Oldsmobile 2001 Bravada User Manual download pdf (Page 169)

4-3

Vehicle Design

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation,

utility vehicles have a significantly higher rollover rate

than other types of vehicles. Utility vehicles do have a

higher ground clearance and a narrower track or

shorter wheelbase than passenger cars to make them

more capable for off

-road driving. Specific design

characteristics like these give the driver a better view of

the road, but also give utility vehicles a higher center of

gravity than other types of vehicles. This means that you

shouldn’t expect a utility vehicle to handle the same way

a vehicle with a lower center of gravity, like a car, would

in similar situations. But driver behavior factors are far

more often the cause of a utility vehicle rollover than are

environmental or vehicle factors. Safe driver behavior

and understanding the environment in which you’ll be

driving can help avoid a rollover crash in any type of

vehicle, including utility vehicles.

Defensive Driving

The best advice anyone can give about driving is:

Drive defensively.

Please start with a very important safety device in your

vehicle: Buckle up. See “Safety Belts” in the Index.

Defensive driving really means “be ready for anything.”

On city streets, rural roads or freeways, it means

“always expect the unexpected.”

Assume that pedestrians or other drivers are going to

be careless and make mistakes. Anticipate what they

might do. Be ready for their mistakes.

Rear-end collisions are about the most preventable

of accidents. Yet they are common. Allow enough

following distance. It’s the best defensive driving

maneuver, in both city and rural driving. You never

know when the vehicle in front of you is going to

brake or turn suddenly.

Defensive driving requires that a driver concentrate on

the driving task. Anything that distracts from the

driving task

-- such as concentrating on a cellular

telephone call, reading, or reaching for something on

the floor -- makes proper defensive driving more

difficult and can even cause a collision, with resulting

injury. Ask a passenger to help do things like this, or

pull off the road in a safe place to do them yourself.

These simple defensive driving techniques could save

your life.

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Oldsmobile 2001 Bravada User Manual Page 169

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