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v - - w * Page 12, Whltby Fre Proe, Wednesday, Novembor 22, 1995 by JiI Mclntosh Readly for wlnter Wiien the s3now cornes down, especiaily the flrst or second good snowfails, many drivers become either reckless idiots, or terrified and overcautious. On. can b. just as bad as the. other. I will neyer figure out drivers whoo it the brakes when another car approaciies from the opposite direction; drivèe who don't cean snow off ail their windows and tail-lights; and drivers who diecourage tailgaters by slammn on the. brakes. (If you'r. affiraid o being rear-ended, why would you stop suddenly on a slippery road wiien theres a car two feet off your bumper?) Transportation minister AI Palladini believes- that every motorist owns a cellular phone, but ifyou're his ion. exception, it's a good idea to be prepared now for the montiis of unpredictable driving aiiead. Corne te, think of it, you siiould b. prepared even if you do own a phone. On bad days it's not unusual te wait- hours for help, and i the meantime you should have a contingency plan. (My friend who works for OAA aiso wants me te mention that patience is a virtue. If you suid. into the. ditchi because the road is giare ice, a tow truck won't have enough traction te pull you out until everything meits.) It's a good idea te keep winter supplies in the. trunk. This should include a solid snow brush (again, don't forget tiiose taii-ligiits), ice soeaper, spare gIoves and a ligiiter. A couple of flares are a good idea, too; somo stores carry the. new fiamelesa ones that giow by chemical reaction. Women who commute te work wearing higii-heeled shoes or boots should keep an oid pair of low- iieeled boots i the car. Even cel-. phone owners migiit have te walk or push. Keep a minimum of haîf a tank of gas at ail times. In bad weatiier a half.iiour drive can easily stretch te two or three hours and itfs easy te run out. Not ouly that, but nw cars use in-tank sump pumpe; running tiiem dry is hard on tiiem. Ifyou want to really be safer than sorry, carry a small gas can, as most self-serve, stations don't supply tiiem. Add a' bottie of gas-line akitifreeze (available at gas stations, auto parts stores and oome grocery stores) te each tank. Without it, moisture- in the gas tank' caused by condensation can freeze. and ciog the fuel limes, ieaving you stranded. (While rm, on the. subject of gasoline, this is the. time of year when a lot of people complain that their cars are suddenly getting very poor mileage. If it seems like you're getting fewer miles, think about how long you're now sitting in trafflc jams, or whetiier you lot your car warm up before you drive away. Ail that id]ing uses gasoline but doesn't show up as kilometres on the. odometer.) Some heipfui tips: *if your windshield is snowy or icy, loosen the. wip.r blades from the glass before turning the. wipors on. If they're fr-ozen te tth. windshield it strains the wiper motor. * If youre putting weight ithe~ back of a picknp truck for traction, put it'at the. back of the-box ratiier than squarely over the. wheels. (I'm sure tiiere's two schools of tiiougiit on that, but a truck driver gave me that tip and it worked on -my truck.) * Dont forget te dlean the. side mirrors, tea. *Keep i mind that i just 191 more days, youMl be turnig that heater butten te the. air conditioning mode.hI the. meantime, take it easy out tiiere. CHARGES were dropped against those ticketed during a police seat beit blitz in October - if they attencied educatignal Iu the. relatively fow years sinoe Canadians wero first introduced te cellular phone technology, the number of cellular phones in use has surpassed 1.8 million across Canada. This number is expected to hit over 10 million by the. year 2000. Whilo worldwide thore are approximately 52 million cellular subscrib.rs, Canada holda the. distinction of having the. iongest continuous cellular corridor in the. woidd - fiom Windsor, te tth. tip of New Brunswick. With this dramatic explosion in cellular growth (cllular service is availablo tu more tlian 90 per cent of Ih, Canadian population) bas also come an incr.ase in the. theft of cellular phonos. "If your unit lu portable, always tako it with you. Don't lave it in your briefcase unattend.d or sessions at the Whitby OPP station. Sargeant Rick Bates conducted sessions. Pho0to by M"rk Reeso, WhIby Fiee Prosa somewhere in your car where it can b. easily seen," says Karen Lock, in dlaims with The Co- oporators. Along witi the. increase in theft dlaims, thero la also the, issue of iucreasing accidents due te colular phono use. Drivers with a cellular phono in the. car stand a ono-thirdgreator risk of having an accident than other motoriste, according te tthe Wall Street Journal. eBecome knowlodgeable about the operation of your phono - practioe using your phono whulo your vehidle is stationary so you'll feel comforablo operating itou the. road. eMost phones will store up te 99 numbers which will beave you free te couceutrato on driving instead of dialing. A cellular phono cau recail amy number by touching ony two or three buttons. -Use a baud-fr.. unit which allows you te keep both banda ou the. wheel whule you talk on the phono. Inatail the. microphone ou the. visor just about your lino of vision so0 you can keep your eyos on tho road. You can thon drive and spoak as ifyou wero talking te a passenger inthe. car. eLearu how te operato your phono without looking at it. By momorizing tho location of ail the. contrl, you'il b. ablo te pros the. buttons "by teuch" without ovor taking your eyes off tho road. eDial only when stopped. Wait for a traffic light,, or a step sign, or saf.ty pull off the. road. Botter yet, bave a passenger dial for you. eNever take notes while driviing. Carofülly pull off the. road if you must take notes. SEAT BELT SCHOQL t Drive safely with your cellular phoneJ