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Might put this under another heading regarding driving safety Wes.

I learned to drive on a Ford 8N.

No power brakes, no power steering, and with those skinny tires up front you really had to anticipate your turns. But it has been a while.

It reminds me of something I read about most motorcycle accidents happening to men over 50.

If they had the experience of driving a motorcycle in their youth, or just decided sometime near or after retirement, they'd get the motorcycle they always wanted....

Older, slower, eyesight issues, reaction times slowing down, that and coupled with the possibility of never having owned one before.

The learning curve is steep. As with these jeeps. The short wheelbase and high ground clearance can cause issues, as can a host of other preventable issues that can be lessened or avoided if one takes the time to learn the machine, and be patient. Take those curves nice and easy.

Be patient with the old girl. No one wants either of you hurt.

Might put this under another heading regarding driving safety Wes.

All ya gotta do is ask! Driving safety it is!

I started riding motorcycles when I was 20. I have a great deal of respect for them now as my age gets up there. But age is not always the cause of accidents with drivers over 50. Sometimes its the 20 year old texting and crossing the centerline!

Texting and cell phones are the bane, Ontario has just upped the fine for distracted driving to $1000.00 plus 3 points after having issues over 10,000 tickets this summer.
However knowing the vehicle you are driving is a key part of driving safely, most people do not know where their vehicle is, I am so tired of watching people in a little civic 2 door take 4 trys to get in or out of a parking spot because they have no clue where their front or back ends are. I can get in and out of that space in one go with my wife's grand caravan or the 83 t-bird I used to have.

It all boils down to common sense and paying attention.

billybob wrote:It all boils down to common sense and paying attention.

Drive like the "other guy" is lacking in this dept

The other thing too is that by todays standards even the M38A1 is a small vehicle. The old jeeps are hard to see.

That brings us to exterior lighting. The average small car today has 20 times the tail light surface area a stock military jeep does with the old red oval in the old round military tail light assemblies. Just a switch to the screw on replacement Gama Goat lens gives you 5 times more rear visibility on each side.

I was driving home last night about 23:00 hrs in the Hill Country keeping my eyes peeled for deer, and paying some attention to rear lights on vehicles because of recent discussions here.

Came up on a very dark vehicle with very small tail lights. I could see them, but the dark vehicle, small lamps, and no lights on the highway really got my attention.

I passed them and took a look. Late 20's to early 30's sedan. Black.

Out there, it would be easy to miss.

Thinking real hard about those Goat lenses now. Just too easy to screw them off and replace with stock if so desired for static display.
Brian

Another issue on old stuff. If you can't do the speed limit then you need something visible to warm the fast moving crowd how slow you are before they get 20 feet behind you at 50-60 MPH. A simple farm slow moving vehicle triangle is a start. A small yellow strobe like those used by Rural Mail Delivery is even better. My M37 is a 45 MPH truck and when I visit the local Autobahns I hang an orange triangle on the tailgate plus I already added very large late model military red tail light assemblies.

After nearly getting rear-ended by a woman talking on her cell phone, I installed a 24 v yellow strobe on a bracket just above the spare tire of my M38 - nice and bright and gets attention

Got the gamma goat lenses with dedicated stop, turn and marker lamps.


Before hanging a slow moving vehicle sign on your rig check 1st
with your local DMV. Some counties prohibit their use on vehicles
subject to registration/licensing. I removed the center triangle
and used only the perimeter markings and applied it to the spare
fuel can. If questioned I'll pass it off as an armored division
marking
.

The red and silver reflective tape used on big trucks works well.My M37 had a strip across the tailgate,shows up well.