’s got disaster written all over it, and I only wonder if it really is for real or the photographer just did it for kicks. It’s an extreme example of a poor hitch job, but even some small precautions overlooked can lead to serious problems when latching big weight to an auto.
The Right Tow Vehicle for the Job
It’s not really how big the vehicle is, it’s about brakes and suspension. Will you be able to stop such a load if you need to on the road? That is the biggest question that should be asked when the potential inertia of the load is added. Make sure the brakes are in good shape.
The suspension also affects the brakes. Think of a sagging back end that takes traction away from your front tires (see the extreme redneck example written above). Since most of the braking power comes from the front tires, having such a small bite on the road will draw much of the power from the brake response. And when the vehicle brakes, the hitch will also want to “dive,” which will bring the back end even further down, taking more front brake power, which leads back to suspension quality again.
Hitches for Proper Linkage
It’s good to leave the guesswork to the hitch technician when determining what the proper tongue weight should be. Don’t confuse the hitch weight with what the listed “ball” weight if you’ve purchased a rapid hitch or something to that effect. The hitch will typically need to be professionally welded to your vehicle. It’s best not to just go with the nuts and bolts that come with it.
Where you place the hitch is also important. The hitch and the trailer have to be level. Sometimes the tongue and trailer don’t match so it’s important to go with an adjustable hitch type, like an adjustable ball hitch that can be moved vertically. Something like an adjustable ball hitch would be a choice option since there is some change in alignment when weight is loaded on.
Other precautions during loading one should look into are:
– Making sure that the trailer lights are properly wired and tires are inflated
– The bearings on the trailer wheels are packed and greased
– The goods are centered well over the trailer axle and secured by a proper rope or cargo buckle system
– The trailer is weighed as to prevent overloading and to find that only 10 to 15 percent of that weight is on the hitch
With some of those precautions in mind, also take a look at your state government’s website or any traveling site for more info.

Best Used Cars – Get The Best Deals On Repossessed Used Cars For Sale

If you’ve ever been to a public car auction then you’ll know that it’s very standard and simple. Upon arriving at a public auction you’ll be required to present some id and sign in. You’ll be given a number so you can start bidding on items during the day. Usually at public car auctions you’ll be allowed to inspect the cars before they go on auction.

When inspecting cars make sure you know a little bit about cars first. Each car will have an information tab that will tell you what’s wrong with it if there is a problem. These public car auctions have to tell you if the car is in good condition or not. But never fear if you buy a car from an auction and it won’t work even if it says it’s in good conditioning you’re covered under their terms and conditions.

We now understand public car auctions but what about online car auctions and what’s the difference?
There’s not much difference between how they work however the biggest difference is that you won’t be inspecting the cars before you buy them so it’s like buying clothes on the internet not knowing if it fits right. However and this is a big however, you’re allowed to send any cars you buy online back if it has been misrepresented, now if you’re wondering that the benefits are of buying from cars from an online auction here it is:
– Search for cars without having to go to the auction sites
– Bid for them in your own time from anywhere around the world
– Your protected by the online car auction for misrepresentation
– There are 4 top websites that consistently have auctions going every week

So if you’re interested in buying cars from public auctions you now have two ways to do so. Join this site now and get access to thousands of good quality cars at unbelievable low prices.

Visit Best Car Dealers Blog for the best deals on Used Cars For Sale Online.