Close the door to mishaps
By H. Kishie Singh

ONE of the most useful lights on my dashboard is a red light that denotes ‘door open’ if any of the four doors is open.

Many cars — on the city roads as well as on the highway — move at speed and with doors not properly closed.

Car doors when slammed shut, go through a double-lock system. If you close the door slowly, you will hear two clicks. The first click (lock) will hold the door shut but not as securely as originally intended by the manufacturer. In case of an impact, a single-locked door can fly open.

More often then not it is the rear doors that are not securely shut and almost just as often there are children in the back seat.

The driver of a car has responsibilities akin to that of the captain of a ship. The safety of all persons in car is the responsibility of the driver.

The proper procedure is that the driver should close the doors himself. And before closing the doors shut, the lock button on the inside must be depressed. This is an additional safety measure.

Some cars features yet another door-safety device — child locks. A small lever built into the rear doors makes sure you cannot open the door from inside. This is only on the rear doors. Manufacturers know the problem points and have already taken measures to ensure the safety of passengers, most often children, in the rear seat. The driver is obliged to get out and open the rear doors, after unlocking them from inside.

Closing a door is a simple procedure, but do pay attention it otherwise you will be inviting trouble.

In developed countries where rules are strictly enforced, a child is not allow to sit in the front seat. In our country, not only do children sit in the front seat but the driver’s lap!

The steering-wheel is responsible for a lot of damage to the human body in case of an accident.It is for this reason that cars have seat belts and collapsible steering columns. Some expensive cars have air bags. The idea is to prevent the body from hitting the steering-wheel or in the case of a passenger, the dashboard.

Steering-wheels have been responsible for crushing the driver’s rib cage and causing massive internal damage. So you can imagine what an impact could do to the soft body of a child who comes in between the steering-wheel and the driver.

Tests have shown that a face hitting the windscreen glass or the dashboard at 40 kmph is equivalent to falling from a three-storeyed building on to concrete. And jumping off buildings has been a favourite way of committing suicide! Think about it next time when you have your child in the front seat.Would you throw the child off a balcony?

Windscreen glass comes in a laminated form or is gas-filled. The advantage of a gas-filled windscreen is that it explodes into little crystals which do little or no damage — may be minor cuts to face and hands. The idea is if there is no glass, it cannot hurt you.

Seat belts, door locks, child-safety locks, air bags and gas-filled windscreens are all safety features.With the exception of air bags, you could have all others on your car. Understand their value and you’ll end up using them.

Happy motoring!