Owner's Manual

The traction you can get
in
a curve depends
on
the
condition of your tires and the road surface, the angle at
which the curve is banked, and your speed. While you’re
in
a
curve, speed is the one factor you can control.
Try to adjust your speed
so
you can “drive” through the
curve. Maintain
a
reasonable, steady speed. Wait
to
accelerate until
you
are out of the curve, and then
accelerate gently into
the
straightaway.
Suppose you’re steering through a sharp curve. Then
you
suddenly accelerate. Both control systems
--
steering and
acceleration
--
have to do their work where
the
tires meet
the road. Adding the sudden acceleration can demand too
much of those places. You can lose control.
What should you do if this ever happens? Ease up on the
accelerator pedal, steer the vehicle the way you want it
to go, and slow down.
Speed limit signs near curves warn that you should
adjust your speed. Of course, the posted speeds are
based on good weather and road conditions. Under less
favorable conditions you’ll want to go slower.
If you need to reduce your speed as
you
approach a
curve, do it before you enter the curve, while your front
wheels are straight ahead.
ril
in
E
enc:
There
are
times when steering can be more effective
than braking. For example, you come over a hill and
find a truck stopped
in
your lane, or a car suddenly pulls
out from nowhere, or a child darts out from between
parked cars and stops right
in
front of you.
You
can
avoid these problems by braking
--
if
you can stop in
time. But sometimes
you
can’t; there isn’t room.
That’s
the
time for evasive action
--
steering around
the problem.
Your Chevrolet can perform very well
in
emergencies
like these. First apply your brakes. (See “Braking in
Emergencies” earlier in this section.) It is better to
remove
as
much speed as you can from
a
possible
collision. Then steer around the problem,
to
the left
or right depending on the space available.