Your safety and the safety of those around you should be at the top of every car owner's list of concerns. If you're careful from the beginning and keep safety in mind while you work, you'll have a problem free car and enough fingers to enjoy it. A car is only as dangerous on the road as the bloke behind the wheel. The same is true for the bloak holding the wrench. Here are a few rules to help you stay safe.

We take the motto "Safety First" seriously around here. There's no reason working on a car should be dangerous, but somehow automobile-related structure fires are far too common. The steps you need to take to protect yourself, your shop and your loved ones from fire are simple and inexpensive. Having a fire extinguisher "somewhere around here" won't be enough if disaster strikes. Fire safety is as much or more about what you do to prevent than what you have laying around to fight fires with. It's a much better plan to avoid fire altogether than to have 10 different ways to put one out. A combination of preparation and safe work practices should keep you cool.

Keeping a clean work area is very important to your safety when working on your car. Tripping through your garage is a quick trip to injury. You are well aware of this, so you're sure to clean up after every job. All of your tools are in the box, your spills are cleaned up, and your rags are in the trash can.

Jacking your car up is no trivial matter when it comes to car safety. You're taking thousands of pounds and dangling it over your body while you tinker underneath. I've been lucky enough over the years never to have seen a horrific jack accident, but I have seen a car fall off a jack, and it ain't pretty. The force of the car hitting the ground is enough to get your attention, so much that it takes you a minute to realize you might have damaged part of your car. It's definitely a car safety and repair wake-up call!

Before you even pick up your screwdriver, you should have a safe work environment. Safety is synonymous with planning, meaning that if you plan your work area and task ahead, your safety will be insured. The basics are simple. Attempting to work on your own car without at least a basic level of safety is irresponsible. But like so many small tasks that produce big results, just a small amount of safety-conscious planning can mean you'll never be running inside for the ice pack unless you're trying to keep your lemonade cool.

Don't forget the maintenance! It's the little things that count, and checking a few of these little things off your list will put you ahead of the game, and ease the pain in your wallet. Most maintenance checks only take a minute, and most maintenance tasks can be tackled in an afternoon. Don't maintain your car and you'll pay the price down the road.

You've got your suntan lotion, a giant cooler and three cheap novels -- you're ready for a summer road trip. You may be prepared, but are you up to date on your summer auto maintenance? Sure, auto maintenance is the last thing on your mind, but it'll jump to the front pretty quickly if you're on the side of the road. Spend an afternoon on some simple auto maintenance procedures and you'll thank yourself in the end.

Your car's speedometer is calibrated by telling the needle you see on the dashboard how many times the wheel spins around. The problem is, if you make your wheel diameter smaller, it's going to spin more times to go the same number of miles. Your car doesn't know you monkeyed around with your tire and wheel size, so it will give you an inaccurate reading.

The government wants us to be safe, so they're making sure that if you're going 125 mph you have the right tires on your car. Through actual testing of the tire, they rate each one according to how fast you can safely travel on a set of them. It's pretty straightforward when you check the chart. Each letter represents a maximum speed. Chances are your tires will be rated for much higher speeds than you'll ever go, but it's still a useful number. The faster a tire can go, the softer the rubber compound they use to make it (softer rubber grips dry pavement better), so the tire will wear out faster than a "slower" rated tire.

There is so much room for adjustment in terms of size, it would take an encyclopedia to list them all. Luckily, if you're visiting AutoRepair.About.com you're smarter than the average tailgater, so I'll give you the tools to decide for yourself.