Prom season is meant to be celebratory and joyful. Unfortunately it is also a time of unnecessary, and sometimes fatal accidents caused by reckless driving and drinking and driving. Robert Ciasulli brings you the following tips to ensure your children’s safety come prom night.

Sadly, almost 2,000 teenagers die each year from accidents caused by drinking and driving. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, prom season has a disproportionate share of those statistics.

Prom should be a night worth remembering and an opportunity for high school students to celebrate the end of school with their friends.

Around this time of year, there are unfortunately many reports of young prom-goers and teenagers involved in car accidents due to reckless driving, drinking, and partying. Although reports of teen drinking and driving has significantly decreased in the last 20 years (down almost 40% from 1990 to 2005), many teens still find themselves in risky driving situations on prom night. This is true for other situations as well—any scenario when an inexperienced teen driver is distracted by friends, mobile devices, or restrictive and uncomfortable clothing can result in injury or a car accident. Teens, review these following tips to ensure a safe prom night.

Safe Prom Night Driving Tips for Teens:

Enforce the rule that everyone in your vehicle (including yourself) wear a seatbelt. This is the easiest way to ensure the safety of passengers and can save lives in the event of a high speed or low speed crash.

• Anticipate other drivers on the road—no doubt on prom night there will be many distracted drivers. It’s up to you to drive defensively and protect yourself.
• If you’re the designated driver, do not consume alcohol. If a friend is driving or intends to drive after consuming alcohol, don’t let them drive. It’s not worth the risk. Alcohol impairs your reaction time and coordination.
• Ensure that you know where you’re going. If you’re driving late and night and are unfamiliar with the destination, you may want to review directions or drive by the location beforehand.
• If you’re tired, it can have the same effect on your driving abilities as alcohol. Call home for a ride: your parents would rather pick you up then allow you to place yourself in a risky scenario or dangerous driving situation.
• If you’re wearing an outfit you’re not accustomed to—a prom dress, high heels, a tuxedo, or bulky dress shoes it’s a good idea to bring sneakers or other form of footwear or clothing you feel comfortable driving in. Slamming on the brakes in unfamiliar shoes is dangerous.
• Keep your cell phone with you at all times in case of emergency, but do NOT text or call while driving.

Parents, the following tips are for you:

• If your teen is uncomfortable driving, suggest a limo service or an experienced adult chaperone to serve as a chauffer for the night.
• Too many overexcited teens in one vehicle can be dangerous. Limit passengers per vehicle and you’ll be limiting distractions.
• Find out where your son or daughter is going to be for the night, as well as post-prom parties.

Teens and parents: follow those rules and everyone will have an enjoyable and safe night.

Bio: Robert Ciasulli owns and operates several car dealerships in northern New Jersey and is very interested in automotive maintenance and safe driving habits. These tips are based on what he’s experienced on the road. He encourages you to drive safely and protect yourself and your fellow drivers.

Here are some very key questions to consider (concerning child safety) when buying a new car:

• What features does this vehicle have that will help me avoid a crash? For example, ESC (Electronic Stability Control). ESC helps drivers maintain (and sometimes regain) control of their vehicles in dangerous conditions such as snow, rain, and slippery roads. It can also help drivers avoid accidents during extreme steering maneuvers and plays a part in helping drivers escape from situations where their cars are spinning out or plowing out of control.
• How well would this vehicle protect me in a crash? Does it have side air bags? Is the center part of the car well protected? With your kids in mind, this would be a serious safety feature to consider. These two technologies offer great protection for passengers and can save lives. (Of the two million crashes a year that result in injury, the majority are either frontal or side crashes). Side air bags (SAB) protect the head and the chest during side impact crashes.
• How likely is the vehicle to roll over when involved in a crash with another vehicle? More then 10,000 people become injured each year in rollover crashes. This is especially true for passengers who are not wearing their seat belts. By choosing to wear your seat belt, you can reduce your chance of injury by approximately 75%.
• Does the car or van have any advanced safety features that could offer my children or myself any additional protection? Take care and remember to never place a rear facing infant seat in front of an air bag, even if it says “reduced-power” or “advanced”. Children 12 years of age and younger must be in the back seat of your car or van and properly seat belted in. Be aware of the child safety laws in your state, or you may receive a fine. Children must be placed in child safety seats that are appropriate for their size, weight, and age. In the state of New Jersey, children seven years and younger and less than 80 pounds must be in the rear seat.

Remember, a heavier vehicle will usually protect you better in a crash, particularly in the case of two-vehicle crashes.

Bio: Robert Ciasulli owns and operates several car dealerships in northern New Jersey and is very interested in automotive maintenance and vehicle safety. His tips on buying a safer car for your children are based on his own observations and government statistics.

1. First and foremost, what type of gas are you buying? If you go with the high-octane higher end fuel, you’ll be paying higher prices. Your car may perform perfectly well running on lower octane (and cheaper) gas. Consult your owners manual to see what’s recommended. If your car is like most, it’ll run just fine on regular unleaded gas—no fancy high-octane gasoline necessary. Switching to cheaper gas (if appropriate for your vehicle) is one of the easiest ways to save money—but take the time to find out what’s best to put in your tank beforehand.
2. Tire pressure. If you check your tire pressure frequently and keep your tires properly inflated, you’ll save money on gas and avoid uneven tire wear and tear. You should be checking your tire pressure at least once a month—no excuses, a good quality tire gauge is very inexpensive. I also remind you to be aware that not all 4 tires are always the same type and may require different pressures. Don’t forget to monitor the tire pressure of your spare just in case!
3. Keep your gas tank at least one-quarter of the way full at all times. Why? I recommend this because your vehicle needs a minimal level of fuel to keep your fuel pump well lubricated and prevent overheating. Don’t wait until your tank is almost empty before a refill—frequent driving on a near empty tank may cause your fuel pump to wear out faster. Keep gas in your tank and avoid a pricey pump repair. This is also especially true for older vehicles, which can accumulate rust, gunk, and other buildup in the bottom of the gas tank—you don’t want your car trying to run itself on that.
4. There’s under filling and there is also overfilling. Overfilling is just as bad—when filling up your tank, stop when you hear the “click” and resist the urge to top it off. When you find your vehicle idling roughly, this may be due to overfilling the gas tank and possible damage and spill over into your charcoal canister, designed to handle gas vapor and not actual gas. To avoid poor car performance and damaging your evaporative emissions control system, don’t overfill your tank.
5. Tune ups. To keep your car functioning and to avoid any large or costly repairs, get your car checked out twice a year. During the spring and summer months, we tend to be more lax about our vehicles, but we’re also driving more. Get your car checked out and enjoy safe summer travel!

Bio: Robert Ciasulli owns and operates several car dealerships in northern New Jersey and is very interested in automotive maintenance and safe driving habits. These tips are based on what he’s experienced on the road. He encourages you to drive safely and protect yourself and your fellow drivers.

Knowing the law can empower you to protect your safety and the safety of your friends and loved ones. The following is Part 2 of a drinking and driving informational article and contains helpful information regarding drunk driving and how you can ensure your safety on the road.

How Do I Spot Drunk Drivers on the Road?

• The Scenario: It’s late at night on the weekend and you’re on the road driving home. You see another car in front of you driving very slowly and weaving in and out of lanes. What should you do? Learning the signs of drunk driving can help you avoid harmful situations.
• Do you see cars that are driving between two lanes, or driving on lane markers?
• Do you see cars stopping at green lights, crosswalks, or at other times when not necessary?
• Do you see cars hitting or striking objects in the road or other vehicles?
• Do you witness drivers taking extremely wide turns?
• Is the individual driving well below the speed limit, at least 10MPH below?
• Are they driving on the shoulder or the wrong side of the road?
• Are they tailgating another vehicle and/or breaking at erratic intervals?
• When passing another car, do they narrowly miss hitting or making contact?

Do you see a car driving without its headlights on?

These may be indications or signs that the driver is under the influence of alcohol and you should take measures to avoid them. Do NOT try to pass them, stop their vehicle, tailgate them, or act on behalf of the police.

Get out of their way and anticipate any sudden movements or erratic behavior.
Stay far behind them and change lanes if necessary.
Make that your seatbelt is on, and the seatbelts of all your passengers.
Pull over to the side of the road.
You may also choose to call 911 and report the drunk driver. You will be prompted to disclose the location, car description, behavior of the driver, as well as the direction they’re heading.

Avoid putting people (and yourself) in danger and don’t drink while intoxicated. Here are a few alcohol-related myths about drinking and driving:

Splashing my face with water will sober me up enough to drive.

That’s not true. Take a cold shower if you want, but the only thing that will sober you up is time.

I’ll run around the block a few times before driving home. Exercise will sober me up.

This is not true either. While it may make you feel more awake, it won’t make you any more sober.

I’ve eaten a large meal before I started drinking. There’s no way I’ll get too drunk to drive.

The size of the meal you eat only has a SMALL effect on how slowly or rapidly the alcohol you drink enters your bloodstream. If you drink excessively, you’ll still be too intoxicated to drive, no matter what size your portion.

Neither post-drinking breath mints nor coffee will prevent officers from pulling you over. The only thing that’ll sober you up enough to drive is time. Protect yourself and protect your family and friends.

Robert Ciasulli owns and operates several car dealerships in northern New Jersey and is very interested in automotive maintenance and safe driving habits. He encourages you to drive safely and protect yourself and your fellow drivers.

Knowing the law can empower you to protect your safety and the safety of your friends and loved ones. The following article contains helpful information regarding drunk driving and how you can ensure your safety on the road.

In the State of New Jersey, an individual is guilty of drunk driving if he/she operates a car, truck, or motor vehicle with a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.08 or greater. “BAC” refers to how much alcohol is in your blood. What many people forget is that even if your BAC is 0.08 or below, you can still be convicted of driving under the influence. Remember—even consuming a very small amount of alcohol can severely decrease your reaction time, affect your judgment, vision, and alertness behind the wheel as well. If your alcohol consumption affects your driving ability, you can be convicted of drunk driving.

If you believe you are intoxicated, do not get in your vehicle. You’re at a much greater risk of highway injury, involvement in a car accident, causing injury to others, or death. You’ll face having your license suspended or revoked, your license plates confiscated, fines, and possible jail time. These injuries and risks are totally preventable, although they take the lives of many each year. Protect yourself. Don’t drink and drive and don’t get into a vehicle driven by anyone who’s under the influence.

How to Protect Yourself and Avoid Driving While Drunk:

• Always have a designated driver. If nobody wants to drive, volunteer yourself. Your safety is in your own hands.
• Always wear your seat belt. Seat belts save lives.
• Drive defensively, anticipating the reactions of the cars around you.
• Don’t travel late at night Saturday or Sunday, i.e. after midnight.
• Do not drive on winding, rural roads.
• Ensure that your vehicle has an airbag.
• If you’re tired, do NOT drive. Being tired has the same effect on an individual as alcohol. Both effect decisions, reaction time, and judgment. Drivers who fall asleep behind the wheel cause approximately 70,000 deaths a year.
• Avoid other distractions, such as phone calls, texts, eating while driving, and other harmful behaviors.
• Drive in wide highways and roadways with plenty of space, i.e. 4 lane highways.

How to Avoid Drinking Too Much:

• Whether you’re going out or drinking at home, know your alcohol limit. Most individuals can consume one alcoholic drink an hour without feeling any negative effects. Never drink on an empty stomach and eat food while you’re drinking, preferably food with protein, such as meat, nuts, or cheese. This will prevent you from getting too drunk too quickly.
• Enjoy your drink. Resist the urge to participate in “chugging” or “drinking” games.
• Space our your drinks mindfully, and drink juice and water in between.
• Don’t just sit there! When you’re standing, mingling, or dancing, you’ll drink less overall and remain aware of your state.

I cannot stress how important it is to not drink and drive. Never let anyone get behind the wheel when they’ve had too much to drunk, including yourself. Protect your friends and loved ones from the dangers of drunk driving. Read Part 2 of my “Drunk Driving Article” for more drunk driving safety.

Bio: Robert Ciasulli owns and operates several car dealerships in northern New Jersey and is very interested in automotive maintenance and safe driving habits. He encourages you to drive safely and protect yourself and your fellow drivers.

Knowing the law can empower you to protect your safety and the safety of your friends and loved ones. The following is Part 2 of a drinking and driving informational article and contains helpful information regarding drunk driving and how you can ensure your safety on the road.

How Do I Spot Drunk Drivers on the Road?

The Scenario: It’s late at night on the weekend and you’re on the road driving home. You see another car in front of you driving very slowly and weaving in and out of lanes. What should you do? Learning the signs of drunk driving can help you avoid harmful situations.

• Do you see cars that are driving between two lanes, or driving on lane markers?
• Do you see cars stopping at green lights, crosswalks, or at other times when not necessary?
• Do you see cars hitting or striking objects in the road or other vehicles?
• Do you witness drivers taking extremely wide turns?
• Is the individual driving well below the speed limit, at least 10MPH below?
• Are they driving on the shoulder or the wrong side of the road?
• Are they tailgating another vehicle and/or breaking at erratic intervals?
• When passing another car, do they narrowly miss hitting or making contact?
• Do you see a car driving without its headlights on?

These may be indications or signs that the driver is under the influence of alcohol and you should take measures to avoid them. Do NOT try to pass them, stop their vehicle, tailgate them, or act on behalf of the police.

• Get out of their way and anticipate any sudden movements or erratic behavior.
• Stay far behind them and change lanes if necessary.
• Make that your seatbelt is on, and the seatbelts of all your passengers.
• Pull over to the side of the road.
• You may also choose to call 911 and report the drunk driver. You will be prompted to disclose the location, car description, behavior of the driver, as well as the direction they’re heading.

Avoid putting people (and yourself) in danger and don’t drink while intoxicated. Here are a few alcohol-related myths about drinking and driving:

Splashing my face with water will sober me up enough to drive.

That’s not true. Take a cold shower if you want, but the only thing that will sober you up is time.

I’ll run around the block a few times before driving home. Exercise will sober me up.

This is not true either. While it may make you feel more awake, it won’t make you any more sober.

I’ve eaten a large meal before I started drinking. There’s no way I’ll get too drunk to drive.

The size of the meal you eat only has a SMALL effect on how slowly or rapidly the alcohol you drink enters your bloodstream. If you drink excessively, you’ll still be too intoxicated to drive, no matter what size your portion.

Neither post-drinking breath mints nor coffee will prevent officers from pulling you over. The only thing that’ll sober you up enough to drive is time. Protect yourself and protect your family and friends.

Robert Ciasulli owns and operates several car dealerships in northern New Jersey and is very interested in automotive maintenance and safe driving habits. He encourages you to drive safely and protect yourself and your fellow drivers.

I’m Robert Ciasulli and I own several car dealerships in northern New Jersey. I’d like to bring the following information to your attention—more and more motorists these days are getting stopped and ticketed for minor violations while driving at slower speeds. This article will bring to your attention how states are relying on additional traffic citations to bring in revenue in these tough financial times.

We’re all guilty of it—driving 5-10 miles per hour over the speed limit. But the once accepted “speeding cushion” is disappearing, mainly due to the recession. States need to fill their budget gaps with traffic and speeding citation revenue, so you’re going to find that troopers have a much lower tolerance to speeders these days. Friendly warnings are a thing of the past and I encourage you to carefully drive the speed limit to avoid being pulled over and ticketed.

One 2009 study in the Journal of Law and Economics found that officers issue a greater number of traffic tickets during periods of economical recession and discovered that the decrease in annual state revenue resulted in a direct 6.4% increase of traffic tickets. Increasing the volume of traffic citations is the easiest way for local governments to make up for budget shortfalls in a weak economy.

In Ohio for example, 2011 traffic tickets were issued in January 2010, a significant amount more then the 452 tickets recorded in January of the previous year. Georgia also adopted a practice that would add an additional fine of $200 to “super speeders”, or individuals who were recorded driving more then 25 MPH over the speed limit. Tennessee is also considering implementing this practice as well.

Stay alert for new “travel-safe” zones, because your speeding fine could be doubled in those areas. These zones are usually in highway areas—for example, Missouri has 5 in the St. Louis area. For all states, fines are doubled in highway construction zones. Paying attention to these established areas will prevent you from receiving a large speeding citation.

Don’t be surprised if you get a ticket for a minor violation of a few miles per hour. Being aware of these new low tolerances to speeding, maintain the speed limit especially in school zones, construction areas, “travel-safe” zones, and adhere to all speed limit signs and you’ll avoid seeing those red and blue flashing lights in your rearview mirror. Don’t expect to go 80 MPH down the highway anytime soon– this harsher speed enforcement isn’t likely to lighten up even as the economy improves.

*Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-30-speeding-cushion_N.htm

Robert Ciasulli owns and operates several car dealerships in northern New Jersey and is very interested in automotive maintenance and safe driving habits. He encourages you to go the speed limit, drive safely, and protect yourself and your fellow drivers.