Whltby Free Press, Wednesday, Decomber 21, 1994 ,Page 23 IDRI VING., SAFELY with RANDY RANDY McLEAN 15 A PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER WHO SPECIAUZES IN TRAFFIC SAFETY. Mrt. KcLean has reviewed thousands of individual motor vehicle accident reports and his close working relatlonshlps with police agencies, goverrnents. saiety aRsodations. industry and the public, have given hlm a true overview of traffic safety issues, problems and solutions ln Canada. SHOPPING FOR AN ACCIDENT The holiday season îf; fast approaching, a time for resit relaxation and spiritual reflection. But lirst, it's a time for shopping, buying presents, cards, wrapping paper, decorations and enormous amounts f oo. Many of these festive season activities taýke place at one of our ever expanding shopping centres, inside an enclosed mail, away front the elements, Chri stmnas shopping can be fun -- even exciting. But going te and fromt the shop ping centre may not De as safe as we iht think. MVery few motoriats realize that about 15 per cent, or almost one eut of six, motor vrehicle accidents occurs at an off-highway location. Many of them are in parking lots and many of them during the holiday season rush. Why will se many ef us go shopping for an accident? Two reasons. Firat and t'eremost because we do not think of parking lots as particularly dangerous places. We tend te believe that q0ow speed' roads and 'safe' roads are one and the samie thing. That high level of concentration we use when driving a!long the road -- constantly looking for pedestrians cars, traffic signs, and se on -- gets refocused when we enter a parking lot. In a crowded lot our number one goal Io te finct an empty parking space. Looking for peestrians and moving vehicles are way dewn.on our priority list. Paying attention te A new 'hoad-up' display doveloped by General Motors Delco Electronics is coming te the aid of law enforcement officiais. The new system pute mug shoes street maps and rap sheets in front of police officers while in their cruisers. Head-up display works by prejecting a tranélucent image that appears te float in space above the front bumper of a car. Unlike the hoad-up displays currently used by GM in some of ' tspa necars teday, the new diplay (called Data Vision) consista of three components: a display projection unit mounted on the ceiling of the vehicle; a "combiner" screen, which attaches te the windshield and is located left of the rearview mirror, and a display electronics uinit~, which houses the system's power supply. While Data Vision technology is net available fer everyday passenger use, it is possible that it may bo used fer' future intelligent vehicle highway syTma.d located on the si r rgh'ways could allow equipped vo icles te gather data through interactive commumi- catins, essentially replacing the functien ef road signa and biliboards. FInding the closeat fast food one-way arrows also appears te be a low priority. The only thing we are really looking or is an empty parking space, preferably in our aisie but we are usually looci ng at least one if not two, aisles off in the distance. W'en we finally find that elusive empty parking space we then set into motion the second major contributing factor in parking lot accidents. We drive nose first into the space, thus later requiring us te back out. While backing into a parking space je slightly more difficuit titan driving in, backing out is considerably more dangerous than criving out. The biggest advantage of backing into a space je that the two vehicles on either side of opu are not mnoving. They will not unexpectedly jump inte your path. Backing out is essentiallyý the samne manoeuvre as backing in, except when backing out the cars and pedestrians in the aisle behind you are moving. And, we already know that they're not paying much attention te us. Even if we do take the time te escrape alI the ice and snow off our back and side windows and wait for them to properly defog -- which most of us won't -- we will stili have a blind spot over our shoulder. If we happen te ho parked besido a van or truck, now ncreasingly used as family vohiclos, our blind spot will be considerably larger. At best we will be backing up, partially blind, into two moving lanos of cars and pedestrians. While most parking lot accidents are not very- serious, they can be surprisingly expensive. A minor fender bonder can easily add up te, $500 or $,1000 or more .And although relatively few in number serious porsonal injuries can occur, particufarly if a pedestrian je involved. This holiday soason, don't go shopping for an accident. Don~t turn off your defensive driving ekilîs when you enter a parking lot. Try te back into parking spaces whenevor you can. If you fn old habits hard te break and continue to drive in and back out, ploase be aware of your blind spots. Especially remember te look for children and elderly pedestrians.who, may ho walking more slowly and take a longer time te clear out of your blind spots. Best wishes for a happy holiday season, and please DRIVE SAFELYI___ restaurant or hotel could be as easy as entering the information ite, the systom while driving down the highway. Passenger-car head-up display technology bas been found te be helpful for older drivers at night who have trouble focusing after lookcing at the instrument panel and then back te, the road. Head-up display will put speed, turn signal indicators and fuel level in an image on the windshield for the driver te, view while keeping his or her eyes focused on the road ahead. CadiIIac tops on dependabillity Iist Cadillac is number one in dopendability afcer five years of ownership, accerding te, a reent poi of vohicle owners conducted byM.. Power & Associates. Its the firat time in theopoll's four-year histery that a North American make has tepped the list ef vehicles that customors say are the most dependable. In the survoy, 22,000 ownera assessed their 1989 modèls aftor driving them for five years. Cadilpc came eut on top with the fewest pbleme followed by MercedesBenzAudi, Buick, Acura, BMW, Honda, Porshe and Oldamobile. "The abrinkage of the so-called 'quality gap' (between North American and Japanesse carmakers) supports the dlaim domestic autemakers have been maldng - that their cars match those of the Asians ini long-term depondability and durability," the Power study reported. The study looked at 31 makos and a total of 151 specific models. Repo.rt shows increase in insurance rates Ontariods private passenger automobile insurance rates rose about one per cent in the third quarter of 1994 oer the previous quarter, te stand 10.3 per cent igher than in the same quarter a year earlier. The most reent figures available from Statistics Canada for the Canada-wide auto insurance index shows an average year-over-yoar increase of 13.2 per cent at the. second quarter. Ontariods rates have generally risen more slowly than Canada-wide rates sinco 1989. This data is reflected in the Ontario Insurance Commission's (OIC) .Ontario Automobile Insurance Index and is shown in relation te, Statistics Canada's Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Canada-wide- Auto Insurance Index. "The figures indicate that Ontario aute insurance premiuris generally in the last soven years have not risen as much as Canada-wide rates," said Blair Tully, Ontario Insurance Coinmissionor. About one haif of the year-over-year increaso ILa attributed te increasing dlaims frequency and mounting dalm* cos experionced by auto insurance companies over the past yoar, and about ha]f te the enhanced accident benefita- provided with the implementatiofl of Bill 164 on Jan. 1, 1994. 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I[VCRSEVC ire .Qsn>0.95 ______ t-I 40, Buy 2 tires a Get 114 Chidoen& Cof ce Frecefrom Hoais aiikcn is (Whitby location only) BRIGADIER 560XT ALL SEASON BY LIENERAL TIJR e155x8OR1 3 $9 195x75R4 $60. 195x7OR 4 $66. f 175x8OR13 $53. 2O5x75R1 4 $62. 257R4 $9 i 85x8OR1 3 $56Î. 175x7ORl3 $55. 225x7OR1 5 $77. 185x75R1 4 $58. 185x7OR14 $62. 235x75R1 5 $77 WE CARRY MICHELIN - UNIROYAL e BFGOODRICH GOOD YEAR a GENERAL e BRIGADIER - FIRESTONE USED TIRES $20.00 AND UP ~JDundas St. Mi,= 'y Data Vision helps police THE REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY 0F DURHAM Works Department HOLIDAY CLOSURE 0F TRANSFER AND RECYCLING SITES The Oshawa, Cartwright and Scugog Transfer and Recydiýng Sites wili be closed Friday. Deceniber 23, 1994 at 1200 nonandwmil resumo operations on Wednesday, December 28, 1994 at regular hours. Cîosed Docomber 30, 1994 at 12:00 noon and resumne operations on Tuesday. Januazy 3, 1995 at regular hours. V.A. SILGAIUIS, P. MNG CORMUISSIONER 0F WORKS 1 MAI AKI(limn