Budget Brakes Safe Driving: Driving During Dust Storms

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Parts of the world, including the Southwest United States, frequently experience long droughts which create the perfect conditions for dust storms. Dust storms can significantly reduce visibility and create a driving hazard. Budget Brakes has prepared several tips for driving during dust storms to help keep you and your family safe.
• Just park your car. Dust storms usually only last a couple of minutes, so you can afford to wait it out. The denser the dust storm, the more important it is that you pull as far off the road as possible.
• Turn OFF your lights and hazard lights while you are pulled over. Cars approaching from the rear might expect you to be traveling on the road and veer off the road and into your rear end.
• If you can’t pull off the road to park, occasionally use your horn to announce your presence to other cars around you. Use the painted lines on the right or center of the road to help guide you at a suitable speed until you can find a place to park.
Budget Brakes hopes your family stays safe while traveling in areas where dust storms are prone to strike.

Budget Brakes Safe Driving: Driving in Foggy Weather

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Fog is a cloud that formed at ground level due to the temperature dropping to the dew point. Fog can significantly reduce visibility and create hazardous driving conditions. Budget Brakes has a few tips for drivers who often drive in the early morning, when fog is heaviest.
• Turn on your lights, but do not use your high beams, which will be reflected off the fog and reduce your visibility.
• Reduce your speed and keep an eye on the speedometer. Fog creates an illusion of traveling slower than you actually are.
• Open your windows to hear traffic that you cannot see.
• Use the markings on the right edge of the road as a guideline, as the white line is easier to see in foggy conditions than the yellow line.
• Pay attention to brake lights of vehicles around you, which are easier to see during heavy fog.
Following Budge Brakes’ driving tips during heavy fog can keep you and your family safe.

Budget Brakes Safety Reminder: Passenger Safety

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Budget Brakes knows that traveling with passengers can be a lot of fun. Listening to the radio, joking around, or chatting can be mildly distracting at best and dangerous and risky at worst.

Budget Brakes wants to remind all customers that the only safe way to socialize in the car is calmly, with both eyes on the roar. Talking to passengers by facing them can endanger your life and your passenger's life. Blaring music on the radio and yelling can cause drivers to miss valuable auditory signals like car horns and emergency sirens.

Passengers can also be an ongoing distraction, even when behaving. They may ask you to change the radio (tell them to change it themselves), look at something on the wide of the road, or encourage you to make quick stops or turns ("Pull in here!"). Try to remember that you're in control of the car and responsible for their safety, and don't let passenger influence the way that you drive.

Budget Brakes cares for the safety of your family. Budget Brakes encourages drivers to be mindful of road safety, even when passengers might serve as a distraction. Budget Brakes also hopes that parents teach safe driving rules to teens, who are at a higher risk of erratic driving due to peer influence.

Budget Brakes Safety Reminder: Dealing with In-Car Distractions

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Budget Brakes knows that some driving distractions are unavoidable. A spilled drink, rowdy children, or digging in a purse or bag for entry keycards can distract even safe drivers.

Still, the key to safe driving is keeping your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel. Having a passenger who is capable of handling distractions and allowing them to do so is the safest way to keep driving safely. If that's not possible, though, simply pull over and handle your distractions off the road.

Budget Brakes wants all of its customers to be safe while driving, but unavoidable driving distractions are common. Instead of trying to remedy the situation while driving, simply pull over. This advice applies equally well to handling emergency phone calls, food or drink spills, unruly children, and applying makeup. No arrival time is worth risking your life, your family's lives, and the lives of other drivers on the road in order to save a few minutes.

Budget Brakes Safety Reminder: Vanity Mirror Usage

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Budget Brakes knows that getting ready in the morning often means rushing out the door without makeup or with other personal hygiene issues. At times, individuals are concerned with minor issues and choose to apply or fix makeup while driving. Budget Brakes does not encourage this distracting practice.

Not only is it dangerous, but its not effective. It is better to quickly apply makeup at home and be five minutes late than to risk your life and the life of others on the road. The amount of makeup that can be applied with one hand while driving is limited. Lipstick can be applied in seconds after parking; eyeliner in under a minute.

The use of the vanity mirror while parked at a stop light is the only safe in-car time to correct personal hygiene issues. Budget Brakes hopes that you and your family take driving distractions seriously in order to improve road safety for all road users.

Budget Brakes Safety Reminder: Texting While Driving

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Budget Brakes cares about your safety. For this week's article, we are covering driving distractions like texting or talking on the phone while driving.

Budget Brakes strongly recommends that all cellular phones are put away while driving. Texting while driving is the fastest-growing cause of both fatalities and fender benders. Even sending short texts requires taking both your eyes and your hands off the wheel, delaying normal reaction time by up to half a second on average. It can also be a distraction that results in missed road signs or stoplights.

Even talking while driving can be dangerous. Holding a phone can lead to loss of control, and using earbuds while driving can block important aural information like the sound of a car engine from a passing car, emergency siren, or horn. The safest way to use a phone in the car is with a hands-free system, but in a pinch, use the speakerphone and keep the phone in the console.

Budget Brakes hopes that you and your family are serious about enforcing driving rules, especially with teens, the demographic at the greatest risk of accidents while texting.

Leaving Children Behind in Cars

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Budget Brakes is here to protect your family. That's why we want to remind you of the "zero second" rule for leaving children unattended in cars. Budget Brakes firmly believes that, for their safety, children should never be left alone, unattended, for any reason.
In 2009, non-profit organization Harrison's Hope documented 789 children left unattended in or around cars and 146 children who lost their lives in these incidents. Budget Brakes encourages parents to realize that these deaths are not accidental, they are neglectful. If every parent put forth the effort required to unbuckle a car seat and carry his or her child inside for a two-minute trip to the ATM or convenience store, hundreds of children's lives would be saved every year.
KidsAndCars.org, an advocacy organization, also recommends two crucial car habits to avoid accidentally leaving a child behind.
• Keep something you'll need for work in the back seat of the car, like a cell phone or employee badge.
• Keep a large teddy bear in the child's car seat when it is not occupied and in the passenger's seat of the car when the child is occupying the car seat. This serves as a visual reminder that the child is in the back.
The next time you consider leaving your child in the car, Budget Brakes hopes that you remember the zero second rule: a child should never spend time alone in a car for any reason.