My wife often remarks that Jan. 20 marks the lowest of the winter time average low temperatures and after this week, I hope she’s right. With winter one third of the way over, according to the calendar, I thought I’d give a midwinter driving refresher.
First of all, sweep off your car. Driving around with your car still covered in snow just adds another peril to the perilous situation. Take a few seconds and sweep the top and hit those taillights and headlights while you’re at it. Nothing is worse than driving behind someone only to get a windshield full of snow that’s blown off the top of the other guy’s car. Coming to a quick stop and causing that sheet of snow that’s been clinging to your roof to come crashing to the street in front of you isn’t fun either.
Swept off? Now, go slow. If you have to be out on slippery streets and roadways, don’t pretend as if it’s business as usual. Budget a few extra minutes and take it easy.
Speaking of “easy,” I’ll employ one of my favorite driving adages; “easy on the gas, easy on the brakes” because physics is physics and those laws still apply, even in the winter.
Here’s one that I offer, but in honesty I don’t do, and that’s keep a bag of kitty litter in the trunk of your car. You never know when you or someone else you meet will need a little traction assist. A bag of kitty litter works great and doesn’t take up too much trunk space.
Bigger isn’t necessarily better. My personal sample size is probably not big enough to affect public policy, but I see as many trucks and SUV’s in ditches and snow banks as I do sedans and smaller cars. I imagine a larger car protects more in the event of a crash, but be careful no matter what you’re behind the wheel of.
I got a new car last summer and it came with a modern feature known as Adaptive Cruise Control. ACC is like other cruise controls but once I catch up to another motorist, my car will adapt to that car’s pace and maintain a perfectly safe distance. It took a little bit of getting used to but what it educated me to was keeping that safe distance. Tailgating is a real thing and it can lead to unnecessary fender bending on slick roads so keeping a safe distance between yourself and other traffic is another key piece of safe winter driving.
My final piece of advice is one that I’ve just figured out late in life — don’t go out.
Most of us already have things going on in our eyes that make night driving treacherous, I’m just adding the daylight hours to that routine, particularly on days when the weather blows. Part of my career was spent in a position that demanded plenty of driving and once upon a time that didn’t bother me. But now it does. There must be something about growing old that cleaved the itch to get behind the wheel from my soul. Whenever my favorite band, The Clash, asks the musical question “should I stay or should I go?” if the weather is bad the answer is way more likely to be “stay.”
But as the kids say, you do you.
Just remember to sweep off your car, take it slow, pack the kitty litter and give other drivers plenty of room. If you can’t or won’t do those simple things, then let me encourage you to just stay home.