A Vital Defensive Driving Technique – Signal Intent!

A key aspect of defensive driving techniques is to signal your intent when you are out on the road. This means communicating to other drivers what you are about to do. As a first step it is essential that all lights that help you communicate to other drivers are functioning. Indicators, brake lights, head lights and other driving lights must be in good order. It's almost impossible to adopt a defensive driving attitude if other drivers have got no idea what you intend to do.

Indicate Your Intentions Early

When changing lanes, turning or undertaking some other manouvre that others may not expect, use your indicator early, that is before you make your move, rather than late or not at all. Mind reading is not really part of defensive driving techniques. Even if you think you are a mind reader, other drivers are usually not. Your indicators should tell other drivers what you are going to do in advance, not to disguise or acknowledge the manouvre you have just completed!

Be Predictable

Apply your defensive driving techniques by being clear with your indicators and move according to your signal. Don't suddenly change your mind and act in a way that confuses other drivers. Don't indicate a left turn and then turn right or vice versa. Make sure your indicators cancel after your manouvre so you don't drive for miles with a meaningless signal that only confuses other traffic.

Know Where You Are Going

Knowing where you are going may not be something you consider as part of defensive driving techniques, but neither is getting lost. Getting lost results not only in confusing yourself, but also in confusing others as you make sudden or false moves trying to find your destination. Slowing down, then speeding up again without indicating is hazardous. If you get lost, indicate correctly to an appropriate place to stop and consult your street directory or map, or ask someone for directions. Driving around aimlessly forms no part of defensive driving techniques.

Always Signal

As part of driving defensively, it is a good habit to always signal your intent, particularly when making lane changes or turns. Even on a an apparently lonely road at night it is good practice to signal your intent.

Slowing Down

A key aspect of defensive driving techniques is slowing down or stopping. You can warn following drivers of your intent to slow down or stop by tapping the brake pedal once or twice to flash your brake lights. The flash of the brake lights will alert following drivers to what you intend and this is particularly important if a following driver is approaching quickly.


Signalling your intent early and clearly is a key to staying out of trouble on the road. Being predictable is not only part of your armoury of defensive driving techniques, but also enables other drivers to know what you are doing. . This allows them to anticipate your moves and allows valuable time to adopt their own defensive driving tactics.

Mobile Multimedia: A New Peak For The Alpine Car Stereo

We all know that brand names matter when purchasing car audio hardware. There are brands that are surely more reputable than others. When you are at the store and they offer choice after choice after choice, suddenly you feel overwhelmed on what really to buy. But you can be assured of one thing, if they offer you an Alpine car stereo you can’t go wrong with it. Alpine car stereo and electronics, founded in 1978, is a world leader in the industry of high performance mobile electronics. They specialize in mobile multimedia, an integrated system approach incorporating digital entertainment, security and navigation products for the mobile entertainment. Alpine car stereos are a new breed of units which feature the convergence of high performance audio, video, navigation and telematics in the form of Mobile Multimedia. Navigation systems act as the resource center of the Alpine car stereo Mobile Multimedia lineup. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), DVD players, Dolby Digital systems, satellite digital audio radio, mobile data linking and communication through telematics devices will be fused with navigation systems to create a platform of products. Mobile Multimedia integrates Alpine's innovative audio, video, security and navigation products, as well as its new GUI for Drivers, human interface and information communications technology. To grasp what the Alpine car stereo Mobile Multimedia is, take a look at the IVA-D901 Alpine car stereo Mobile Multimedia Station/CD/DVD Receiver/Ai-NET Controller. The IVA-D901 has 400% more pixels than a conventional in-vehicle display, meaning that it has 1.15 million pixel elements. It has 50W x 4 built-in power and 3 PreOuts (4 volt), SAT Radio ready, a Hard Disc Drive (HDD), and Alpine car stereo Navigation. Key features include: - 7" Fully Motorized Wide Screen Monitor - 18W x 4 MOSFET Amplifier - Built-in Dolby Digital/DTS Decoder - Bass Engine® Plus - Subwoofer Level Control - Bass Center Frequency Control - Bass Band Width Adjustment - Treble Center Frequency Control - Subwoofer Phase Selector - Bass Type Control - 4-Ch Digital Time Correction - 3 Position 12 dB/Oct Crossover - MediaXpander™ - SAT Radio Ready - MP3 Text Information Display - Quick Search Function - CD/CD-R Playback - CD Text, Text Display, Text Scroll - M DAC - MaxTune SQ Tuner - 3 Auxilliary A/V Inputs with Remote Control Input - Dedicated Navigation Input - Dedicated Camera Input - 2 Auxilliary Monitor A/V Outputs - Navigation Audio Mix - 3 PreOuts (4 volt) - MM Driver (Hard Disc Drive) Ready - MobileHub Ready - Ai-NET Control Center DVD/CD/MP3 Changer Controller - "Digital Art" Spectrum Analyzer Display - RUE-4190 Universal Wireless Remote Control Included If these all seems too much for you, Alpine car stereos also have more conventional head units to offer. The CDA-9835 Alpine car stereo In-Dash CD Player/Ai-Changer Controller lets you fully customize both illumination and sound, with a range of 512 colors and super-versatile Bass Engine functions like digital time correction and parametric EQ. You can download audio parameter settings and connect and control as many as eight amps. The BioLite display, Menu key and rotary knob make operation extremely easy. Like most Alpine car stereo units, it is also SAT Radio Ready, giving you a much greater choice of listening options than ordinary local AM/FM radio. You can select from among a wide range of music genres, news, sports, and talk programs with digital quality anywhere.

Advantages Of Leasing A Vehicle

There are a number of reasons to consider leasing a vehicle and, of course, a number of reasons to consider buying a vehicle. These reasons are very different from one another because, naturally, buying a car is significantly different from leasing a vehicle. For the time being, the attention will be focused on the advantages of leasing a vehicle as it stacks up versus the other options of automobile purchasing and ownership.

Some of the potential advantages to leasing a vehicle include:

Lower Monthly Payments

Leasing is broken up into payments of the car or truck that you are actually using. Your monthly payments are significantly lower, usually around 30 to 60 percent lower, than standard loan payments on a vehicle purchase would be. Length terms are also put on leases, which makes for more access to the vehicle for relatively the same amount of money. On top of that, you have the ability to drive a different car every two or three years, depending on your overall lease agreement.

Less Headaches Related to Maintenance

One of the biggest headaches when it comes to car ownership is the repair bills incurred. With leasing an automobile, however, the terms of the lease typically match up with any manufacturing warranty coverage. This is an easy way out of major vehicle repairs, as the lease runs out right at the moment engine parts run out of warranty coverage and it becomes the manufacturer’s problem, not the driver’s.

Less Cash Upfront

A lot of lease agreements these days ask for very little cash upfront to secure the lease. This makes getting into a new car incredibly affordable and frees up valuable cash for other purposes than securing a vehicle. Lease agreements may suggest that you make a down payment or trade in your own vehicle. This will result in the lowering of your overall monthly payment amount, which is always good news for leasers.

Lower Taxes

In most locations, you don’t have to pay the full sales tax on the vehicle in a lease agreement because you aren’t paying for the whole value of the car. You would only face taxation on the portion of the vehicle you use during your lease or the amount of cash you paid during the terms of your lease. The tax is spread out into easy payments, therefore, and is paid alongside the monthly lease payments instead of being paid all at once. This is how most agreements work, but not all. Check with your lease agreement for more information on taxation.

Less Hassle

Instead of fiddling around trying to sell your old used car, you simply bring it back at the end of your lease agreement and pick up a new lease model. This takes the headaches and hassles away from selling your own automobile and, instead, puts it in the hands of the experts.

Gap Coverage

A final note about leases pertains to gap coverage on insurance policies. Most leases automatically include gap coverage in case the vehicle is stolen or wrecked in an accident because it leaves the manufacturer and leaser in the clear. This prevents the leaser from owing more than the vehicle is worth. In the case of most vehicle loans, this coverage is not included and car owners are on the hook in the event of accidents or theft in most cases.

A Used Mini Can Be Found Quickly And Easily With A Specialist Search Engine

There are many ways you can go about looking for a used Mini, you could buy and scan through motoring magazines or you can travel from used car dealers and private sellers. However by far the easiest way to search for a used Mini is by going online with a specialist website from the comfort of your own home and taking advantage of the tools, advice and information that a used car website offers.

If your choice of car is a used Mini then you are able to simply type this in a search box and this will present you with your choice to look through, however there can be hundreds of cars advertised online and as the Mini is a popular choice you should narrow down your search even more to the exact model you are interested in buying. The majority of search engines will allow you to make a detailed search which can narrow down the choices considerable and so cut down the time that you spend looking for a used Mini.

As you will probably have a budget then this is a great place to start after you have narrowed down the search to the Mini, from here you can then decide how far you wish to travel when it comes to actually going to look the car over and this is determined by the radius of the search. From here you can then go onto to narrowing down by any extras you wish to have and even the colour of the car, depending on the size and popularity of the used car website will all determine how many sellers will be advertising with them and so how many cars you have to choose from.

Once you have been presented with the exact used Mini you are looking to buy you will then see that photographs will accompany the listings, the photos should be clear and taken in good light, the seller should do their best to show the car off at its best so be wary of any photos which have been taken in poor lighting conditions as this could be an indication that they are trying to hide something. If you are lucky you will get to see the cars from different angles and this can help you to narrow down your choices too, along with the photographs you should also get a detailed listing regarding the state of the car, how many miles it has done and any additional benefits that make the car stand out from the rest. It should also state any imperfections so be wary if the car sounds too good to be true especially if the price is very low in comparison to others.

Along with offering search tools a good specialist used car website will offer hints and tips on what to look for during your search for a used Mini and also what you should look for when actually going to view and test drive the car. You should always study any documents relating to the car to make sure they are in order before handing over the money and of course look the vehicle over with a fine tooth comb using the advice taken from the website.