E Whitby Free Press, Wednesday, November 22,1995 , Page 13 9F [DRI VIN SAFELY with RANDY ,RANDY McLEAN IS A PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER WHO SPECIALIZES IN TRAFFIO SAFETY. Mr. McLeari has reviewed thousands of individual motor vehicle accident reports anid his close worklng relationshlps with police agencies, governments, safety associations, industry and the public, have given him a true overview of traffic safety issues, problems and solutions in Canada. DANGEROUS SPACE What is the most; overlooked hazard that exista on eeyroad? Spaoce, empty spaces, specifioelly, the empty space between vehicles. No one bam ever collided wlth an empty space. Or, at leaut no on. bas ever been lnjured as a resuit of colliding with space. Police accident forma dont lt apace as one of the possible collision objca And, lawyers have not yet figured outeo*oseyo rIfr aaet their client's space. 4 nurne opany records are fulf o accidents caused by empty space. "H. came out of nowhere." "Rer car was Invisible."ý "The space was too sma]l." How can empty spaces b. a hazard? Most drivers are taught to paattntion ta otier cars, trucks, bicycles andedetrians on or near the road. W. -tenid ta think of apaces as the safety zone betwe.n car. And, *hile it la obviously Im prant ta watch other vehiclea, It can b. equal y, and sometimes more Important, to ay attention ta the. spaces between them. Consider thia common accident scenarlo. A vehide la maklng a left turn out of a drlveway on ta a multi-lane arterial road near a slgnallzed Intersection (typical of a car eistini fi-om a gag station). Approaching véhicles in the. curb lane stop, but cars in the second and third lane dont and the eitivhcle la struck broadoide by the car I the centre Ian.. The cars in the curb lane effectîv.ly scre.ned the car .xiting the driveway from the field of vision of the driverlin the. centre lane. Whil. he or ah. may not have been able toam e.t. car in the driveway, they probably could have seen the. space b.tween the two vehicles hIthe. curb Ian. Thais hould have set off warning lighta fiashlng in the. driv.r's niInd. -Wh.rever therie ià a sacether. in also 'the.potential and likelCSc that that space wil bon b. f-ie. by another veâhicle,, truck; bicycle or pedestrian. Another common accident situation occura on roads with three lUnes in the, same direction of travel, and an emlpt space in the. middle Ian.. Fruently cars in tth te crub lane and the. lefft aân. wiil see, and try ta move inta this space at the are time. In this situation th, accident usuaily occura when on. of the two drivers recogmizes the. impending danser but overreacta and darts back Into lus/ler origmal lune causing a chain reaction of brake lights and swerving vehicles. On congested roada empty spaces do not remaineýmptYyery long They are usually filled bymvinob bta ifi ier the.space, the. quîcker its likely to b. fiiled. Paycpartacular attnton a nusa]y large spaces an spaces in unusual locations. Expect sometiiing t flMI the. since.it could b. another car, a bicycle or a small AniXd empty space beside a driveway l aa dangerous combination. Drive witii caution as you approach tuis type of spaoe, .especially if you can't se. what's in tei driveway. How they measure p The Vehicle Information Centre of Canada (VIOC) bas r.leased its annual publication, How Cars Measure Up, highlighting the automobile insurance dlaim resulta of the. most popular 1993- 94 miodela in Canada. ' Resulta are shown for collision, comprehensive and accident benefita coverages. The. frequency and cost of tieft dlaims per vehicle are also presented for each model, including a tii.ft indicator that denotes whetiier the, frequency of th.ft clais is .xpected to increase or decrease based on the. resulta of the most recent model year. The. average cost per vehicle for colliSion daims lias increased for ail 1993-94 modela compared ta the. 1992-93 modela.- For comprehensive dlaims (which alo includes theft), tue average cost per vehicle lias increaaed for ail 1993-94 modela ezoept for two-door vehicles. Multi-purpose vehicles and passenger vans have ahown the largeat increases, witii the latter having shown increases of 12 per cent and 20 per cent in tue last two years. The. higii.at frequency of accident b.nefita dlaims is consistently reported for two-door and multi-purpose vehicles. Station wagons and passenger vans conoistently show the. best Tii. Ford Mustang GT repeats from laat y.ar's publication as tue highest insurance risk for botu comprehensive and collision coverages. Tii. Chevrolet Cavalier Wagon repeata as -the. lowest comprehensive risk whule the four-whel-drive Plymouth Grand Voyager and GMC Safari Wagon represent the. lowest collision risks. Tii. 1993-94 Ford Mustang GT also repeats as the moat frequent and costlie.st tu.ft target, costing tue insurance industry $866 par insur-ed vebicle, more than 12 times the. average for ail 1993-94 modela. Tiieft of automobiles and- their components coat Canadian consumera $480 million ini 1994. Vehicle information Centre of Canada president Henning Norup notes that' "this amount ia ultimately- paid by Canadian consumera .through. tueir insurance premiums." In 1994, the average cost par vehicle for tueft dlaims in*creased. by five par cent ta $35.59.> Norup aiso notes that «while tue coat of theft is still tue largeat in Queb.c" at almost $52 par insured vehicle, "w,ý continue ta see improvementa in this province. Tii. problem, iiowver, is atil getting worse in Ontario." LETTER:m Funds ralsedl To the editor. On Saturday, Jun. 17, Street Dreams Car Club held a car wash at the Rebel Gas Bar at Thickson Road and Highway 2 to rais. money for the. Denise Houa. of Oshawa. This week, Street Dreama presentod the. day'a proceeda,$250, to Sandra McCormack of De.nise House. House. Street Dr.ams consista of 10 members from Whitby, Oshiawa, Ajax, Pickering and Sabrui who own a varl.ty of antique, street rod and custom cars. The. club woul 1ke to tiank everyone who stopped in at the, car wash and donated funds for t" worthy cause. Jil Mclntosh Treasurer O Whitewall size Sale price Whitewai size Sale price Pi 55/80R1 3 $49.00 P205/75R1 4 $70.00 * Pi 75/BORi 3 $57.00 P205/75R 15 .$72.00. P 185/80R13 .$59.00 P215/75R1 5 $75.00 S P185/75R14 $65.00 P225/75R 15 $8O Pi 95/75R1 4 $67.00 P235/75R 15 $80.00 S *Installation. Balancing Valve Stems g 5'WE PRIDE OURSELVES ON CUSTOMER SERVICE" WARREN RD. leZ . CONSUMER DR. 1 advertisement Gord Garner, Steve Grant and EriCh Hehn G;ord gets it rigt the first time l this age of specialty repair shops. ctlst<)mers can take their car to Gord Garner Automotive and he confident that wvatverq wrong. they can [ix i t. G'arner. %vhiose garage, k located at 509 Dundas St. W. -- the Suinoco statioi1 -- says niany shopis handile just 0one type of' repair -- mufflcrs and brakes or suspensions. for exanîple. and don't 1z"cIVan Overview of a "A customier miay end up going in d spending rnoney on one ihn \%lien there nmay' hcîmore imiportanit îhings xrong with the "Hopelutll\ v e Canisave people nîione.. xiii i lie long run hy IookInil ter what diey iieed insiLid o)l fixineý, thinus and putting things on the vehicle that they don*t need... then the customner can make the judgement and decide what they're going to fix and what they're flot going to fix." Someuirnes what the car needs will cost more than whal it's worth and "we'll show them that." Garner says. "For example. if the motor is almiost blown on an (Ader car. a custole r would just bc wasting their noney paying for a new exhaust systern or shocks. lI had a car corne in the other day froîîî another shop in town and they*d donc the 'creani work* -- the money-making wvork -- but thc thing needed an engine and they said 'go somiewhere else. we don't do that. It ends Up the gentleman has, unfortunately, $8,000 in a car that's worth $3,000... (because) it wasn't looked at properly to start with." Garner also offers personalized service. "At a lot of places the customner neyer actual ly meets the guy who's working on their car. Here. Erich (one of the mechanies). for example. just went out with a lady -- he worked on lier car last imie -- so he's gone out to drive it with her to find out what the problem is." Garner has worked as a miechanic since 1 978. Bet'ore going int() business himsell' in f990. he worked at a large GM dealership. APA GORD GARNER Automotive Services Ltd. 509 Dundas St. W. Whitby 666-1816 ýA 1 MUM"