Winter Driving
“Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother’s house we go….”
Or you may be driving to and from work or driving to and from client sites as part of your work. Either way, you are driving in winter weather. There may be snow, ice, fog, and any number of winter weather hazards. To help you be safer, here are a few tips, taken from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the National Weather Service (NWS), and the American Automobile Association (AAA). We’ll provide some links at the end of the tip in case you want to learn more.
Snow: The NHTSA reminds us that in 2022 there were more than 153,600 reported traffic accidents reported during snow and sleet conditions. Here are a few tips from the AAA to help reduce your likelihood of being a statistic
- Stay home. Only go out if necessary. Even if you can drive well in bad weather, it’s better to avoid taking unnecessary risks by venturing out.
- Drive slowly. Always adjust your speed down to account for lower traction when driving on snow or ice.
- Accelerate and decelerate slowly. Apply the gas slowly to regain traction and avoid skids. Take time to slow down for a stoplight.
- Increase your following distance to five to six seconds. This increased margin of safety will provide the longer distance needed if you have to stop.
- Don’t stop if you can avoid it. There’s a big difference in the amount of inertia it takes to start moving from a full stop versus how much it takes to get moving while still rolling. If you can slow down enough to keep rolling until a traffic light changes, do it.
- Don’t power up hills. Applying extra gas on snow-covered roads will just make your wheels spin. Try to get a little inertia going before you reach the hill and let that inertia carry you to the top. As you reach the crest of the hill, reduce your speed and proceed downhill slowly.
Ice: A concern in driving in icy conditions is what to do if your vehicle starts to skid and slip. Here’s a few tips to help you stay safe:
- Do not slam on the brakes. This has an opposite effect and will make it harder for you to regain control.
- Look in the direction you want to go and continue to drive in that direction.
- If the rear wheels are skidding, wait until you have traction and steer in the opposite direction of the skid.
- If the front wheels are skidding, wait until you have traction and continue driving in the direction you want to go.
Fog: As stated above, it is safer to not drive in bad weather, but if you must drive, the NWS has these tips:
- Make your vehicle visible to others both ahead of you and behind you by using your low-beam headlights since this means your taillights will also be on. Use fog lights if you have them.
- Leave plenty of distance between you and the vehicle in front of you to account for sudden stops or changes in the traffic pattern.
- To ensure you are staying in the proper lane, follow the lines on the road with your eyes.
- In extremely dense fog where visibility is near zero, the best course of action is to first turn on your hazard lights, then simply pull into a safe location such as a parking lot of a local business and stop.
- If there is no parking lot or driveway to pull into, pull your vehicle off to the side of the road as far as possible. Once you come to a stop, turn off all lights except your hazard flashing lights, set the emergency brake, and take your foot off of the brake pedal to be sure the taillights are not illuminated so that other drivers don’t mistakenly run into you.
Weekly Safety Challenge:
How do you prepare your vehicle for winter driving? As your coworkers for their best tips on preparing vehicles for winter driving.
AAA: https://exchange.aaa.com/safety/driving-advice/winter-driving-tips/
