Having firmly decided to become a car enthusiast, you take on a great responsibility for the fate of people in the car with you, in cars driving on the same road, for the fate of pedestrians. There should be no place for the absent-minded and indifferent, the angry and reckless, the sluggish and indecisive, the self-confident and the boorish behind the wheel of a car.
The people around you, the road and the car can tolerate an "unsuitable" person behind the wheel for some time. However, sooner or later there will be a denouement, as a result of which there will definitely be victims. Therefore, it is necessary to select car enthusiasts, it is advisable to recommend car enthusiasts, you should become a car enthusiast absolutely consciously. It is necessary to firmly remember that only a person is responsible for the fate of others and his own. Nothing, neither good roads, nor modern cars guarantee safety if the drivers themselves do not create conditions for mutual respect, attention and mutual assistance. This is why scientists pay great attention to the driver, developing requirements for him. These requirements are not related to the acquisition of professional qualities. These are requirements imposed on the personal qualities of a person who gets behind the wheel of a car.
Let's assume that you are the person who, in your new car, having clearly realized your responsibility, will join the flow of cars rushing along the big and small roads of our country. It is you, if you have chosen a car with a Volga boat on the radiator grille as your assistant, that we want to give several pieces of advice, the use of which will help us to operate the car correctly from the first days.
As soon as the car appears at the door of your home, only a miracle can stop you from going. You want to quickly go out of town, share the joy with your loved ones, show them the car in action, visit friends living in the country, show them the "new family member". All these are natural impulses and there is no strength to cope with them.
Before you start using your vehicle, it is advisable to perform the following operations:
- unscrew the spark plugs and apply a layer of graphite powder to the threaded part. When operating the car, you will have to unscrew the spark plugs more than once, and this will be much easier if you follow this advice;
- remove the rear wheel drums and lubricate the drum mounting surfaces that come into contact with the rear axle half-shafts with a thin layer of Litol-24 or Unisma grease. Drums and half-shafts are made of different materials, and during operation they are welded together, so to remove the drums, even at service stations, sometimes very complex operations are used. Lubrication almost eliminates this problem;
- remove the optical elements of the headlights, sidelights and turn signals, shock absorbers and lubricate their threaded parts with Litol-24. These units have to be removed during operation, and lubricated they will offer almost no resistance;
- despite the efforts of the car manufacturer, it is necessary to take care of strengthening the anti-corrosion protection. The panel between the headlights and sidelights, the inner surfaces of the front wings and the rear wheel arches, the thresholds, while they are clean, should be carefully coated with mastic and treated with Movil preservative, and oiled "ends" should be placed in the gap between the rear wheel arch and the inner surface of the wing.
Some car enthusiasts decorate their cars with decorative stripes on the body, decals on the dashboard and windows, figurines hanging on the rearview mirror, curtains and other things that narrow the field of vision, distract and generally hinder the driver. But seat covers are a necessary thing. Whatever the seat is: bucket type, "anatomical" or some other, it is not very pleasant to sit on it if it is upholstered in leatherette. You especially feel its unhygienic nature in the summer. It is advisable to cover the headrests with covers.
For owners of comfortable VAZ-2103 sedans, VAZ-2106 and VAZ-2107 it makes sense from the very beginning, especially if it's already autumn, to cover the pile carpet under your feet with special rubber trays, the production of which has been mastered by industry. Of course, it's more comfortable to feel the carpet under your feet, and it's more pleasing to the eye. But what if this carpet is mixed with dirt? So choose.
It is desirable to have an easily removable exterior rearview mirror. To make it so, purchase (it is available for sale) a special device consisting of two halves that are connected to each other. One half of the device is attached to the front door in the place intended for installing the outside rear-view mirror, and the other half is attached directly to the mirror flange. Latest car models VAZ-2105, VAZ-2107 are equipped with exterior mirrors, the position of which is conveniently adjusted from the driver's seat. One bad thing is that it cannot be removed! Therefore, car enthusiasts had to solve this problem themselves. Fig. 1 shows one of these solutions.
In handle 2, instead of the fastening screw connecting it to the bracket attached to the mirror, we install a pre-made non-removable screw 7 with a plastic head 6. To make such a fastening, you must first turn two parts: an adapter sleeve 1 and a screw 7. The plastic head 6, which is installed on the end of the screw 7, can be selected by coordinating the dimensions of the rod at the screw and the socket for it in the head. It will also be necessary to make or select two small screws 3 and 5, one of which secures handle 2 to sleeve 1, and the other - head 6 on screw 7, and two thin plastic washers 4. To remove the rear-view mirror, you only need to unscrew it.
Since we have turned our attention to the outside rearview mirror, it is worth recalling the following: research by domestic and foreign specialists has shown that the driver's vision while the car is moving is practically the only source of information (95-99%). That is why improving visibility is of such great importance. Scientists insist that there should be two outside rearview mirrors, on the right and on the left. Practice shows that only a good half uses one - the left one.
In heavy city traffic, your colleague may appear on your left at any moment, but being outside the coverage area of the interior rear-view mirror, he will be an "unidentified" object for you. It should be remembered that with a normal head position (look straight ahead) the outside rearview mirror must show part of the left side surface of the vehicle itself and the road at least 2.5 m wide from the left side to the horizon from the 10-meter mark behind the driver.
Ordinary, non-sports, driving a car is also a sport. To drive a car, you need: strength, endurance, will, character, training, attention. All these qualities are developed and polished in the process of driving. Driving is training. The more a person drives, the faster the skill and confidence come. But this takes time - months and years.
The car moves, maneuvers, stops, and all this is done at the driver's discretion. Only reason allows one to effectively use the capabilities of the car. One of the main such capabilities is speed. What a pleasure it is to rush at high speed in a car! But the pleasure of speed should not prevail over the need to choose it so that you can drive fast when you can, and slow down when you need to.
On a good road in dry weather, in a critical situation, you can avoid a traffic accident by braking sharply, maneuvering, and, finally, jumping onto the side of the road. In winter, such maneuvers are practically impossible. Therefore, if you find yourself on a slippery or snowy road, forget about driving fast. It is better to remember that if on a dry road at a speed of 60 km / h the braking distance of a car is 40-45 m, then on a slippery road it increases to 90-140 m. Choosing the right speed for a given moment means measuring it with the surrounding environment; in non-winter conditions, this rule takes on special significance due to skidding, ice, etc.
There are many factors that influence traffic safety. There are no major or minor factors among them, since it is completely irrelevant what unaccounted factor caused the accident. Therefore, the speed depends on the width of the roadway, its condition, longitudinal and transverse profile (the presence of steep climbs, descents, turns), intensity of traffic of cars and pedestrians, time of day, lighting, visibility, technical condition of the car, and finally, the driver's well-being. The faster all this information is processed by his consciousness, the less likely it is that a traffic accident will occur.