Occasional snowflakes and ice crusts in the morning give us every indication that winter is coming soon and bringing new subjects to discuss. The very first snowfalls can become quite a surprise for an unprepared driver and even stop the traffic in densely populated cities throughout all the country. In late autumn it usually snows in the daytime, it freezes at night and as a result roadways get slippery with ice. This way the number of car accidents grows as it gets colder and colder. As a rule minor accidents take place twice as often in winter. More attention should be paid to safety on municipal roads when drivers face such factors as snow, ice, sleet, mud and even dense fog. Of course the most dangerous time of the day is the rush-hours when everyone is trying to sneak in and out, which is not quite an option on a slippery road. It becomes much easier to get into trouble when wheels don’t have enough friction to stop the car. However the major challenge in freezing weather is to go out of town. Snowdrifts block even wide highways and countryside driving might be the last thing you want to do. It gets even worse when the roads turn wet and slushy over the thawing period.

Winter is a hazardous season for most Northern states such as Maryland, Maine, Montana, Colorado, Minnesota, N. Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming, and Michigan. Southern states are less affected by winter weather; however rare snowfalls provoke more anxiety than in the states that are more prepared for that. Statistical data of 2007-2008 shows that the number of car accidents in the U.S. increased by approximately 46% starting from the middle of October till the end of April, which means there were a large number more car accidents during the cold months.

Here are some useful tips for safe and pleasant winter driving. It is important to drive slowly and choose the right speed which will let you control the situation. It becomes much harder to drive a car at the speed of 35 mph on an icy road. Use special tires or tire chains to provide more friction for the wheels. You should always be sure the car is tuned and in good order because the possibility of failure of any car parts also increases in bad driving conditions. In case you lose control of the car take your foot off the gas, step on the brake slightly, and turn to the direction that you’re sliding into until you gain control.

However none of the precautions can guarantee safety when there are other car drivers who might be trapped in an unlucky situation by winter roads. In this respect the wisest decision before even starting your car would be to make sure you’ve got the right car insurance. Auto insurance is an essential element which helps prevent car owners from excessive expenses connected with icy conditions of roads. Since accidents happen quite often in winter try to get the best deals on car insurance for all the family members who drive a car before the winter comes so that you would not have to overpay later or happen to be underinsured in case of an accident.

We’ve recently watched the inevitable downfall of several major US insurance giants which were breaking one by one under the heavy pressure of American financial housing market crisis. Such huge and well-known mortgage corporations as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, American International Group and Lehman Brothers were not ready for the great drop of real estate prices and following credit squeeze. They support many mortgage banks and credit agencies providing them with necessary monetary funds so that the insurance companies could give real estate loans to people who buy houses or apartments. They have to serve as a solid framework for the whole insurance market in the US.

The sequence of events was opened by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – two significant corporations that control half of the US mortgage market. However as we’ve witnessed, the bigger they are the harder they fall. Instability of these two giants put many people under the threat of losing their real estate property and even pushed down dollar’s value in the world’s currency market. In September 2008 70-year-old Fannie Mae and its successor, 40-year-old Freddie Mac, were the first ones to fall. However the US government took prompt actions to stop the two corporations from crashing and took total control over them. Being in charge of the two monsters the Federal Housing Finance Agency established a range of measures that will help to stabilize the situation.

Something similar happened to American International Group (AIG). It arose in the market in the early 60s and has been issuing loans and mortgage credits for a little less than 40 years already. However this fiscal year has become a major setback for this insurance corporation. Its share prices collapsed putting AIG on the edge of bankruptcy in the middle of September. But that was when the US government emerged again and helped them out of the trouble. The government bought control of the company and set its own game to play.

However history repeats itself too soon and a little later it was the turn for the world-known financial company to take the limps. Having been around for almost 160 years, Lehman Brothers was always recognized as the most distinguished and powerful body in American financial system. Nevertheless the crisis was merciless to this company as well and actually swept it away on September 15, 2008 when the company was forced to file bankruptcy before losing all its assets. In that case the US government didn’t take any preventive measures.

In spite of recent failures that happened to the biggest corporations in the US, it seems that the crisis passed most people, including debtors, round. Most financial experts are quite positive about the present situation. They say that prices flatten out fast and there are many favorable conditions for mortgage or car loans. Since the new economic growth is a regular occurrence after such events, car owners are recommended to buy car insurance now before the services recover in value and the prices are up again.

One can never believe every word in online or newspaper articles by 100 percent because there are always misconceptions and false information. When it comes to green cars, which include electric, cell-powered, hybrid and solar cars, we discover several myths about them as well. Some of them are just useful for car manufacturers; the others come as a result of common misunderstanding. Nevertheless one should think those facts over if one considers buying a green car.

Myth #1 – Greenest Cars Are Very Expensive

Most people believe that environmentally friendly cars are sold at a high price and are not affordable for people with low income. However there are some electric cars that cost as much as average gasoline vehicles.

Myth #2 – With a Green Car There Are No High Maintenance Expenses

Even though a green car may seem to be a reliable mechanism made of durable parts, driving and using such a car has some hidden maintenance expenses. Since electric cars run on rechargeable batteries they need to be recharged quite often which might be rather costly considering the price for electricity nowadays. Moreover sooner or later rechargeable batteries will have to be replaced with new ones which are quite expensive as well.

Myth #3 – Greenest Cars Are The Most Environmentally Friendly

It’s true that green cars help to reduce pollution and produce less exhaust fumes than most conventional gasoline vehicles but as a matter of fact greenest cars are not that green. Even though some hybrid cars run on electric power or hydrogen at low speeds combined with usage of a gasoline engine only at higher speeds, they still use a lot of gas and do pollute the atmosphere. Some specialists believe that buying a small economy car is more environmentally friendly than buying a powerful hybrid car.

Myth #4 – Greenest Cars Are Widely-Spread

With all the big talk and spirited debates about green cars one may come to a conclusion that these cars are best-selling, widely-distributed and they start “driving” gasoline cars out of the car market. However the production of green cars makes only 1.8 percent of the whole US car market and it will take quite a long time before they start playing any considerable part in it.

Myth #5 – All Green Cars Are Absolutely Safe

Driving some types of environmentally friendly cars such as most cell-powered and some hybrid cars with hydrogen engines makes them extremely dangerous on the road. In case of any collision the explosion of hydrogen accompanied by oxygen which is also used in such engines might cover vast areas.

Myth #6 – Most Green Cars Are Small and Uncomfortable Inside

This statement might be fair only if we talk about such a representative of green cars as a Smart car. However the majority of environmentally friendly cars is as spacious as conventional vehicles and has a rather big storage space.

Myth #7 – Electric Cars Can Operate Long Hours without Recharging

In fact most electric cars can be driven only 35 miles. After that the batteries need to be recharged. Thus if you travel long distances by car an electric vehicle is not what you need.

Environmentally friendly cars are supposed to be the vehicles of future  generations. Nevertheless such cars exist now and are becoming more popular in the modern car market than conventional vehicles which work on fossil fuels. The advantages of such cars are not only in their lower harmfulness for the environment and people’s health but also in the lower fuel costs. However their production is rather expensive, so it is a moot point both for the customers and the automobile manufacturers. So they are more expensive to buy but they pay for themselves in a period of about 5 years because they consume less expensive fuels.

Here are the common types of environmentally friendly cars:

- Electric cars;

- Fuel-cell-powered cars (hydrogen and oxygen cars);

- Hybrid cars;

- Solar cars.

Electric cars operate on rechargeable batteries which are the most expensive parts of this type of vehicles. Most electric cars look like conventional vehicles and one usually cannot tell them apart. Electric cars are very quiet and produce no exhaust fumes at all. The interior of the cars is stuffed with wiring harness.

Fuel-cell-powered cars operate on chemical reactions between different fuel cells (like hydrogen and oxygen) which merge to turn into a new matter. As a matter of fact fuel-cell-powered cars are similar to electric cars because they work on electricity which comes as a result of such chemical reactions. They are also as quiet and ecological as electric ones, plus fuel-cell-powered cars almost don’t need any maintenance or repairs because there is almost no friction between the car parts of such vehicles. All in all this kind of environmentally friendly cars is supposed to be very economical and ecological and could be the champion among green cars but for one essential aspect – hydrogen is a very flammable gas and when it comes with oxygen a car accident can be very destructive.

Hybrid cars are something in between electric cars, fuel-cell-powered cars or gasoline cars. They are very ecological and produce almost no exhaust fumes. Hybrid cars are more widespread than other environmentally friendly cars.

Solar cars operate on the solar energy which they accumulate with the help of built-in solar panels. Solar cars have a very peculiar shape which most likely resembles spaceships from Star Wars. They are more uncommon and are not produced on regular basis. They can be driven at high speeds for a long time powered only by the energy of the sun.

Environmentally friendly cars have become the choice of many people who decided to reduce the influence of burning fossil fuels on the nature.