What to do if your car catches fire

SMOKIN’ RIDE? HERE’S WHAT TO DO.

- Josh Max, Auto Gigolo

 

Man installs car horn on his bicycle

WHEN TING-A-LING DOESN’T CUT IT

Bet you didn’t know Auto Gigolo rides a bike as well as jammin’ around town in belchin’,  smokin’, chokin’ automobiles.

Well, I do.

Auto Gigolo, pedalin'.

I was a bike messenger for about a year when I first moved to New York and weighed about 145 pounds.  It was 11 degrees on my first day.

I’ve had about 10 bikes stolen over the years, not to mention seats, handlebars, tires, and anything else a guy can pop loose quickly.    Fell just twice, once on a patch of ice at night, once when I hit a cab door which popped open like a trick snake out of a can on West 45th Street between 8th and Broadway.  Cab driver took off. Unhurt both times.

But I never hit anyone. That’s because I have my eyes open, both for me and for you, Mr. and Mrs. O. Blivious.

Do I have a bell on my bike?  No.  The people who read as they walk, the people who take up an entire roadway with themselves and their dog and its 10-foot leash, the meanderers, the mentally deficient and the cloddish aren’t bright or quick enough to think whatever sound a bell or squeak-horn makes applies to them, if they hear it at all.

Know what I do? Bark like a dog.  (As opposed to, say, barking like a cow.)  It works every time.

Meantime, the guy in the video below has rigged his bike with a pretty fierce car horn, and he deserves to be checked out just for the innovation.  I wouldn’t want a car horn on my bike myself.  Just something else to be stolen, and I don’t think it’s necessary, Isabelle*.  Enjoy.

*Auto Gigolo’s Dad and Auto Gigolo, age 40 and age 3:

Dad: Knock, knock!

AG: Who’s there?

Dad: Isabelle!

AG: Isabelle who?

Dad:  Isabelle necessary on a bicycle?

AG:  HA HA HA HA HA HA

- Josh Max, Auto Gigolo

New law punishes inattentive, incompetent drivers who kill

CONSEQUENCES FOR CAR “ACCIDENTS” CAUSING DEATH

In the circle of auto pundits  I travel in, many  say “crashes” instead of  ”accidents” because “accident” implies a circumstance out of the driver’s control,  rather than what usually causes highway crashes—driver error, inattention or incompetence.

How many hundreds of millions of drivers are there out there on the road—and what sort of testing do we require to judge competence?  Exactly one road test, and no follow-up test, except for eyesight, our entire lives—not in a year, not in ten years, not in fifty years.  Don’t we also need tests for hearing, reflexes, ability to respond to emergency situations?

How seriously, then, do we currently take vehicular manslaughter? Not very.

Hayley and Diego’s Law, reported below by the NY Daily News,  may not save any lives in the short term, but it’s another affirmative step in sending the message that the government, responsible for issuing licenses to drive, is taking vehicular incompetence and inattention as seriously as driving while impaired/drunk.

The NY Daily News reports.

- Josh Max, Auto Gigolo

Keeping aging parents safe on the road

THEY FED YA, WIPED YA AND WHIPPED YA WHEN YA NEEDED IT—SO LET’S KEEP ‘EM SAFE OUT THERE.

AG's mom, on her 80th birthday.

It’s not easy watching parents age, and worrying about their driving compounds it. But there are steps to make driving as easy as possible for seniors. The American Automobile Association, with the assistance of the Gainsville, Fla.-based National Older Driver Research & Training Center at the University of Florida, offers the following features children of aging parents or the seniors themselves should look for on a car.

*Adjustable steering wheel

You should try and position the driver so he or she is at least 10 inches away from the steering wheel airbag as it’s the optimal position to relieve back, shoulder and neck pain. If possible, the car should have an electronic adjuster rather than a manual.

*Large dashboard controls

BMWs, for example, feature tiny buttons, while Volvo and Honda in particular make controls you can find easily and work without mistakenly pressing another button.

*Power-operated seats

These don’t require as much agility or strength to operate, and should be at least 6-way; forward and backward, up and down and seatback forward or backward. Electrically powered is preferable to non-powered seats.

*Four doors, not two

Even if a parent drives alone most of the time, it’s easier to deposit and retrieve packages from the rear if there’s a door rather than requiring the front seats to be moved forward to access the area.

*Buy a sedan

A sports car may be Dad’s idea of living it up, but you also have to squeeze in and out of them. Consider a sedan, which more or less provides even entry and exit, rather than a crossover or SUV which requires a step up.

*Keyless entry

Operated via a button on a key fob, this allows arthritic hands to lock and unlock the car without having to twist a lock.

*Dual-stage/dual-threshold airbags

These bags vary based on driver and passenger’s weight, how far they’re sitting away from the bags and the severity of the crash. All of this is important for frail older adults who risk injury from bags that deploy with too much force.

•A stability control system

This helps maintain the car’s equilibrium while turning, especially important in snow or rain. It will also automatically make quick corrections to the vehicle to keep it stable, a plus for some older drivers whose reaction times are slower. “A car should fit you like your shoes and clothes,” says Desiree Lanford, occupational therapist/certified driving-rehabilitation specialist at the University of Florida and evaluator in AAA’s senior project.  “It should be comfortable enough that you can ‘wear’ it for extended periods of time. Too often, people pick out a vehicle based on looks or other features and don’t realize until too late that it’s not a good fit for them.”

-Josh Max/AutoGigolo.com

Precious cargo.