Our crazy warm winter has made it feel like Spring arrived in February and Summer started on St. Patrick’s Day, but here we are at the start of the summer driving season when the open road beckons us to the cabin up north, or a host of other extended recreational outings in the car.  The price of gasoline looks like it’ll be reasonably steady through the warm months ahead, there’s bound to be an abundance of our fellow Minnesotans out there with us as we dodge the potholes and traffic cones as we seek respite from the toil and trouble of the workweek.  So it’s a good idea to do some prepartion to keep everyone safe and happy.

Naturally, the place to begin is with the car itself.  Whether you’re a cheapskate like me and tend to drive cars into the ground before you’ll take it into the shop, or a genius like my father who always kept the family fleet in tip-top mechanical condition, you’ll want to have the car checked out by your favorite mechanic.  If you don’t know a reliable mechanic, check out the “Mechanics File” on CarTalk.com, the official website of the NPR radio program featuring Click and Clack (a.k.a. Tom and Ray Magliozzi).  It’s the Angie’s List for auto mechanics filled with the recommendations of their listeners, with far fewer useless snarky rants in the comments than you’ll find in most other online sources.

This is a great time to check if your car is due for its scheduled maintenance to keep your warranty intact.  Whatever you do, at least make sure you have the oil changed.  The $30-40.00 it costs is never wasted, and is especially important if your plans include hours of driving at highway speeds.  Proper lubrication extends the engine life, of course, and it also helps keep the car running cooler.  Cell phones mean we don’t worry about getting stranded out in the middle of nowhere nearly as much as we did in the past, but a breakdown during your vacation is certainly going to put a damper on your spirits as well as your pocketbook.  The quick oil change services are OK, but I recommend taking it to a regular auto repair service where they can check out all of those pesky, yet vital, service items like brakes and transmission, fluids, belts and hoses, windshield wipers, headlights, signal lights, seatbelts, airbags, and (of course!) the tires.  Those are all easy to procrastinate over, so it’s the perfect opportunity to have them taken care of now while it’s convenient rather than when you’re out on the road and at the mercy of whatever service you might have to use in an emergency.

And when you are actually out on the road, remember that you’re not in a war with the other drivers.  Yes, there are idiots out there, but when you reach my age you come to realize that the best way to deal with them is to just slow down a bit and stay out of their way.  You’re out to have fun, not win the Le Mans.  And use your bleeping seat belt!  According to the Minnesota Highway Patrol, in the past three years roughly 46% of all auto fatalities were people who weren’t wearing a seatbelt.  While this sort of idiocy often brings to mind my old joke, “Natural Selection works, it’s just very slow”, there’s fewer things you can do while driving that are nearly as senseless as not wearing your seatbelt.  Law enforcement agencies are running their “Click-It or Ticket” campaign starting Monday May 21 through June 7, and they’re going to be pulling people over that they might normally have let pass.