#driving tips

Thats. Insane to me.

The inside of a car can get up to 40°C/104°F hotter than the outside temperature. Why would anyone get inside that????? It's gonna take your air-conditioning at least half an hour to combat that and bring the temperature down to something even remotely reasonable, and in the meantime you're sitting there risking heatstroke.

Now, I understand that it's currently winter in the northern hemisphere, which is where most of this site lives, but a) I'm in the southern hemisphere and today was Lots Of Degrees, and b) y'all should read this now and commit it to memory or queue it to reblog in summer or whatever, because it boggles my mind that some of you get into a car whose interior is literally oven-hot.

So!!!! Some tips!!!!!

Get a sun visor. One of the big ones that goes inside your windshield. You will not believe how much cooler those things keep your car. Get one, use it. Leave it to bounce around in your back-seat on cooler days, but have it on hand for the stinkers. They range in price but two-dollar stores usually have them for pretty cheap.

Leave the windows of your car cracked open. It doesn't have to be much. Literally just the tiniest amount will mean that the heat building inside your car has a way to escape, meaning the interior temp will naturally be kept lower. The larger the opening, the better, but depending on the neighbourhood you're parking in, maybe it would be better to have them open just a sliver. Even the tiniest crack will help. Ever tried warming up an oven with the door open? It doesn't work well. This is the same concept. If there is a way for the hot air to escape, the inside of your car will stay a lot cooler than it otherwise would have.

If you're fancy enough to have an openable sunroof (that's the dream) then leave that open a bit as well.

Youve just gotten back to your car and opened the door, and its hot as fuck in there. Open another door, ideally on the other side of the car, and let the hot air escape. If you can open all four doors and the boot, then thats even better. A bunch of the hot air will flush out. Not all!!! But a lot. Give it anywhere from a few moments to a few minutes, depending on how much of a hurry you're in.

Get in, start the car, open all the windows. Yes, even if you hate having the windows open.

Put the air-conditioning on full blast, and make sure the recycle is turned OFF. This means it pulls fresh air from outside the car (hot, but less hot than inside) and pumps that into the car, further displacing the heat inside the vehicle.

Start driving, still with the windows down. Once you get up enough speed, the force of the air from outside coming in will blast the rest of the excess heat out of the car.

The temp inside the car will now be roughly equivalent to the temp outside the car. Still hot!!!! But MAJORLY less so, and majority more handle-able by your air-conditioner.

Put all your windows up, and switch the air-con over to recycle. This means it takes the air in the car and cools it, then spits it back into the car, meaning that with each cycle, the air gets progressively cooler a lot faster.

If you do this, your car will be a hell of a lot more comfortable a hell of a lot sooner than it would be if you got into a 60°C/140°F cabin and just.... endured that, until your aircon could overcome it.

Note that im in the US so idk how much of this will be applicable to some of you but I tried to keep it pretty general

1. Find a place (preferably nearby your house) where the roads are typically not busy/empty and just drive around in circles to get a feel for your car. Notice how long it takes your car to break, how hard you have to push the gas pedal to reach a certain speed….the more familiar you are with your vehicle the more comfortable you’ll feel driving it

2. Get your tunes/podcast/media prepped! Driving is a much more enjoyable experience when you’re in control of the music. Make yourself a playlist of all your favorite songs and sing your heart out while you’re driving!

3. Say a prayer to Hermes, or whatever entity you believe in for safe travels before you set off

4. Be a defensive driver! Take classes/look up videos on how to do defensive driving on YouTube. You can’t always account for other people on the road, but you CAN account for how you react to it

5. BE PREPARED!!!! Pack emergency supplies in your car in case of an emergency, prepare yourself on what to do if you’re ever in an accident. Knowledge is power, the more you know the less room your anxiety has to make things up

6. Be kind to yourself. You’re gonna mess up sometimes, people are gonna honk at you because you’re going too slow, or too fast, or whatever perceived wrongdoing however real. Try not to let it get to you. Remember that you’d rather be a safe driver than a dead driver.

BONUS ROUND OF HIGHWAY SPECIFIC TIPS!

1. When in doubt, stay in the slow lane

2. Get into your exit lane VERY EARLY. If it says your exit is 5 miles away, start preparing to merge so you have ample time

Do NOT park or stop under an overpass or bridge during a tornado or high winds.

I know it seems like a safe spot, but it's not. It's extremely dangerous and you're better off parking out in the open on the edge of the road.

The reason is because they can easily turn into a wind tunnel. If the wind seems strong outside of it, it will be stronger under it. Not only can it potentially rip vehicles or people out from under it, but also suck in debris.

Not only that, but I'm adding this photo as an example for my next point

This is a pic from a YouTube Livestream Max Velocity is doing for a storm currently hitting Wisconsin right now. Where talking hail, high winds, rain, and tornadoes.

That big imagine the center of his stream? That's a traffic cam watching an overpass that he pulled up. There are several cars who just stopped in the road under an overpass. It began as just a few cars that stopped on the sides, but then others just decided to stop in the actual lanes. No one could get through so everyone driving up to it was forced to stop even if they didn't want to.

There was no accident or anything blocking the road. The camera actually panned over showing there was nothing there on the other side of the overpass. There was no confirmed tornado, either; just wind and rain. These people literally just decided to stop.

For several minutes those cars at the front formed a traffic jam for roughly a half mile. For several minutes all those cars were sitting ducks at the mercy of whatever weather event decided to happen. Now, thankfully, the lead cars finally decided to start driving so the jam cleared so any potential disaster didn't come to pass.

But if they hadn't moved on and something did happen, that would have just become a slaughter zone.

Stupid moves like that at the wrong time is an easy way to earn yourself a hospital room or a casket.

When you need to adjust yourself in a parking spot, pull out as straight as you can (no turning your wheel unless absolutely needed). Go out as far as you're able (ALWAYS check around and behind you!!!!), then pull back into the spot. It should look something like this:

A really common occurrence in very cold weather with wind and heavy snow is your rims getting gunked up with snow and ice. It causes your tires to be unbalanced and in turn shake at higher speeds.

Today, for me, it was finally bad enough out that my rims filled with snow while parked at work. Granted I was able to knock most out with a wheel weasel after I got home but the wobbling was slightly annoying. Said weasel is now junk because it's filled with road salt.

So if your car starts to wobble and wiggle: don't panic. Check to make sure your rims are cleaned out.

Apologies for the unfocused pics. I was holding my phone one handed in the blowing snow and could no longer feel my fingers.