Category: Motoring

We’ve all been there – traffic jams, inconsiderate drivers, bad weather and potholes – dealing with poor road conditions and heavy traffic can quickly make you feel stressed.

Knowing how to handle these situations is important to managing your stress levels and helps ensure you arrive safely at your destination. Getting emotionally worked up rarely leaves us feeling any better – it just passes on the frustration to another driver and spreads the road rage.

Instead, consider having a game plan before you even get into your car, and know what you have to do to help avoid frustration once you’re in the thick of things.

According to Derek Kirby, Training Director at Driving Skills for Life (DSFL) South Africa, the majority of Nigerian drivers have been on the receiving end of some form of road rage in the past. He points out that even drivers who consider themselves to be very calm admit to showing signs of road rage on occasion.

DSFL is a driving skills programme for newly-licensed drivers, as well as a means of improving the defensive driving ability of experienced drivers. It is funded by the not-for-profit Ford Motor Company Fund as an effective method of improving driving skills globally and so contributing to road safety. The program focuses on defensive driving techniques that include dealing with – and avoiding – road rage.

Before you drive

• Allow time for delays

This may seem like a no-brainer, but failing to give yourself a bit of breathing room when travelling to work or social engagements can create unnecessary stress, so allow time for unexpected delays. Make a habit of listening to traffic reports in order to avoid congested areas. If you do get stuck in traffic, however, the best advice is to relax and turn up the music. Getting worked up won’t get you to your destination faster – and may even result in an accident. If you’ve allowed some time for a delay it will significantly reduce your traffic-jam stress.

 

• Get some rest

Driving while tired can be stressful and dangerous. Getting a good night’s sleep before hitting the road is a good step towards staying calm and in charge on the road. It’s just as important to rest regularly along the way of your trip. Certain Ford vehicles have alert systems that will keep track of your driving behaviour and alert you to take a rest if they sense you are starting to drift from side to side – a potential sign of driver fatigue.

 

• Sound mind, sound ride

Your car should always remind you why it’s awesome to drive. The right playlist or the right radio station can help fend off stress and frustration in a traffic jam. At a reasonable volume, this can help make the drive more pleasant and help you stay calm.

 

As you’re driving:

• Drive smoothly

If burning fuel (and your money) is stressing you out as you sit idle in traffic, remember that smooth driving can help decrease fuel consumption. There’s no reason to rush five metres forward only to stop again. Accelerating and braking smoothly in stop-start traffic helps make your tank go farther.

“When approaching a red light or a slow-down in traffic use your vehicle’s momentum and built up energy by taking your foot off the accelerator pedal early.

 

• To be continued

The 2017 Dodge Challenger has earned a five-star overall safety rating from the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Five stars is the highest rating in the regulatory agency’s vehicle-evaluation programme.

“This proves the 2017 Dodge Challenger is much more than a great-looking car. It reflects our commitment to delivering exceptional occupant safety in every vehicle segment,” Mike Dahl, Head of Vehicle Safety and Regulatory Compliance, FCA North America, said.

Nearly 60 percent of the sporty Challenger’s body structure consists of high-strength steel. This engineering strategy, combined with the careful integration of side-guard door beams, was critical to the car’s performance in NHTSA’s side-impact testing.

The agency simulated collisions with a pole and with another vehicle at closing speeds of 32 miles per hour and 62 miles per hour, respectively.

Supplementary restraint systems also contributed to the car’s performance. Driver and front-passenger side air bags are standard equipment on all Challenger trim levels, as are front and rear side-curtain air bags.

The dodge challenger SRT is available at Weststar Associates. The company offers after sales services which include the sale of available genuine auto parts and maintenance services.

In its assessment of the new Challenger, NHTSA notes the availability of Forward Collision Warning (FCW), which features forward-facing sensors programmed to detect the potential for certain types of frontal collisions. If a frontal impact with another vehicle appears imminent, the system pre-fills the Challenger’s brakes and transmits audible and visual warnings for the driver to respond.

FCW is among more than 70 available safety and security features on the 2017 Dodge Challenger. Others include Blind-spot Monitoring (BSM) and Rear Cross Path (RCP) detection.

BSM uses radar sensors to aid the driver when changing lanes, passing or being passed. When another vehicle is detected in the driver’s blind spot, its presence is noted with illuminated icons in the Challenger’s side-view mirrors and a driver-selectable chime.

RCP detection warns drivers of lateral traffic when backing out of parking spaces. It automatically activates whenever the driver puts the Challenger in reverse gear.

Since the modern Dodge Challenger was launched in 2008, NHTSA has included the car in its annual model-year ratings seven times. It achieved five-star scores every time, including five overall five-star ratings – one for each year overall ratings have been awarded.

The Dodge challenger is notably one of the fastest and most powerful sedans in the world.

Volvo has confirmed that China will eventually become the exclusive hub for production of its S90 sedan.

That means all S90s sold in the United States (US) will eventually be sourced from China instead of Sweden where the sedans are currently sourced from.

“China will play an increasingly important part in our global manufacturing ambitions,” Volvo CEO Håkan Samuelsson said in a statement.

“Our factories (in China) will deliver world class products for export across the globe in coming years, contributing to our objective of selling up to 800,000 cars a year by 2020,” he added.

Volvo, whose parent company is Chinese automaker Geely, will eventually have three plants in China, one each for the respective 40-, 60- and 90-series models. The 90-series models will be built at a plant in Daqing, the 60-series models at a plant in Chengdu, and the 40-series models at a plant in Luqiao.The Luqiao plant will also be used by Geely’s new brand Lynk & Co.

Volvo’s existing plant in Sweden will continue to manufacture the 90-series models excluding the S90, along with some 60-series models. And the automaker’s plant in Belgium will focus on 40-series models. Volvo is also planning a plant in South Carolina that will initially focus on 60-series models for local sale as well as export.

Building the S90 exclusively in China makes sense for Volvo as the country, where sedans still sell in significant numbers, is where most S90s are expected to be sold. And there haven’t been any issues regarding quality with the S60 Inscription that Volvo currently sources from China for sale in the U.S.

The 2017 Dodge Challenger has earned a five-star overall safety rating from the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Five stars is the highest rating in the regulatory agency’s vehicle-evaluation programme.

“This proves the 2017 Dodge Challenger is much more than a great-looking car. It reflects our commitment to delivering exceptional occupant safety in every vehicle segment,” Mike Dahl, Head of Vehicle Safety and Regulatory Compliance, FCA North America, said.

Nearly 60 percent of the sporty Challenger’s body structure consists of high-strength steel. This engineering strategy, combined with the careful integration of side-guard door beams, was critical to the car’s performance in NHTSA’s side-impact testing.

The agency simulated collisions with a pole and with another vehicle at closing speeds of 32 miles per hour and 62 miles per hour, respectively.

Supplementary restraint systems also contributed to the car’s performance. Driver and front-passenger side air bags are standard equipment on all Challenger trim levels, as are front and rear side-curtain air bags.

The dodge challenger SRT is available at Weststar Associates. The company offers after sales services which include the sale of available genuine auto parts and maintenance services.

In its assessment of the new Challenger, NHTSA notes the availability of Forward Collision Warning (FCW), which features forward-facing sensors programmed to detect the potential for certain types of frontal collisions. If a frontal impact with another vehicle appears imminent, the system pre-fills the Challenger’s brakes and transmits audible and visual warnings for the driver to respond.

FCW is among more than 70 available safety and security features on the 2017 Dodge Challenger. Others include Blind-spot Monitoring (BSM) and Rear Cross Path (RCP) detection.

BSM uses radar sensors to aid the driver when changing lanes, passing or being passed. When another vehicle is detected in the driver’s blind spot, its presence is noted with illuminated icons in the Challenger’s side-view mirrors and a driver-selectable chime.

RCP detection warns drivers of lateral traffic when backing out of parking spaces. It automatically activates whenever the driver puts the Challenger in reverse gear.

Since the modern Dodge Challenger was launched in 2008, NHTSA has included the car in its annual model-year ratings seven times. It achieved five-star scores every time, including five overall five-star ratings – one for each year overall ratings have been awarded.

The Dodge challenger is notably one of the fastest and most powerful sedans in the world.

 

Plug-in vehicles, including electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, could by 2040 become world’s most desired vehicles, with Nissan LEAF appropriating 35 per cent of the global new electric car sales, Nissan sub-Sahara Africa Managing Director Mike Whitfield has said.

Whitfield, who spoke in South Africa, hinged his projection on growing affordability of battery and the introduction of wireless charging capability.

He said: “We are already seeing the effects of these fast-moving technologies in cars and the most prominent being the ‘green mobility’ – where electric vehicle technology evolved.”

Although the electric vehicle market in Africa is still small, he said: “It is poised to change if government plays key role in harnessing Africa’s carbon footprint.’’

Meanwhile, sales of plug-in vehicles, including electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, have reached 1.5 million marking 2015, representing about 0.1 per cent of the billion cars on the road worldwide.

South African government for instance has shown willingness to rollout large-scale electric vehicles having partnered with automakers and other stakeholders in a variety of electric vehicle expansion.

The collaboration is expected to inspire more automakers to roll-out fast-charging stations by 2017 like Nissan and BMW to expand the national charging network for their electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Only South Africa and Mauritius  in the sub-Sahara have sufficient infrastructure to support electric vehicles.

Technology in autonomous drive vehicles – which combines robotics technology, artificial intelligence, sensors and car-to-car connectivity – is also evolving rapidly, Whitfield noted.

He said: “Though there isn’t yet a driverless car, autonomous drive technology are being introduced gradually to enhance driving experience and Nissan has incorporated some of these features in its vehicle line-up.”