Dangers You Might Not Think Of

Do you wear sunglasses when you drive? UVB and UVA rays damage the eyes and we are exposed to them for what can be hours every day as we drive back and forth to work. We don't think much of it unless the sun is directly in our eyes, yet indirect sunlight is almost as damaging as the direct rays.

Keeping a pair of inexpensive, but good quality sunglasses in the car and getting into the habit of putting them on just as we do a seat belt will protect your eyes from the long term cumulative damage of UVB and UVA exposure.

Don't forget the kids either! Young eyes, under 18 years old, are actually more susceptible to damage than older eyes. Keep some in the car for the kids too.

Good sunglasses are those with a high UVB and UVA rating and do not necessarily cost a lot. Look for a rating of 400, which is 100% blockage for the UVA rays. Go to www.allaboutvision.com for more about this.

Do you keep "Stuff" on your dashboard? We see many cars in the shop which have what amounts to a portable office piled on their dash. What do you think happens to that stuff when someone slams into the rear end of your car? It all becomes flying debris that can be very dangerous. Even the corner of an innocuous Kleenex box can put an eye out.

The same holds true of any other lose item inside the car, from game boys to empty drink bottles to your laptop. These are especially dangerous if they are on the rear window sill!

Do you have sparklies hanging from your mirror. The reflected light from a dangling CD disc spinning below a mirror can and does distract drivers. It can be so intense as to render a person momentarily light blinded.

Do you leave your lunch in the car? The inside temperature of a car will reach as high as 160 degrees on a sunny summer afternoon. Wonder what that does to the Mayo on the sandwich in your sack lunch? Most of us know enough to take our food stuff out of the car when we leave it, but what about other things? Leaving anything with a display screen in sunlight can destroy it. Leaving toys where the direct sun will hit them can melt them to the seat or dash. As I know from personal experience, leaving a straw hat on the dash can shrink it enough that it becomes your wife's hat instead of yours!

A sun screen in the front windshield will do a lot to prevent both the heat buildup in the car and the damage caused from direct exposure to the sun's rays. While car interiors are better quality than in the past they still do not hold up well to long direct exposure.

Do you carry a small can of gas in the trunk just in case? This is probably one of the most dangerous things you can do. In an accident of tearing metal, shorting wires and bursting containers a gallon of gas becomes a Molotov Cocktail in your truck. Even if you are fortunate enough not to have a wreck the fumes from a gas can with even the slightest leak can permeate the upholstery of your car and leave a distinct odor that you can never truly remove.

There are probably countless other bad ideas out there that can lead to dangerous auto accidents, or unknown risks to us. If you know of one that I haven't included here pass it along. We will publish them for everyone's benefit.

They are trying to get you again!

The Legislature will be convening in Austin in January. I know that is still 6 months away, but there is an issue related to automotive service and repair that is already being talked about and I thought that you might be interested. Once again they are talking about expanding the sales tax base to included labor on auto service and repair.

Currently we pay sales tax only on the parts used in any repair unless the repair actually increases the value of the vehicle. In other words if we are installing a new item such as running boards, navigation systems or an XM radio system we are supposed to charge sales tax on the labor, but if we are just restoring the car to the original condition we charge the tax only on the parts we use.

Because most of our jobs work out to be about 50% labor this will double the sales tax charged on any repair. It would increase your final cost of repair by about 5%. Auto repairs already cost too much!

In this election year the Republican candidates have been promising to balance the budget and cover the expected shortage in revenue without raising taxes. It may be a fine line to some of them whether expanding the items covered by a tax is actually raising taxes.

The Automotive Service Association and other auto industry groups around Texas have fought this tax expansion off in the last 2 legislatures. With the increased pressure to find funding in a weak economy it will be a harder fight this time. I urge you to contact you State Representative and Senator and express your opinion on added labor to the sales tax base.