Steering Clear of Hazardous Driving Conditions

By Dani Ben-Ari

This has been a particularly brutal winter for most of the United States, with many areas getting record snowfalls, especially in the Midwest and Deep South. While there is nothing we can do about the weather, there are measures that we can all take to make sure we can cope with it to the best of our ability, particularly when traveling.

There may come a time in every driver’s life when the unexpected happens due to some hazard caused by conditions on the road beyond your control. In questionable weather, the safest behavior is to avoid driving. However, if you must be out on the road decrease your speed and leave plenty of room between you and the car in front of you, and be sure to brake gently to avoid skidding on slick roads. If you feel the wheels begin to lock up, ease off the brake carefully.

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Teaching Your Teen to Drive Takes Patience

By Dani Ben-Ari

Teenage drivers can pose big threats to highway safety. Whereas it is impossible to be with our teenagers every time they get behind the wheel, there are a number of sensible ways to try and keep them safer.

The first is to set a good example with your own driving skills from the very beginning. Little ones are extremely aware of the things their parents do and will eventually copy what they see, If you are reckless behind the wheel, chances are that they will grow up thinking that is the way everyone drives. Begin by showing your children good driving habits early. Always use your seatbelts, signal when making turns, check mirrors regularly and be sure to give yourself plenty of room between you and other vehicles. You can also explain the importance of why you do these things when operating a vehicle. They may not always act like they are listening, but it will sink in.

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Are Your Parents Becoming Too Old to Drive?

By Dani Ben-Ari

There comes a time in life when most people need to decide when it is time to give up their driver’s license. Unfortunately, many seniors often refuse to do so willingly. Some just don’t want to admit their failing abilities, while others are afraid to give up the freedom and independence driving affords them. Many people are able to drive safely well into their 80’s and even their 90’s. Others, however, may need to stop driving far younger. Everyone ages differently, and there are a great many factors that can impair someone’s driving ability.

As people get older, their depth perception and ability to judge traffic speed accurately declines. Night vision worsens and many older individuals become increasingly sensitive to sunlight and glare. Hearing loss is another factor. In addition, chronic ailments such as diabetes and arthritis, as well as side effects from medications can diminish a driver’s ability to react quickly enough, and may also include drowsiness.

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When Baby’s On Board: Keeping Your Kids Safe While Driving

While it has been proven that baby seats save lives, thousands of small children continue to die or are badly injured in car crashes each year because their parents were not sufficiently taught how to use them properly. In fact, the AAA reported that as many as three out of four parents are using the wrong kind of seat for their children.

All infants need to be placed in rear-facing seats until they are one year old and weight more than 20 lbs. While some parents may thing it is okay to change over to front facing seats earlier if the baby is over 20 lbs, they may be making a grave error. It is not so much the weight that counts, but the infant’s overall physical development. A baby’s neck is simply not developed sufficiently before its first birthday to support its head. Similarly, toddlers over 20 lbs should not ride in booster seats until they have outgrown the height and weight limits of forward facing seats as specified by each individual manufacturer.

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Motoring One’s Way to Self-Esteem

Every one needs some sort of compass in the search for self; something to give direction and guide them from where they are in life to where they want to be. Without a compass many people may believe it is safer to stay with what is familiar, or to just accept what image others have of them, rather than risk rejection by following their own path. This fear is most often caused by a lack of self-esteem and generally leads to an identity crisis, or a feeling of uncertainty about how they feel about themselves. It can also result in a loss of one’s values, goals and purpose.

Self-esteem is the value a person places on herself. It is having a good opinion of oneself and includes having a realistic understanding of one’s strengths as well as weaknesses, and realizing that one’s positive qualities outweigh the negative qualities. It means believing that one is attractive and worthwhile. That one is a “good” person. Most importantly, having a high self-esteem (yet not being egotistical) means feeling that one is doing a good job and “measuring up” to personal expectations, re: behavior, appearance and character. If a teen believes she is a worthwhile person, she is more likely to make healthy decisions regarding her life.

How does one develop self-esteem? In many ways our accomplishments are what help us develop our self-worth. More than a “feel good” thing, self-esteem is about who we are, who we can potentially be. Self-esteem is also about getting balance in life. It is about learning to deal with life’s ups and downs, and to be prepared for the hard times that inevitably will come to all of us.
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Alternative Weapons: Instinctive Self-defense

by Emanuel Roth

What form of self-defense could be more instinctive than using whatever ordinary and nondescript objects around you to defend yourself against an attacker? Objects that were neither designed with self-defense in mind, nor are they specially carried for such a purpose by you. Objects that will neither raise the suspicion of Law Enforcement, nor take up any extra room since you would have had them either on your person or in your surroundings and environment anyway.

A person who has the right motivation, talent and will to survive, can employ almost any object as a weapon. Anything can become a weapon when your mind is the real weapon. Governments can’t ban it, customs can’t confiscate it and the only time you don’t have it is when you are asleep. This is the key lesson you should take away from this article.
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Women’s Self Defense: Personal Safety 101

It is an issue that spans the life of mankind, and continues to change and evolve with a changing society. Personal safety, what does it mean? How does it change? Why is it important? How can it benefit me?

Personal safety can have many meanings. Safeties at home, at work, in between, in your daily routines, and of course when confronted with a potentially dangerous scenario, are all examples of arenas in which personal safety is an important subject.

Why is personal safety important?

• There are an average 525 cases of rape and sexual reported every day in the US.
• More than one million women are stalked each year.
• An average of 1.7 million people are victims of violent crime while working or on duty each year
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