Automotive Info

Archive for September, 2011

Truck Driver Fatigue — An Accident Waiting To Happen

Low pay leads many truckers to drive long hours in order to make more money despite federal regulations prohibiting this. A major factor in many 18wheeler accidents is driver fatigue leading to at least 750 deaths and 20000 injuries per year. Unfortunately tight deadlines imposed by employers contribute to the problem with many drivers putting in 100hour workweeks with no breaks except to get gas or unload.

It’s no wonder with such intense work schedules that some drivers are subject to sleep deprivation allowing them drift into other lanes of traffic nod off or simply fall totally asleep. An 18wheeler then can become a 100000pound missal prone to a semi truck accident.

30 percent of all fatal semi truck accidents are caused by driver fatigue according to some experts. Although the trucking industry claims the number is closer to 5 per cent and puts the major blame on automobile drivers instead. 15 per cent is the figure assigned by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. If you’re involved in an 18wheeler accident it really doesn’t matter what the true figure is you may want to contact a truck accident lawyer that can accurately research these statistics and work in your favor.

Federal Regulations Limit Driving Hours

The U. S. Department of Transportation has ruled since 2005 that commercial truck drivers who carry property cannot drive more than 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty. That was reduced from the previous 15hour day that had been allowed. 60 hours is the maximum number of hours allowed in any seven consecutive day period.

How can you control and monitor these restrictions? 7 million trucks were on the country’s roads in 2000 and in that year only 2.4 million inspections were conducted. So in actuality only about one third of the trucks were inspected once for an entire year! It’s no wonder the need of a truck accident lawyer is on the rise.

Even if they are inspected truck drivers document their own hours in the logbooks which can be falsified easily. Simply put it’s up to the driver how long he wants to drive. It’s a shame that it often takes a truck accident lawyer to bring these facts to light.

Sleepy Drivers Are Deadly Drivers

Drowsiness inattentiveness or just simply falling to sleep are all contributing factors to 18wheeler accidents. “Road hypnosis” the constant and monotonous motion of driving seems to put the driver in a waking trance allowing reaction time to slow and increase accidents. This disregard for regulations can end up costing you or a loved one their life.

When such accidents occur often the truck driver isn’t injured while those in much smaller cars are killed. A truck accident lawyer can help victims or their loved ones to collect wrongful death damages in such cases. If you sustained a semi truck accident injury or a loved one was injured or killed due to the negligence of an 18wheeler driver you might be entitled to a large cash award.

About the writer:  Christine O’Kelly is an author for 18Wheeler Accident.org an organization of legal representatives specializing in helping clients that have been involved in a semitruck accident.

Things To Consider Before Transporting Your Vehicle

Driving your car for a long distance may be tiring and stressful. But if you hire a professional auto transport company you dont have to worry as they will transport your car properly to your specified destination. Your work will be reduced.

Before transporting your vehicle you should prepare it for transportation. Firstly your car must be roadworthy. This is because employees of the auto transport company have to drive it on and off the transporter. Do wash your car before transporting your vehicle for inspection purpose. Do check are there any scratches and dents. Make sure your car is free from leaks. Your car will be transported in batches on one large transporter. You may be responsible if any leakage of fluids occur from you car and damages other cars during transit. Make sure your gas tank is less than a quarter. Other fluids such as break and suspension fluids have room for expansion.

Try to remove accessories your car have. This includes antennae and wide mirrors on the outside of your car and after market CD players on the inside. Disable the alarm in the car. Remove all the personal possessions from the car because Transport Company will not take any responsibility. In fact Department of Transportation DOT does not permit the transport of personal belongings in vehicle transported on auto carriers. Make sure you drive your car to a pickup point agreed between you and the car transport company.

Finally consider the climatic conditions. If youre planning to ship your car to Alaska it would be wise to put antifreeze into your car before shipping. Do check your heating or air conditioning systems. You can go in for covered transport also as it will protect your vehicle against sun heat etc.

Before shipping your vehicle do check all the car shipping documents. The key document involved in car transport is bill of lading. This document outlines all the terms and conditions of the agreement between you and the auto car transport company. Bill of lading is a document in which any damages that have already occurred in the car are written. It is important that customer checks bill of lading document carefully before signing it. As any future claims for damages will be made on the basis of the information in this report you need to check it carefully before signing. Both you and a representative of the car transport company have to sign this both before and after loading. If your car is damaged during transit you have two weeks to file a complaint.

Ask the transport company do they provide insurance. Your vehicle should be insured against damage and theft by your auto transport company. If youre transporting your car by ocean container it has to be professionally packed for the insurance to be valid.

About the writer:  Shijina is an expert author for car shipping and car transport. She written many articles like auto transport vehicle transport and vehicle shipping. For more information visit our site www.aaat.com Contact me at shijinaseogmail.com

Stainless Steel Car Exhausts: Find The Right One

Finding the optimal performance car exhausts systems for your vehicle can be confusing even for seasoned car buyers and impossible for firsttimers. With the choices of materials different manufacturers and contradicting information found all over the internet pertaining to car exhausts it’s no surprise that customers don’t know where to turn.

Your car exhausts system is exposed to an enormous number of corrosive chemicals like carbon monoxide different nitrogen oxides corrosive salts and moisture. Unsurprisingly millions of car exhaust systems have to replace annually because of harm caused by such substances.

Add hot temperatures bumpy road surfaces and vibration and it is no wonder drivers are looking for long lasting and highperformance car exhaust systems. Auto experts understand this need and recommend stainless steel exhausts over the myriad of other materials offered.

A recent myth claims that chrome car exhausts systems are ideal but studies along with years of experience from multiple auto experts support and laud the performance and resilience of stainless steel car exhausts. Experts recommend the Borla exhaust or other stainless steel exhaust systems which they claim are guaranteed to perform effectively for at least a million miles.

Most customers and even some manufacturers believe that bigger is better while the size of the exhaust is in fact not a factor in efficiency of durability. Studies demonstrate that larger pipes result in a greater loss of energy. The larger size causes slowing of the gases’ velocity which cools the gas.

If the gas leaves the port at about fifteen hundred degrees and is about one hundred fifty when it leaves the tailpipe a significant amount of energy is considered loss. What matters is uninterrupted flow and velocity of the gases when it comes to performance.

Bigger pipes also have the tendency of raising the low frequencies of energy causing droning and roaring sounds. On the other hand exhausts should be engineered to minimize restriction. This keeps the frequency and velocity high so noise is reduced.

While there are some car exhausts systems that are just coated in stainless steel and made up in bulk of mild steel or aluminum authentic aircraft quality exhaust systems are available on the market nowadays.

Coatings of stainless steel can extend the life of mild steel car exhausts although they are prone to damage at the weld points. 100 steel has the highest chromium content making it more resistant to corrosion.

Manufacturers offer a variety of different types of car exhausts systems made up of different materials mainly to experiment between them. None however has shown as much promise as those made of stainless steel.

Furthermore changing other part of the car before changing the car exhaust can actually hurt the performance of your car. Cam and chip upgrades might not work properly without first upgrading your car exhaust system.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Andy’s Auto Sport Car Exhausts: The leading resource for Quality Car Exhausts. For expert Advice Tips and Quality parts it’s all here:http://www.andysautosport.com/performance_exhaust_systems.html