In This Issue: Sam's Monthly Car Care Tip | Did you get a Traffic Ticket or a Summons? | Stopping Junk Mail & Viruses, Part 2

 

 

Sam’s Monthly Maintenance Tip

 

by Sam Opoku of Sam’s Total Car Care Centre

 

Tires

Tires are a critical function of your car. Radial, or all season, tires are great for the winter and rainy seasons. However, if you live in a heavy Snow Belt area, it is important to have snow tires – these give a much better grip. Snow tires should be installed on the driving wheels (this could be the front or rear wheels depending on your vehicle).

 

Incorrect tire pressure can have an impact on your gas mileage. If they are under-inflated there will be wear marks along the edges. Similarly, if they are over-inflated you will notice wear patterns in the middle of the tire. Uneven tire wear can also be an indication that you suspension is worn.

 

Tire replacement should be done according to the amount of wear on the tire. Signs to look for are uneven wear patterns, pulling to one side while driving straight and hydroplaning on wet roads.

 

It is critical to have your tires inspected regularly. It is also important to have the tires rotated and balanced every 10,000 to 20,000km.

 

 

Did you get a Traffic Ticket or a Summons?

 

by Alan Barlow of Senior Traffic Offence Paralegals

 

Traffic ticket convictions will result in far-reaching penalties which are far more onerous than the fines and cannot be overlooked.

 

A traffic ticket conviction can lead to greatly inflated insurance rates (or loss of coverage), restriction of driving privileges or even jail. Our aim is to help you avoid or reduce these impacts by following simple, common-sense guidelines.

 

WHAT TO DO WHEN GET A TRAFFIC TICKET:

• Stay calm
• Be polite to everyone involved.
• Be noncommittal. Do not apologise or admit fault.
• Do not make statements, unless required by law (as in a reportable collision)

 

NEXT STEPS:

Do not:

• ignore the ticket, it will not go away
• despair, help is out there
• take advice from well-meaning, unqualified acquaintances
• DO seek the advice of a traffic court paralegal

 

WHY A TRAFFIC COURT PARALEGAL?:

• Specialize in traffic law and procedures all of the time other legal professionals may not
• Familiar with local traffic courts and the people involved which can result in the best available resolution
• Fees realistic, affordable

 

HOW TO CHOOSE ONE:

• Ask for referrals from trusted sources
• Meet your prospective paralegal and enquire about qualifications
• Listen carefully. Does the paralegal strike you as knowledgeable, reasonable, ethical, fair?
• Beware of inflated promises or unrealistic predictions of outcome? Remember the old axiom, “If it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably too good to be true.”

 

HAVING CHOSEN A PARALEGAL:
You must understand the following:

• Your paralegal works for you
• Recommendations and advice will be based on information you supply
• You are the final decision maker
• Your paralegal must follow your instructions, provided they are ethical and reasonable

 

So, there you have it. These few simple to follow guidelines can give you peace of mind and help you avoid or reduce the impact of the onerous side-effects of traffic ticket convictions.

 

 

 

Stopping Junk Mail & Viruses, Part 1

 

by Robert Lalonde of My PC Consultant

 

Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Do you hate it?

 

This month we continue with three more easy steps that you can do to help prevent junk mail:

 

(4) Ever get those e-mails that you have to open 10 embedded emails to read the one page with the information on it? ALWAYS hit your Forward button from the actual e-mail you are reading, not the email you got. By Forwarding from the actual email you wish someone to view, you stop them from having to open many e-mails just to see what you sent. BETTER YET, copy the body of the email you want to send into a brand new email. It will be coming from you and is not a forward at all.

 

(5) Have you ever gotten an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to forward it to 10 or 15 people or your entire address book. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses.

 

A FACT: The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses contained therein. If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient. Your position may carry more weight as a personal letter than a laundry list of names and email address on a petition. (actually, if you think about it, who’s supposed to send the petition in to whatever cause it supports? And don’t believe the ones that say that the email is being traced, it just isn’t so!)

 

(6) One of the spam emails I hate says something like, “Send this email to 10 people and you’ll see something great run across your screen.” Or sometimes they’ll just tease you by saying ‘something really cute will happen.’ IT ISN’T GONNA HAPPEN!!!!! Trust me, I’m still seeing the same emails that I waited on 10 years ago! I don’t let the bad luck ones scare me either, they get deleted (but that could be why I haven’t won the lottery …)

 

On a final note, before you forward an ‘Amber Alert’, or a ‘Virus Alert’, or some of the other ones floating around nowadays, check them out before you forward them. Most of them are junk mail that’s been circling the net for YEARS! I remember a little long haired, red-headed girl whose Mom worked at Wal-Mart and she disappeared “2 weeks ago”. I’ve been receiving THAT one so many times that I can recite the information about it by heart.

 

Just about everything you receive in an email that is in question can be checked out at Snopes. Just go to www.snopes.com to see if it’s real or not. If it’s not, please don’t pass it on.

 

So please, in the future, let’s stop the junk mail and the viruses.