No, but seriously

I recently had the misfortune to rent the most awful car I've driven in a long time. It was a GM product but I can't remember which one. What struck me the most, apart from the bad ergonomics and incomprehensible onboard computer, was the sheer volume of chrome that had been used in the cabin. They'd outlined all the instruments, centre console and vents in chrome. Now I've never been a big fan of chrome - I think it looks tacky and cheap and is a quick way of attempting to gussy up an otherwise dull design. But putting it in the cabin of a car is just inexcusable and I'll tell you why:- the sun. More specifically, when the sun reflects off all the bling inside the cabin and blinds you whilst you're driving, especially at this time of year when the sun is low in the sky. I was constantly fighting reflections and highlights from the chrome bezels as I drove - it was distracting, it was annoying and frankly it was dangerous. Add that to the laundry list of reasons why GM are failing - you simply don't put chrome inside a car.

People with an over-inflated sense of self-importance are the worst drivers. They're so filled with perceived entitlement that they think they have the God-given right to drive wherever the heck they want and park wherever the heck they want. I have a lot of pet hates in motoring but this is my number one - people who are so lazy that they'll park in a clearly-marked no-parking area simply to save 10 steps. These people just have no common decency - no sense of the greater good or concept of - you know - following rules. Typically these cars are sporting handicap stickers but the people driving them are just friends or relatives of the person who's sticker they're using. That's low, but what I find intolerable is when the car in question actually does have a handicap driver and they simply can't be bothered to use the designated handicap spaces. In this parking lot in question, the spaces are the same distance the other side of the entrance door as this Jeep was parked. And they were all empty bar one. You can see them in the photo behind the lady with the shopping cart - they're the spaces with the blue paint. But no - whoever this person was just couldn't be bothered. I don't know if they were actually handicapped or not - I didn't see them park, but the Jeep was there for a good five minutes (empty, doors locked) before I took the photo. Selfishness like this makes me sick. I would say this person should be ashamed of themselves but if they park like this, chances are they couldn't give a flying rats ass about anyone other than themselves.

Well the message about texting whilst driving clearly isn't getting through, least of all to public transport drivers here in Utah. We snapped this pic on the way to lunch a couple of weeks ago. The guy looks very pissed off and for good reason - he knows he's been caught and probably suspected the picture would turn up online sooner or later. If you work for UTA or know someone who does, tell them their drivers need to concentrate more on driving the bus full of fare-paying passengers, and less on texting. You'd think with all the press this year about public transport drivers being involved in horrific crashes because of texting that things would change. Apparently this individual thinks he's more important than the safety of his passengers though.

I don't know if you've ever used those ArmorAll glass wipes in your car, but if so you'll know that within days of cracking the seal on the tub, they're all dried out and basically useless. I recently bought a "to go" pack of these wipes which have a different packaging, and come with the following emblazoned on the front of the packet - "Guaranteed Wipes Stay Moist". Well - we're going to test that guarantee because the wipes were almost dry when they came out of the packet new, and since then - over the last three weeks - have dried out completely despite being sealed in their packet. I've sent an enquiry to ArmorAll's customer service - we'll see if that results in anything.

With winter coming up, a lot of people will be getting ready to swap to snow tyres. This is a great time to do a critical safety check on your car. Find the DOT age code on your tyres and check how old they are. The DOT code is a 3- or 4-digit code stamped right at the end of the series of letters and numbers after 'DOT' on the tyre sidewall.
If it's a three-digit code, for example 345, then it means the tyre was manufactured in the 34th week of 1995. If it's a four-digit code, for example 1204, then it means the tyre was manufactured in the 12th week of 2004.
You should never be using, buying or riding around on tyres that are more than 6 years old no matter what condition they appear to be in. If you have tyres with a three digit date code, get rid of them - they're too old. If you have tyres with a four digit date code, then check my DOT tyre age calculator to find out the maximum age your date code should be for them to still be considered roadworthy.
It doesn't matter if the tyre looks new and has full tread depth - if it's more than 6 years old, it simply isn't safe to use any more. Bear this in mind when you go to buy your next set of tyres - ask to see the date code before they're fitted to your car. It's not uncommon for dealers to have old stock sitting around that even they don't know is more than 6 years out of date.

This part could easily have been the first or the last entry in this series of driving mantra. I chose to put it at the end because it encompasses everything I've talked about over the last few weeks and it's a simple technique that you should learn and use to the point where it becomes habit. If you've ridden a motorcycle for any length of time, you will be practicing S.I.P.D.E without even knowing it. You have to - it's the only way to stay safe on a motorbike. But for car drivers this is often a difficult concept to grasp, coccooned inside their mobile entertainment complexes. If you've ever seen a police driver training video where you can hear one of the officers constantly narrating what is going on, that's S.I.P.D.E. It would sound a little like this:
"Approaching a road on the left - no traffic. Bus stop to the right - old lady there - could be deaf or blind - might walk into traffic. Car in front slowing down. Car behind getting a bit too close. Bicycle on the pavement - has he seen us. Old lady has sat down - probably OK. Car now approaching junction in front of us - driver looking the other way. Bus coming towards us having to go wide to get around cyclist." etc etc etc. It's a constant, real-time observation of everything going on around the police car. So what is S.I.P.D.E? Search, Identify, Predict, Decide, Execute.
Search for problems before they happen. Is that person approaching from the side road a little too fast? Have they seen you? Identify the hazards around you. Someone texting on their cellphone? Someone distracted by kids in the back seat? Predict - try to predict what the traffic around you is going to do. Can you see a lane closed ahead? Chances are the cars in front of you are going to try to merge and if they do, will they be paying attention? Decide what to do - can you slow down and make room? Can you avoid the problem by changing lanes? Execute your decision - just do it. If this all sounds complicated and exhausting then you're right - it is. Driving a car should never be considered a luxury, or a right, or something that is easy. It's a complex interaction between you, the 2 ton weapon you're driving, the road and the other road users. If you can get into the habit of this sort of prediction-avoidance loop, you will be able to drive far more smoothly than you would simply by reacting to events only when they happen. And when you drive smoothly, as I said in Part 1 - the river flows a lot more easily.

That concludes my mini series on driving mantra. Hopefully you got something useful out of it and hopefully it will give you pause for thought next time you step behind the wheel.

Too many people, especially here in America, think cruise control is the be-all and end-all of long distance driving. They'll set the cruise control at some given speed and then stay there irrespective of anything that might be going on around them. A classic example is an overtaking truck. I saw this recently and it prompted me to include it in this mini series. We were all coming up behind a slower car in the inside lane. The truck about half a mile in front of me pulled out to overtake just as we reached a slight gradient. It was a laden tanker so he started running out of steam pretty quickly but was very nearly past the slower car - probably less than 2m to go. The driver of the car just sat there though. He didn't speed up to get past and let the truck pull back in, nor did he click the cruise control down a notch to allow the truck to get in front and pull in. No - for 3 miles he sat staring at the truck's indicator. By the time the truck did pull in, there was a line of traffic about half a mile long behind us - all because captain cruise control didn't think to help the situation out. So who was at fault here? The truck driver for attempting to overtake on a gradient in the first place or the car driver for being obstinate and not allowing the truck back in? I'd go with the car driver here. The truck had completed 95% of the overtaking and the car driver simply would not take account of the changed situation. Instead he stuck to his guns and glued up the freeway for 3 miles. So if you find yourself in this situation, take notice of what's going on around you and don't zone out. Adjust your cruise control. Remember the flowing river.