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James Lee

Winter survival kit part one: windshield broom/scraper

Windshield broom-scraper It’s winter, and at my house in New Hampshire I received about eight inches of snow yesterday. Today I’m watching it come down hard outside the windows at TeleGlass National headquarters, so I am a little concerned about what I’ll find when I get home tonight. At a minimum, I’m looking at slogging up the driveway on foot to get out the snow thrower to clear everything off. Bad news, too. I left my snow boots at home, and am wearing leather dress shoes.

Before I can even consider the drive home, I wanted to turn my attention to the number one thing I want to advise you to keep in your car if you live in a part of the country that sees snow accumulation even once a year. The windshield broom/scraper is mandatory equipment. Do not get caught without one!

I snapped this photo of one of my coworkers cleaning her truck off midway through the day yesterday. She’s very responsible, and she made it a point to knock as much snow and ice off her truck as possible.

Take a look at her roof – notice how there’s no snow up there? Pam didn’t just clean off her windshield… she cleaned all the horizontal surfaces of her vehicle as well. Pam understands that if you don’t take this step, snow and ice can fly off your car and break the windshield of someone following behind you.

If this happens and you need an appointment to fix your windshield, you know where to turn.

Do your part to keep it from happening to others. In most states, there is legislation on the books that discusses creating a hazard for other drivers. Even though it is rarely enforced, it’s good karma. Do the right thing.

The bottom photo is my windshield broom/scraper. It boasts a squeegee and broom on one end, and an ice chipper and scraper on the other. The pole is telescoping, so I can reach all the way across my car to push snow off the top. I spent less than $20 on this heavy duty unit at Costco, and have seen them retail for much less. Any Target, Wal*Mart, or auto parts store should be able to hook you up as well.

If doing the right thing for others isn’t enough to motivate you, consider this. I saw someone with four inches of snow on the roof come to a sudden stop a few days ago, and all the snow slid forward, completely covering the windshield and obstructing his view. He had to get out of the car to clear it away with his bare hands. The snow was so heavy his windshield wipers didn’t work. He looked cold, wet, and miserable. He took his life into his own hands when he didn’t clear his car of snow, and was lucky he didn’t cause an accident by being at a complete stop on a busy street in icy conditions for almost a minute while he cleared his car of snow.

Be safe out there!

Read more from James Lee. In 2009 he joined TGSC Group as the managing director of product development. James brings expertise in customer satisfaction and service delivery to the team. He guest blogs for TeleGlass and is an amateur photographer. Find him on Twitter @jronaldlee.

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Ask TeleGlass: Infra-Red reflective auto glass?

toque, originally uploaded by jenny downing (r&r). Some rights reserved: CC BY 2.0.

Today’s question comes from Denise, who asked us if infrared reflecting auto glass has a distinctive color or tint, or if it’s the same color as a regular windshield.

The answer is that it depends.

Most people don’t think about it, but in almost all cases your car’s windshield or windscreen has tint to it already. While usually blue or green, it can sometimes be bronze in color as well. If you want to verify that your windshield is tinted, just take a piece of white paper and press it against the windshield. When viewed from the other side, you’ll be able to see the tint that was added when the glass was made. This tint cuts down on glare, and helps prevent your vehicle from overheating.

Infrared reflecting auto glass is getting more and more attention thanks to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which recently set some new guidelines on the reflective properties of auto glass. IR reflecting glass can cut down on the interior temperature of your car by five to ten degrees, and that means in the summer you run your air conditioner less. If you run your AC less, you burn less fuel, and thereby reduce smog causing emissions.

Estimates vary, with some suggesting that this requirement will add about $250 to the price of a new vehicle. Like many things, this cost is expected to come down as production goes up. The fact of the matter is this: The auto glass with IR film does pay for itself over time through reduced gasoline usage.

Back to Denise’s question. The chemicals used to reflect the IR wavelength of light should not alter the appearance of your car’s glass. If added as an after-market film, the manufacturer may add more than just IR reflecting capabilities, so you can end up with a film that is polarized, UV reflecting, IR reflecting, and tinted bronze or gray in color.

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Who Invented the Windshield Wiper?

windshield wiper patent Back in 1903, a woman named Mary Anderson patented the first successful cleaning device for windshields.

On a fateful visit to New York City, she noticed that cable car operator was leaving his front window open in order to see during a sleet storm. As she sat in the trolley watching this scene unfold, a light bulb came on. She soon designed a device that swung an arm comprised of wood, metal and rubber that we recognize today as a wiper blade. Her device was capable of clearing rain, sleet, or snow. The driver controlled the windshield wiper with a lever on the inside of the car. This invention has prevented a plethora of auto glass repair, replacement glass, windshield repair, and even bodily harm. Though one of the greatest inventions in automobile glass safety and the automotive industry overall, Anderson’s patent expired in 1920. Prior to that she rarely received any royalties; perhaps because her patent specified that it was intended for use in “electric motor cars.”

As a father to two girls, I admit to a bit of a thrill when I found her patent application on the US Patent Office’s web site, which begins as follows:

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, MARY ANDERSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Birmingham, in the county of Jefferson and State of Alabama, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Window-Cleaning Devices, of which the following is a specification.

The drawings above are from Mary’s patent application, which was issued patent number 743,801. She died at the age of 87 in Tennessee. Her contributions in vehicle glass repair prevention were substantial.

Tagged as: Auto Glass, windshield wipers

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Buckle up, North Dakota!

I was browsing through the Grand Forks Herald, as I am wont to do on a cold afternoon, when I noticed that there was another gem of a story in today’s edition.

It seems 140 people died in car crashes in North Dakota last year. Of those, 59 percent were not wearing a seatbelt. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seat belt use is at 81.6% for North Dakota. So let’s break it down some…

If 59% of the deaths can be attributed to 18.4% of the drivers, that means that someone not wearing their seatbelt is 6.4 times more likely to die as a result of their injuries after being in a car accident. For the math geeks out there, that formula is:

(0.59 / 0.184) / (0.41 / 0.816) = 6.38176

Really, though, this should be pretty easy for all of us by now. Your windshield is designed to keep you in your car in the event of an auto accident, but the only way that works is if:

Your air bag is between you and the windshield
You are secured to your seat with your safety harness, preventing your body from bouncing off the airbag and careening wildly around the cabin

We’re not talking about a simple windshield repair if you forget to buckle up. It’s your life on the line.

Stay safe, friends! Buckle up!

Tagged as: North Dakota, seatbelt

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Rain on the windshield

heading home, originally uploaded by Ctd 2005. Some rights reserved: CC BY 2.0.

Just a quick post for our regular readers who have noticed a change at the top of the page. Ctd 2005 (on flickr) was kind enough to allow us to use his image, “heading home,” for our new title image here at Seeing Clearly. While we’ll probably change this up from time to time, we’re thrilled at the new look.

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Distracted Driving a top focus in 2010

איזה שיעמום, originally uploaded by YuvalH. Some rights reserved: CC BY 2.0.

The buzz continues about distracted driving. Lawmakers around the country are discussing over 200 bills aimed at distracted driving, whether it’s talking on the phone, texting, or trying to program your GPS device.

It’s a dangerous world out there. And while the man in this photo took the picture while in a parking lot, all of us have seen this type of behavior out on the road.

Once, I looked at the car next to me at a stop light, and the driver was eating noodles from a bowl in her lap. With chop sticks. While talking on a cell phone. Are you kidding me? I decided to turn and take another route rather than continue down the same road with this woman. More recently, I was behind a GMC Yukon as the driver yapped away on his cell phone, crossing the line three to four times a minute and endangering everyone nearby.

You’d be lucky to end up with a broken windshield around people like this. Too many people are getting hurt.

Buy yourself a hands free device; one that uses voice control, if you absolutely have to use a phone while you’re driving. Pay attention. Stay safe. We want your business, but this isn’t how we want to earn it.

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Avoiding Insurance Fraud

I routinely look around the web to see what people are talking about when it comes to auto glass. As such, I was not shocked to see a question about how to get rid of a scratch in a windshield that a Yahoo! user who calls herself countrygirl76 posted, in which she purchased a truck with a scratched windshield.

What I did find shocking was that another user advocated committing fraud to have the windshield replaced. Paraphrasing, this person said to file a claim with her insurance, and if she didn’t have the coverage, to add it to her policy and then file the claim.

Soap Box

We all pay

When someone does that, they’re essentially asking you to pay for their misfortune.

Insurance is a product that helps you manage risk. Every one of us that owns a car is at risk of damage to our auto glass. Cracks happen. Door glass breaks. You could have a golf ball come through your rear windscreen. You never know! If you don’t want to have to pay for your car’s glass repair when it happens, you can buy insurance to help pay to return your vehicle to its original condition. The amount you pay for insurance is less than the amount insurance would pay out in the event of a substantial claim, but it works because the risk is spread among several customers.

In this case, the original condition is a scratched windshield. That’s how the truck was when she bought it, so even if it were covered by insurance, she didn’t own insurance on that vehicle when it was damaged.

I suppose it’s all a moot point, as a scratch caused by a worn windshield wiper is normal wear and tear, and insurance typically does not cover this type of thing any more than your insurance will buy you knew tires. Still, I got worked up when I read this, so I had to say something.

Insurance fraud only works when it’s undetected (unlike other crimes, like a bank robbery, where the perpetrator of the crime can potentially escape with the money). Because of that, it’s hard to say exactly how much it takes place, but the Insurance Information Institute estimates that a staggering 10% of all property and casualty losses incurred are fraudulent. That’s about $30 billion a year!

Back to my original soap box point: insurance companies will not operate at a loss. They pass the costs incurred via fraudulent claims on to all of us – in the form of higher premiums.

I’ll get off my soap box now, and return you to your more cheerful TeleGlass posts tomorrow.

Tagged as: Fraud, Insurance

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Rhode Island Auto Glass and Windshield page

Today we visit the Ocean State. We have a new photo on our Rhode Island auto glass page today! Laram777 was kind enough to share this photo from Portsmouth:

Rhode Island

Once again, it’s a pity we cannot use the entire photo, but the cropped version looks really nice, too:

Rhode Island auto glass and windshield

If you’re in need of a new windshield in Rhode Island, whether in Portsmouth, or anywhere else for that matter, TeleGlass stands ready to come to your aid. If you’d like to see more of Laram777′s work, please visit her Flickr photostream, where she has recently uploaded some great shots from Belgium.

Tagged as: Photo, Rhode Island

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New Jersey auto glass and windshield page

Continuing our tour of the nation, we are updating the New Jersey auto glass page today. It’s a good thing too, as we had a pretty grainy photo on that page until BMigulski shared this photo with us:

New Jersey

It’s too bad we couldn’t use more of this photo from Branch Brook Park in Newark, but it still looks pretty good when cropped to size:

New Jersey auto glass and windshield repair image

Big thanks to BMigulski for the photo. See more at the Migulski Art Gallery, with art, illustrations, graphic design, and photos galore.

Tagged as: New Jersey, Photo

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California auto glass and windshield repair

Today, we shift our focus out west, thanks to the_tahoe_guy‘s generosity in sharing this amazing shot from the Golden State. Anyone surfing to our California windshield page will now see a picture derived from this photo:

California