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 Previous issues: (ESPAÑOL)

Number 1 / Sep 28, 2007
  - Which is the proper driving position? (1)
  - Using automatic transmissions
  - What is a vehicle policy good for?
Number 2 / Oct 4, 2007
  - Which is the proper driving position? (2)
  - What to do when the engine overheats
  - Evaluate and train drivers
Number 3 / Oct 11, 2007
  - How to brake correctly (1)
  - How to distribute load in trucks
  - The reasons why road research is necessary
Number 4 / Oct 18, 2007
  - How to brake correctly (2)
  - Tips to conserve the battery
  - Auditing vehicles
Number 5 / Oct 25, 2007
  - How to brake correctly (3)
  - How to maintain tires in good conditions?
  - Managing vehicle risk
Number 6 / Nov 1, 2007
  - How we adjust car mirrors?
  - How to prevent the engine from overheating?
  - Accidents study
Number 7 / Nov 8, 2007
  - Precautions when driving at night
  - Fifth Wheel and King Pin (1)
  - Trip planning, a combining tool
Number 8 / Nov 15, 2007
  - Braking with air brakes
  - Fifth Wheel and King Pin (2)
  - Repair shop audits
Number 9 / Nov 22, 2007
  - The overtake manoeuvre (1)
  - Tire maintenance (1)
  - 24hs driving safely recording
Number 10 / Nov 29, 2007
  - The overtake manoeuvre (2)
  - Tire maintenance (2)
  - Taking responsibility for the hired driving
Number 11 / Dec 6, 2007
  - Driving when it rains
  - Understanding tire markings
  - Access control
Number 12 / Dec 13, 2007
  - Driving with Anti Lock Braking System
  - Coupling system safety
  - Safe driving, Values and Culture
Number 13 / Dec 21, 2007
  - When it's better to avoid driving?
  - Safety chains for coupling systems
  - Management rules and certification
Number 14 / Dec 27, 2007
  - Overspeed brakes' trailers
  - Air conditioning maintenance
  - Where to start from
Number 15 / May 14, 2008
  - Driving Definition
  - Clutch maintenance
Number 16 / May 28, 2008
  - The Attitude's influence when driving
  - Gear box oil
Number 17 / Jun 11, 2008
  - Driving through curves
  - How to choose the best tires
Number 18 / Jun 25, 2008
  - Anxiety effects in driving
  - Maintained shock absorbers, safety vehicles
Number 19 / Jul 10, 2008
  - Driving backwards
  - Prepare your vehicle for cold weather
Number 20 / Jul 23, 2008
  - Sleeping well, better driving
  - Exhaust fumes colour diagnosis
Number 21 / Aug 6, 2008
  - How to ascend and descend slopes safely
  - The engine cooling system
Number 22 / Aug 20, 2008
  - Dysfunctional beliefs in women and men driving
  - Safe Load in Tank Trucks
Number 23 / Sep 3, 2008
  - Driving in the fog
  - Safe lights
Number 24 / Sep 17, 2008
  - Driving in the fog - Second part
  - Hydraulic brakes safe maintenance (1)
Number 25 / Oct 1, 2008
  - Bad habits and their influence in behaviour
  - Hydraulic brakes safe maintenance (2)
Number 26 / Oct 15, 2008
  - How we learn to drive
  - Reducing tire air pressure
Number 27 / Oct 29, 2008
  - Crossing junctions
  - Dangerous alterations and modifications on heavy vehicles
Number 28 / Nov 12, 2008
  - Driving and distraction
  - Common transmission failures
Number 29 / Nov 26, 2008
  - Two different ways of understanding "Driving"
  - Safe lights
Number 30 / Dec 10, 2008
  - Preventing distractions
  - Failures easy to be detected
Number 31 / Jan 14, 2009
  - "Accident", its definition
  - Electronic Stability Control
Number 32 / Jan 28, 2009
  - Fatigue, the driving enemy
  - The steering on vehicles
Number 33 / Feb 11, 2009
  - Perceptual phenomena
  - Steering regulation
Number 34 / Feb 25, 2009
  - Car drivers and bikers, an intelligent coexistence
  - Progress in steering systems
Number 35 / Mar 11, 2009
  - Wrong horn usage
  - How the clutch works
Number 36 / 25 Mar, 2009
  - Driving in snowy roads
  - Clutch maintenance
Number 37 / 8 Abr, 2009
  - Understanding signposting
  - Expiring dates
Number 38 / 22 Abr, 2009
  - Rage control
  - The importance of the engine's torque when driving (1)
Number 39 / 6 May, 2009
  - Can we improve our driving techniques?
  - The importance of the engine's torque when driving (2)
Number 40 / 20 May, 2009
  - Driving and antidepressants, a dangerous combination
  - Correct 4x4 transmissions usage
Number 41 / 3 Jun, 2009
  - The attention degree can be improved
  - Maintenance: the key to extend the engine's service life
Manejo Inteligente Manejo Inteligente
 www.drivingconsultancy.com
Info Manejo January 14, 2009
 number 31
We are glad inaugurate the 2009 INFO MANEJO's issues. Today you will learn the correct definition of "accident" and the stability control systems' characteristics.

We also invite you to visit our new web site where you will find previous INFO MANEJO issues, in their Spanish and English versions.

Manejo
    "Accident", its definition
According to the Real Academia Española the accident is a "contingent event that alters the regular order of things". When any task is performed, such as running up load, perforating a well or driving a vehicle and an event that alters its planification occurs, we can deduce that there has been some kind of system dysfunction.

The previous statement has some exceptions. For example, from the legal point of view there is the fortuitous fact or the force majeure figures that imply events that could not be predicted, or if they could, they are inevitable -generally, associated to earthquakes, cyclones and similar natural events-.

In the past, there were some who thought that many accidents occurred in the pursuit of progress and at that time the human race was forcing the knowledge frontiers, specially in aeronautics.


Nowadays, the evolution and more than one hundred years now from the first automobile appearance produced in series, the Ford T, electronics make striking advances in vehicles' reliability and safety standards, which will increase a be more safety.

When explaining an accident as a contingent event, we can think it is impossible to prevent it, either because its causes are unknown or because they are the result of a fortuitous event or force majeure.

However, most of the traffic accidents investigations conclude that "one of the participants could have avoided it in some way". So it is contradictory saying that accidents are inevitable, maybe these are not really accidents.

This semantic explanation is useful to lay the foundations on our simple and specific accident definition. As study and work methodology, the intelligent driving considers the accident as a PREVENTABLE EVENT.

Traffic accidental events are the main learning source and are useful to prevent from happening again.
  Manejo
    Electronic Stability Control
ESP stands for Electronic Stability Program and is defined basically defined as an intelligent active safety program that by means of every second vehicles' steering checks, it can detect sudden changes and generate signals that act individually and selectively on each wheel.

How does the system work?

This system reduces vehicle transverse skidding and helps to keep the same direction of the vehicle in a curve, trying to correct steering loss errors, usually very difficult for the majority of drivers in adverse situations.

The electronic stability program elements are:

+ speed sensors per wheel.

+ lateral acceleration sensor.

+ skidding sensor that checks the vehicle rotation according to the vertical axis.

+ steering wheel sensor that measures the turning angle.

+ mechanic assisted brake.

+ electronic control unit that manages the abs, ebd, asr and esp.

+ Unidad de control electrónica que gestiona los sistemas de ABS, EBD, ASR y ESP.

We will detail now the forces and moments that intervene in the vehicles dynamic and conditions its reactions:

1. Braking force.

2. Traction force.

3. Centrifugal force.

4. Weight.

5. Moment according to the vertical axis.

6. Wheel inertia moment.

The ESP includes the capacities of the ASR -Traction Control System-, ABS -antilock brake system-, EBD - Electronic Brake force Distribution- and the AYC -Turn Control according to its vertical axis- while others also have influence on the suspension hardness. All these systems are supposed to be intelligent and also developed for the vehicle's active safety.

The ESP allows you to turn more quickly and even brake in a wet bend without blocking the wheels, helping to keep the vehicles' control and preventing the weigh reduction on the back wheels and the back part of the vehicle that goes forward -oversteer- or when it goes straight -understeer-. But ATTENTION, these systems generate a false safety feeling that leads us to assume more risks.

So, let's think about it, is this accidents' prevention safety? Although stability and traction controls were thought to reduce accidents production, these acts over the driver skills and we must not forget that these modern systems do not allow surpassing the imposed physic limits, and they neither correct beforehand errors we commit as drivers.

It does everything, but don't let this mislead us, an ESP vehicle also can overturn, and when this happens a voice will alert us: there has been an overturn. To sum up, the ESP system can only help in critical situations, e.g. when we have made some mistakes when turning in a bend. Plus, it creates confusion with its different names according to the manufacturer, even when their objective and the functioning principles are always very similar. They act when they register that the vehicle's path does not match the steering wheel's turning angle. For example, when turning and due to the centrifugal force produced, one or more wheels diminish their adherence, making the vehicle skid.

Either way: the driver must not be over confident if he knows the vehicle has these systems and be sure that no accident can occur to him. If the vehicle has ESP, our driving way should be always intelligent and safe, having these systems as a resource and not driving in an unsafe and risky manner.

The driving way must always adapt to the street's state and to the traffic conditions. In normal driving conditions, more safety brought by stability control systems do not apply and are subjectively valued, which is why this should not lead us to run any additional risk.

That is why the stability control system is about active safety, with its limitations and is not able to reduce accidents. Intelligent systems do not substitute common sense and safety driving actions, which for now keep on needing a safe driver.

*Called by different names by their manufacturers

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