Personal Management while Driving

The previous article touches aspects of preventing collisions and dangerous situations caused by some factor which is external to the driver. In order to achieve this, concentration while driving and an ability to respond is necessary. A good driving posture is going to provide this. Many people underestimate the importance of a proper posture, but race drivers (as an example of a professional driver) can spend a day-long worth of practice sessions for getting the posture inch-perfect.

The driving posture also completes the subject of steering technique which we have illustrated earlier, and improves the driving by much. A good driving posture, first of all, is going to change the visual field of the driver, so a poorly seated driver might not see a hazard in time. Even he does see it, the posture might make the perception time longer, and also likely to make the reaction time longer, as the driver needs to bend forward to reach the controls. Even once the driver reacts, the posture might very well limit his ability to brake hard enough or to steer accurately. 

Even if a collision is not perfectly avoidable (and, as you have seen in the previous article, they might be such) a good driving posture will improve the secondary safety: The ability of the car's passive safety measurements to prevent serious injury. Just wearing the seatbelt is not enough. If it's poorly mounted, not snug and with the driver in an improper posture, it might be quite like not using the seatbelt at all.

Bad Postures
Some drivers sit with the back extremly reclined, and the base drawn away from the pedals. Other than being a clear indication of over-confidence, this posture reduces the driver's field of vision, which might make him unable to detect a hazard in time. Even once a hazard is detected, the driver is not likely to be as alert as he should be and his hazard perception times would increase in any case. Even once a hazard is percieved, the would have to bend forward and reach for the wheel/pedals, making the overall response time much longer and making the driving inputs much less accurate (reduced leverage on the brakes can result in dangerous collision).

Once a crash is caused, the driver's body will be hurt through the now bolt-straight limbs, as well as submarine under the lapbelt, with resultant bruises and internal injuries to the abdomen,  fractures in the knees and lost of the effectiveness of the seatbelt, pretentioner and all airbags installed in the car. The shoulders, as well as the neck and head will be thrown about laterally and perpendicularly, resulting in grave injuries as well, and passenger's in the back would be mortally hit by the driver or even the angled seat, as it moves on it's rails. The posture is also not ergonomically comfortable, as it makes the driver bend forward to reach the controls, and usually removes the seat's side support and lumbar support abilites.

Seating "on" the steering wheel, as some drivers do, is also not very good. It results in imparied forward vision, reduced concentration over time, reduced steering leverage and a great risk of hitting the wheel, airbag or underdash. Most people are in the mid-range, usually sitting a bit too far back, with slightly over-reclined backrests and usually too low as well. They don't always grip the wheel in a controled manner and might have the mirrors set in too tight an angle, all resulting in increased risks and reduced comfort, which is a shame.

Readiness to Drive
Driving should only be done out of responsibility and full control: If you are fatigued, ill, on medication or under even the slightest effect of alcohol, don't drive. Likewise, try to avoid heavy meals (especially with high levels of fat, sugar or salt) before driving as they slow down reaction times like a small glass of wine. Sleep well (about 8 hours) before long journies and rest before going out to drive. Also, keep in mind that it takes some five minutes for your concentration levels to get up when you start driving.

Of course you should also check that the car is ready to drive: A quick peek around all four tires and, before any long drive, a visual inspection and air pressure measurement of all five tires, along with all fluids of the car. Drive the car gently untill it reaches working temperature.

Clothing and Footwear

The driving posture begins with the driver himself. The driver should be dressed: With a shirt and pants, preferably not shorts or short skirts and neither with a heavy coat that will reduce your steering authority and the function of the seatbelts. It's required to drive with footwear and not barefoot. Barefoot driving offers reduced pedal control and a reduced ability to brake quickly in particular. The bare feet are likely to be injured gravely in a collision, and the driver will also have difficulty in getting safely out of the car. 

Good shoes, other than providing some partition that allows to quickly depress the pedals without pain, also provide some dampening: The sole is never perfectly rigid, so as the foot applies pressure unto the pedal, some of the pressure is as if "wasted" as the sole get squeezed between the foot and pedal. This dampening reduces accuracy and rapidness of application, but provides more feel and finese in using it. So, a good footwear should fit snuggly, and have a relatively thin sole: Boots and Heels are out of the question, as are flip-flops on the other hand. The soles should be wiped clean from mud, in winter weather.

Spectacles, if you need them, should be clean and not bulky. Sunglasses are good if they are not too dark and used when the conditions fit. They reduce glare, increase contrast and some are particulalry suit for driving since they also provide some protection from the sides too. Make frequent visits to the optometrist to ensure your eye sight is good for driving.

Visibility
Keep windows, windshields and glasses clean and demisted. Cleaning the car in general makes it more conspiciouos and reduce the amount of greasy dirt it drops over the road. Ensure that you have wiper fluid and new wipers that can clear dust and dirt (and not just rain water) off of the windscreen.

Seating

It's likewise important to position yourself carefully in the seat. Mind you, IN the seat, not on it. Your buttocks and lower back should be planted into the backrest and your body should be centered in the seat, without bending to the sides or forward. The head should be a direct extention of the back, the shoulders should be relaxed and the thighs should be as apart as possible within the limits of personal comfort. This is also a good place to start some parliminary adjustments: Adjust the seat height for comfort and, if possible, tilt the seat's cushion slightly. If the steering is adjustable, set it to a relatively "neutral" height and pull it closer to you.

Adjusting the Seat

The forward to-back adjustment of the seat is the first and easiest step. It is related to your pedal control, but it also changes your visual field, distance from the wheel and control over the wheel. Start the engine and press the brake pedal a few times. This will start the brake booster (based on the vacuum from the intake manifold) and build up some pressure inside it. Now, fully depress the brakes with the right foot and the clutch or dead-pedal to the left, with the left foot. The right heel should be placed on the floor and all pedals should be depressed with the ball of the foot, not the toes.

In this position, we are looking for a bent knee. When the knee is bent, the leg  and lower back are going to be a more relaxed posture during your normal driving, rather than be stretched forward. The feet will have better control over the pedals, since pressure can be applied as torque around the knee, by using the big muscles of the thighs, but also with the sensitivity of the smaller muscles around the foot itself. 

When the knee is straight, your leg acts as a "handlebar" that is being moved by the muscles of the buttocks (Gluetus). This reduces the ability to brake quickly.  Another imporant reason is that when the knee is straight and tensed, the joint is "locked" by the muscles so that a relatively powerfull collision can ommit forces that, instead of being absorbed into the elastic muscles, will be directly transmitted to the bones, causing fractures, and radiating through the leg to the pelvic and even the base of the spine.

The proper distance should provide a bend of about 140 degrees at the knees. This is a good compromise that provides a relatively relaxed positioning of the foot along the whole range of the pedal travel, as well as an ability to apply the pedals quickly in an emergency and some extra clearance should the brake pedal begin to fade. 

Rake of the Back

Once we have set the distance of seating relative to the pedals, we fine-tune our distance from the steering wheel by changing the angle of the backrake. The more upright, the closer are our shoulders to the wheel and the closer they are to being parallel to it. If the back and steering were to be perfectly paralle, than we could be seating quite far from the wheel and still be able to use it without using our back (by bending it forward or to the sides). However, the steering wheel is intentionally situated in an angle that makes it impossible for us to be situated like this (with the advantage a more relaxed grip of the wheel). 

So, the solution is bring the backrest to a relativelly erect position, around 110 degrees usually. This will reduce the difference of the angles between our back and the wheel, and also bring us closer to it, to cancel out the remaining difference of angles, while avoiding too high a placement of the head or too much stress of the lower back.

Steering Adjustment

The steering in many modern cars can be adjusted up and down (in an arch) and even in and out. These adjustments allow to fine-tune the distance from the wheel, particularly for peoples with relatively long or short arms. We use the steering adjustment to bring it closer to us and as parallel to the back angle as possible. Of course there are limitations, since we also need to be able to see the instrument panel through the steering wheel, but keep in mind that you are yet to adjust the height of the seat itself. The wheel should also not be too low relative to our shoulders, and it must also have some clearance from our knees.

We bring the wheel a bit closer to our bodies, and a bit down for it to be as parallel to our back as possible. If we can't bring it to just the right angle, we need to compensate by bring it even closer. Sometimes, even both adjustments don't allow to get it quite right (see "Checking The Adjustment" below) and we need to recheck our back angle or even bring the whole seat closer to the pedals.

If there is any particular problem with getting the seat closer (relevant to people with long feet and short arms in a car that does not suit them), it's better to slightly compromise the steering than to be too close to the pedals and wheel. Also, in terms of steering height (and seat height, covered next) it's better to compromise our full and clear view of the instrument panel than to reduce our forward vision or steering control. Just ensure you see the relevant gages in a way that suffices for you (without moving your head).

When the wheel is higher, it's less comfortable to grip it still for long durations of time, but it's easier to turn it quickly. When the steering is lower, the shoulders have less of a burden, but the arms are somewhat restricted by the body and even the feet, even though the steering becomes more accurate, being based more heavily on forearm strength rather than our arms and shoulders. If your palms on the wheel are about 5 centimeters lower than the shoulders, you achieve a good compromise for driving in cities. You might not be able of getting this inch-perfect without compromising your steering control or view at the instrument panel.

Seat Height

Should also allow for clear forward vision (on the road) and a good view of the instrument cluster. When the seat is higher, we earn better forward vision, but less "feel" through the chassis and less stability and, if it's too high, the interior mirror, visor and roof can interfere with view of signs or long-range vision. It's also less safe because the head might hit something, the airbag might not be as efficient and the head will be operated by a greater leverage in a collision. However, low seating isn't much safer at all: It reduces forward vision, including vision closely in front of the bonnet, for percise manuevering, and might also place the driver is a bad angle relative to the airbag. 

The proper height should allow for a clearance of about four fingers between the head and ceiling, if possible within the limitations. This is a good compromise between forward vision and stability. The height adjustment might also move the seat diagnoally as to change the position relative to the wheel, and is also likely to change the position relative to the pedals. So, adjust the height and check to see if the pedal positioning stays as it should, and also readjust the back rake for the proper distance from the wheel.

In cars with a high ceiling, reclined posture or open roof, look at the windshield and divide it into three equall parts. Adjust the posture so that your eyes are just in line with the bottom of the upper third of the windshield.

Seat Base

This is a good time to adjust the angle of the seat itself (and, in some cars, the actual length of the seat base). We use it to fine-tune our pedal control so that we can fully depress the pedals with the knees properly bent and without the interference of the seat itself: If it's tilted too much, your feet will press down hard against the seat so some of the force is applied against the seat and not the pedals. With the proper adjustment, you should be able to wedge your palm under the thigh when you fully depress the pedals (with the thigh itself being against the seat's base). This should provide a good compromise between a comfortable posture and good clearance when you need to brake quickly. You might need to slightly readjust the seat height to get it right.

Checking the Adjustment

After we completed the different adjustments of the seat and steering, we perform the check that determines whether we are positioned neatly relative to the wheel. We put our shoulder-blades against the back of the seat and stretch our left arm forward towards the top of the wheel. We have already established that the wheel will always be at least somewhat at an angle relative to us, so it's topmost portion will be the furthest away from us. With our arm straight, we should be able to rest our wrist perfectly over the wheel. 

We should be able to do this with the arm straight, but not forcifully outstretched forward, and without houncing our shoulder-blades forward. The wrist should be able of resting over the wheel, not just "touch" the face of the wheel. To be certain, try to bend it slightly over the rim. Heavier vehicles like trucks have steering rims which are bigger and more notably angled, so this check is not possible. Instead, check to see if you can grip the top of the wheel without outstretching the arm or hounching the shoulders. 

Hands on the wheel

Your two hands both belong on the steering wheel. They should be placed in 9 and 3, parallel to the steering column. This provides the greatest leverage on the wheel and a perfect balance between the two hands. Also, the arms, shoulders, forearms and wrists could adopt a more natural position. In the proper driving position, if you manage to get it inch perfect, you arms will now be bent at about 120 degrees. When you need to quickly turn the wheel, your arms will allow a full 260 degrees of leverage.

The palms should be cupping the outer diameter of the wheel (rather than be pressed against the face of the wheel and the thumbs should be hooked inside the wheel, in the purpose-built intendations. The other fingers should be lightly curled around the rim. On bumpy roads or off-road surfaces, place the thumbs on the face of the wheel so that they don't risk injury.

The grip of the wheel should be light. Just strong enough to keep it under control, and tighter or lighter as the conditions change. A strong grip is tiring, stressing and also makes the vibrations of the wheel be absorbed into the muscles, reducing sensitivity. The grip should be light, originating from your fingertips and not only from your palms, but still strong enough to control the wheel, according to the conditions. The grip should remain light even when turning the wheel. Grip the wheel at 9 and 3 and turn it 90 degrees. Now turn a bit more. Look at your arm, is it tensed, or do you relax it and let the elbow point down?

The steering of the wheel should be done is smooth movements. It's best to use the steering technique illustrated in a previous articles, but for general driving purpose, the main thing is to keep the hands on the outside of the wheel, while using both hands and making large hand movement. Using one hand, as many drivers do, is a mistake since it reduces car control. It is usually considered as a more relaxed manner of steering where in fact it overloads the upper back and shoulders for no good reason.

Feet

Your thighs should be as apart as possible, within the limits of your own sense of safety. Most drivers reach a position where there is slight contact of the feet with the center console on one side and even the door on the other side. This, in addition to the wide angle, provides increased body support via the legs and not the back. The thighs are much more powerfull than the back and this will eliminate back cramps.

Your left foot should be placed on the left footrest, low towards the floor. This helps in opening the legs to a wider angle and distribute the weight of the body evenly over the two sides of the pelvic. Also, in an emergency when you brake and/or veer, forces of forward or lateral acceleration will be experienced by your body. In this position, you can apply pressure against it to brace yourself. 

If you are braking, your body seeks to maintain forward motion and gets pushed forward. This makes you push against the wheel and lean your weight unto it, so you cannot turn it freely to avoid to obstacle if you are too close to stop in time. By pressing on the footrest, your body's weight is applied unto the floor so you can steer freely. Also, by applying pressure with both feet, you are able to depress the brakes more rapidly. Likewise, when steering, instead of hanging on to the steering and "pulling" it with your body, you can remain in your natural position, over the left foot.

The right foot is important too. It's position should be with the heel on the floor, in front of the brakes, but slightly offset towards the gas pedal. You should be able to depress each pedal with the ball of the foot, by pivoting the foot over the heel from brakes to throttle. Note that in this position you don't actually need to cover any of the two pedals with your whole foot, you just need enough contact for to be secured. The throttle pedal in particular would, in this method, be pressed with the foot in an angle towards it and the foot will also make contact with the pedal closer to it's lower part. This way, the leverage is reduced and the sensitivity of the acceleration would increase. There is one exception and that is emergency braking. When you need to brake quickly, simply kick the pedal down. Place your whole foot over it and kick it without using the heel as a pivot.

The clutch pedal, to differ from the throttle and even the brakes, is usually quite heavy. It is normally pressed by putting your whole foot onto it and pushing it down. If you standing still in first gear with the clutch engaged, you might put your heel down on the floor to relax the foot. 

Additional Adjustments

If a lumbar support is available, adjust it for equall pressure across your whole back. An adjustable lumbar support can be replaced by a small pillow or even a rolled towl. Side support should also be adjusted according to feel. If the pedals can be adjusted, set them so you can just the right distance, where the maximum knee angle is about 140 degrees, and the pedal control is not interfered by the seat, while it is still providing full support to the thigh. 

Seatbelts, Airbags and Head Restraints

The proper driving position should also be adjusted with relation to those safety measures. First and most important is the seatbelt, beggining with the lap-belt. The lower part of the belt should be placed as low as possible so it sits on the rigid pelvic bones, not on the soft stomach. It should be fitted as snuggly as possible. The diagonal part of the belt is also important and it should be adjusted (through the height adjustment of it's upper mounting) so that it fits right on your acromion.

The acromion can be felt as a "socket" between your arm and neck, just at the end of the collar bone. It should NOT be placed on the edge of the shoulder and neither on the collar bone. By "right on" I also mean that there should no gap between the bone and the belt. The belt mounting itself should also be higher than your shoulders, so it can stretch quickly enough in a collision. The belt must be free of twists. Such twists will interfere with the operation of the pretentioner, will bruise the driver and cause fractures in the area of the twist. They can be manually repaired by trying to run the twist through the belt buckle.

It's also important to note your location relative to the airbag. Your arms at 9 and 3 are generally out of it's way, so it won't hurt your arms. It should, in fact, push them down against your thighs. The next thing to take care of is to make sure the steering height and seat height are adjusted so that the center of the steering hub is pointed roughly towards your chest, not straight at your head or down at your stomach, and to ensure a safe distance of 10' between that point and your sternum. Problems in this field arouse with people who are very obese and/or short (below 150 centimeters).

The head-restraint should be adjusted for safety against a whiplash injury. It should be at least as high as your eye-brows but, much more important, it should be as close to your head as possible. A distance of 2-3 centimeters is best, where above 6 centimeters the risk of whiplash is increased greatly. Not all restaints can be adjusted to the right distance, so you might even need to bring the whole backrest to a more upright angle to achieve this.

Readjusting the Posture

Driving is dynamic. It should be flexible and change to meet the conditions. In the same fashion, the driving posture should be subtly tweaked to fit your personal comfort in changing conditions, rather than remain static in all conditions. If you are cruising on a clear highway in a relaxed manner, you can choose to bring the seat itself just one "step" backwards, recline the base of the seat a bit more, bringing the wheel closer to your body and lower relative to your shoulders.

At this posture, your knees should be bent at an angle of 160 degrees when you fully depress the brakes, slightly reducing your leverage, but making it more comfortable when you are not pressing the pedals down hard, while still keeping it safe. Your wrist should be able to touch the wheel and your arms at 9 and 3 should be bent at about 140 degrees and your palms should be quite lower than your shoulders.

Alternativelly, if you driving on a winding mountain road or perhaps in a track day, you might choose to bring the seat one step forward relative to your basic posture, bring the seat height lower and tighten the seatbelt. Your legs should be bent at 120 degrees when you fully depress the pedals, your elbows should be bent at about 90 degrees and your shoulders should be about the same height as your palms. Your head should be a handwidth away from the ceiling.

The seatbelt can be intetionally tensioned for this purpose by pulling it across your waist, over your shoulder and through the mounting and than pulling it quickly to lock it into place. An even better method is to pull the seat backwards and down, put the seatbelt on, pulling it across your waist and than pulling it quickly forward over your your shoulder to lock it. Now, lean forward unto it while moving the seat back to the normal position, and watch your belt as it tightens around you and squeezes you into the seat.

Mirror Adjustment

The second part involves adjusting our mirrors for full vision. This can reduce the collisions related to swerving. This is a good time to remind you that your field of vision should be clear. Any object, even a small one, on the dash, down from the mirror or over the windshield should be moved so that it does not obstruct forward vision. In particular, aftermarket mirrors should be avoided.

Fitting a wide-angle convex mirror over your original mirror is not going to help, since it's alledged contribution to the visual field will be obstructed by the inside parts of the car and will in any case be duplicated in the side mirrors.  This also leads to superflous information that makes our response times longer, because instead of seeing the traffic right behind us, we need to see it through our own car. When a driver is aside us, we will see in the interior mirror and the side mirror, making it harder to accurately determind where it actually is.

Most of these mirrors also cause distort and are made of cheap glass that is not tempered, so it breaks in a collision, making little shards hurts the eyes and face, and cause bigger cuts to the arms and torso. The mirror itself can be disludged towards the driver's and passenger's heads in a rear-end collision, causing possibily-fatal damage, or be thrown by either of the front airbag, most probably the passenger side one. This is good time to remind you that, other than racing gear for race cars, the driver's enviornment should remain as stock as possible: No padded steering wheel covers, no convex mirrors, no seat covers, no pedal plates or aluminun floor mats.

The car's interior mirror should be adjusted for a clear and full view of the rear window. In bright day light and in night driving, you can tilt the little switch beneath the mirror to move into "night vision" to clear out strong light sources from the image and reduce glare.

Now, open the two side mirrors so that the edges of your own car (quarterpnale) are just barely seen in them, and than open them slightly further. Many cars have a smaller passenger's side mirror and sometimes a driver's side mirrors instead. If one mirror is smaller, you need to compensate by opening it further out. If it's electronic, try opening it out by three more "clicks." Now, check and see whether it's working:

1. If it's the driver's side (left) mirror: Put your head against the window. You should now be able to see just the edge of the car in the mirror

2. If it's the passenger's side (right) mirror: Put your head directly in the center of the car (in line with the interior mirror's pillar) without bending forward. You should just be able to see the edge of your own car in the mirror, and than open it slightly further.

This adjustment opens the side mirrors up so that they don't overlap as much with the interior mirror. The overlapped fields of vision are essentially "wasted" and they also create superflous information which is dis-orienting and makes for longer reaction times. By reducing it (but not eliminating it) our side mirrors show us the areas in our 7 and 4 O'Clock, which are crucial for overtakes and lane changes. Furthermore, the coverage is so large that any other road user passing by us in the near lane, will be seen in the mirror untill he starts to come into the view of our peripheral vision through the side windows, with the head pointing straight or slightly tilted towards the relevant mirror.  The unseen area near your own car's body is not important since it's too close to your car and too small for anything to fit in it, including children or mopeds.

It's not that you don't have blindspots, but those blindspots are more relevant to multi-lane roads or when reversing or merging at angles that the mirrors were never planned to be used in. Nevertheless, when you are driving on a dual-carriageway, for instance, with this mirror alignment, there is no need to shoulder check. Simply check the interior mirror AND the relevant side mirror, start moving over and check the side mirror again.

Mind you, the mirrors are not only used during lane changes. You need to use them once few seconds, to get an idea of what is around you at all times. Get into the habit of looking in the interior mirror once every five seconds, and in the relevant side mirror once every seven seconds. Stand with your car in the parking space and count to five and than glance at the mirror and quickly return to forward vision as you keep on counting. When you get to seven, quickly glance at the left-side mirror and than back to straight, and all over again. Now try to do this when you are parked along a street with moving traffic. Now try it when you are driving in an empty street, than with thin traffic and than in heavier traffic. Work on checking the mirrors frequently and checking them quickly -- just in a fraction of a second -- so you are not distracted from what is going on in front.

Parking, reversing and other precision manuevers are problematic with this kind of adjustment, since you cannot use your own car's body as a point of reference. But it would be wrong to adjust our mirrors for reversing, when we drive so much more miles and spend much more time driving forward, with much greater risks, speeds and factors involved. And, besides, who ever said that the mirror adjustment should be rigid? Why could it change or flex to fit the conditions?

In any case, during precision manuevring we need our mirrors to be adjusted in a completly different way -- not only closed, but also tilt down towards the curb or even the rear wheel. Many cars have a memory for several mirror alignments just for this end, and some cars even have mirrors that are meant to be opened wide and are than closed back to a narrow alignment when you put it into reverse. It's also possible to mount a small auxiliary mirror ontop of the housing of one of the mirrors. Avoid the adhesive mirrors that fit on your stock mirror's glass, or big bulky mirrors that interfere with forward vision.

Another problematic situation is when the view via the rear window is in part obstructed by passenger's heads and by their head restraints. In this situation more overlap would be desirable so that you could see to your back with the side mirrors too. Don't forget that you can easily do this. Just tilt your head slightly towards your driver's side mirror and your car's quarterpanel would come into view again. You can also put the auxiliary mirror on your passenger's side mirror, for this purpose.

Another thing is viewing the inside of your own car. This might prove important on family trips. It's best to entrust the task of managing the buisness inside the car to another adult or an older child, rather than focusing on it, even without looking backwards or while looking in the mirror. If you feel it is necessary, than purchase a vacuum-adhesive mirror, made of tempered glass, and fit as close to the stock mirror as possible and as high as possible.

Load in the Passenger's Compartment

When you drive along with passengers and luggage in the car, you need to ensure several precautions are being made. First, adjust tire pressures to the conditions. Second, make sure that all passengers are fastened and secure in terms of placement in the car, relevant child restaints and head-rests. Place the youngest child in the middle (rear) seat, and the older one to his right, the older one to his left and an adult above 14 in front.

All passengers should be sitting, not bending or laying down, and without putting limbs in areas where the airbags are placed. The front passenger should be seated upright like the driver, to avoid submarining under the belt. He/she should remain awake during the drive so they can help you  stay alert and safe, and also keep themselves safe (a sleeping passenger get suffers from a greater hit in a collision, not a lighter one).

Luggage should be placed in the trunk. The heavier items should be placed far forward, against the backs of the seats, preferably with their flat side facing the seats. This kind of placement reduces their movement in a collision, and reduces the load they pose unto the vehicle itself. The items should also be distributed equally on both sides of the car.

Windows and Air Conditioning

The Air Conditioning inside the car is crucial for your safety. Heat reduces awareness and creates dehydration and numbness. Empirically, increased amount of collisions occur during heatwaves. Being cold is also not very good, and cold weather, as well as influenza, are known causes of collisions. Likewise, constanr recirculation of air diminishes the amount of oxygen to cause health problems and increase risk of falling asleep at the wheel. Turbulances and wind noise are likewise distracting and prevent hearing the sounds of the environment.

One crucial moment is when we enter the car. After even two hours in the sun it can pack up heat that causes considerable fatigue, and is also related to health issues (as toxins are being defused from the plastic unto the air of the closed vehicle) and sun burns. The solution is to open the doors and windows to let the hot air escape. Even two minutes can do a massive change. In the hot summer, there is no choice but to turn on the ignition and apply the air conditioning on "fresh air" settings to clear out the hot air, with the windows semi-open.

Once the car has cooled down, try to keep it cool by applying the A/C on a reasonable fan power (too much will not provide you with cold enough air and will be very loud and consume lots of gas) and on air recirculation. It's important to keep a crack of the driver's side window open for fresh air and in order to get the sounds of the surroundings. In highway speeds, it might be better to switch the A/C  to "fresh air" for certain durations of time, rather than keep a window open, as it will cause a disturbing turbulance of air.

In nice weather, you can drive in towns with an open window instead of using the air conditioning. In these conditions, the open window helps in providing some feedback as to your speed, reduced risk of glass shards in a collision, and the audio input from the road around us, and the ability to better communicate with drivers around us. The key thing is not to keep the window semi-open, is this can lead to head injury in a collision. Also, it can lead to damage to the mechanism that holds the glass in place, when the road is bumpy. On bumpy surfaces, keep the windows perfectly closed.

Use the air conditioning to clear out mist from the windshield before you drive, and keep the heating inside the car in hot days balanced with a slight crack of the driver's window for fresh air. You can also use the heating to disperse excessive engine heat when the engine starts to heat up and there isn't a safe place to stop.

When you are about to finish driving, reduce the force of the fan and turn off the conditions. Before turning the car down, open up the circulation for fresh air and close the fan before you turn down the ignition. This will refresh the air conditioning unit and reduce electric strain when you ignite the car again. Try to park the car in the shade, and preferably with a small crack on the driver's window and with some sun protection at the windscreen or windows.

Use the air-conditioning and the heating over the whole year. Even in the winter, find a good time to activate the air conditioning for a few minutes once every three weeks, after the engine has reached working temperature. This will keep the unit running well during the hot season, as it will remain lubricated. The same applies for the heating. The heating can also be used to refresh the air inside the car.

Breaks and Energy Management
I have mentioned earlier that one should drive when well rested. This includes a minimum of seven hours of sleep and, before long or demanding drives, a certain rest before the driving itself. The driver should be free of the effect of alcohol, drugs, illness or hunger/dehydration. A good energtic meal and some water or juice are a must. Heavy meals have just the same impact as some alcohol in the system, and should be avoided. When entering the car, the driver has to ensure the safety of the passengers and cargo, as described earlier. It's best to leave the percision manuevering (reversing) to the end of the travel, so you can start by driving straight out, without the problems related to poor rear vision and the reduced concentration in the first few minutes of driving.

In long drives, stop once every hour for about ten minutes. If it's relaxed and not very demanding or dangerous, you might expand this to an hour and a-half, but most long journies involve hazardous two-lane roadways, winding mountain roads, buisy motorways, hot summer weather and quite often a car loaded with passengers. The solution is to stop on an hourly basis, in a safe place which is remote and perfectly segregated from the road itself. This does wonders with the driver's focus, as well as:

- Refreshing the air in the cabin and giving you an oppurtunity to clean the mass up
- Allows passengers (particularly children) to avoid bordom which makes them irritated
- Allows to have a little snack (150 calories per hour of driving) and some water (three to four glasses, as a rule of thumb), a rest and a bit of stretching and deep breathing.
- Allows the engine, tires and air conditioning to cool down and allows you to re-inspect the tires before moving on.
- Allows you and the passengers to go to the toilet.
- Prevents cramps in the relevant muscles

It also advised to use an adult passenger next to you to help you while driving and, if he/she has a driver's license, swap positions after two or three hours of driving. Anyhow, every five hours of driving should be followed directly by a longer break, starting from a minimum of 30 minutes. A bit of bending while driving is also a good thing to do, provided it's done in safe places like during a stop or while moving steadily on an open, clear road with a median.

Stops of any kind and for any reason, should be done only in places that are remoted from the road and completly and ridigly segregated from it. Even a fatigued driver can keep on driving slowly towards a near exit/rest stop/filling station/side road or what not -- and stop there. In that case, a quick 30 minute rest, followed by a quick supply of simple carbohyrdates (the ideal food is a bit of grapes or other fruits), some cool water and a slight jog -- will give you an hour's worth of wakefull alertness.