Driver education doesn’t end when the car is off the road and you’re done driving. It’s also important to understand how to navigate other dangers of the vehicle that you may not be aware of. One of those dangers is carbon monoxide. And you may not be aware of carbon monoxide, because you can’t see it, taste it, or smell it.
Carbon monoxide comes from car exhaust, and it’s very dangerous. If you don’t know what hemoglobin is, it’s the part of your blood that carries oxygen through your body. What makes carbon monoxide so dangerous is that it binds to hemoglobin so much faster than oxygen does that even though there may be plenty of oxygen in the air, your body is not getting enough of it because it’s absorbing the carbon monoxide instead.
As dangerous as carbon monoxide is, it’s an easy danger to avoid. Don’t let your car run in an enclosed place. When you get ready to pull out of the garage in the morning, open the garage door before you start the vehicle. And when you pull in to park, turn off the engine before you close the garage door. These are simple steps, but they’re important. Carbon monoxide is odorless, colorless, and tasteless, so you don’t even know it’s a problem until it’s a serious problem. So open those doors and let the gas out.
Watch this video to see me, Patrick Barrett, the Driver Education Guru, talk more about the dangers of carbon monoxide.