Tips for Your Summer Trips. What to do, how to do it, what to watch for and even where those speed traps might pop up on your drive

With the Fourth of July and the summer traveling season upon us, there are a few rules of the road to keep you safe. The AAA estimates a record 41.1 million Americans will travel more than 50 miles from home this holiday week—a total of more than two billion miles traveled—with 84 percent of those miles put on cars, trucks and SUVs. That’s a lot of “are we there yet?” questions to endure.The first tip, though simple and effective, is to wear your seatbelt! According to the International Institute for Highway Safety, July 3rd and 4th are the two deadliest days on the road each, due largely to miles traveled, as well as the nature of the holiday week—barbecues beget beer breaks beget drinking and driving. Tip two is, before you leave on a trip, check your tires. Tires are some of the most neglected parts in regards to maintenance, so check that they have the proper inflation, and check the tread. Fluids are the lifeblood of your car and it’s imperative to check them all. The oil, coolant, washer fluid, power steering, transmission, and brake fluids should all be topped off prior to any trip. Running out of washer fluid in light rain can be dangerous, just as running low on coolant can be while in a traffic jam.Don’t forget the old-school of navigation: Take a map. Even with directions from an online service, it is still good to have a hard copy layout of the highways and byways. Not to mention most online services don’t add pertinent traffic or construction information. Bring a cell phone, with a charger; a dead phone is more useless today than in the past with the extinction of the public payphone.After you’ve taken the proper precautions, here are a few more tips, courtesy of Allstate Motor Club (www.allstatemotorclub.com), to heed while on the road. Double-check that all the exterior and interior lights are turned off during pit stops. With the added heat of the summer, your car battery has to work extra hard. All vehicles should have an emergency kit stored somewhere. The kit should include reflectors, jumper cables, a flashlight and tire gauge, drivers should also have some kind of first aid kit handy, in case of an accident. A working jack and a proper spare are also mandatory.Along with the annual tips the insurance companies give for safe travel, AutoWeek would like to throw a few of it’s own into the pre-vacation frenzy.There will be an estimated 35 million Americans traveling in cars this Fourth, nearly equal to the entire population of Kenya. What does this mean to us? Traffic. But don’t fret. The added congestion on the roads can be combated. Traffic.com is a website dedicated to bringing drivers up to the minute traffic data, which can be sent to your home email, a PDA, or that fancy new iPhone. Visitors can view real time traffic info from cities across the country, set up a route to drive and find a time to leave for maximum driving efficiency.To many of us efficiency is important; trying yet rarely succeeding to leave bright and early, turning a two-day drive into one. Shortening the trip has its consequences. Drivers have been straining to avoid speeding tickets in unfamiliar areas for decades. The truckers have their radios, and we have our radar detectors, but that’s not always enough. The National Motorists Association (www.motorists.org) has a list of the top ten speed traps in the United States, and their website, www.speedtrap.org, has nailed down many of the country’s strict enforcement zones. Drivers log on and input speed traps in their own neighborhood, while others hopefully do the same. The goal is to have an online database of the spots with arbitrarily low speed limits which can be checked prior to leaving state lines.Keeping safe over the summer is something many people talk about but few actually observe. The Fourth of July brings a sense of pride and independence for most Americans and the way many of us take advantage of that independence is to hit the open road. These few precautions are easy to take and can save you headaches, heartaches and wallet aches.
Source http://autoweek.com/