Safe winter driving tips, driving safely on icy winter roads

Safe Winter Driving Tips
As beautiful as the sight of snow falling during the winter can be, it's a nightmare for motorists. Winter driving requires plenty of extra time, precaution, and skill. Every year, those beautiful snowflakes lead to icy roads which cause the deaths of thousands of people who fail to follow safe winter driving guidelines, and they injure hundreds of thousands more. Please make yourself familiar with the information herein so that your family never becomes one of the statistics.

Winter driving dangers: Recognizing the risk
1. The stopping distance on ice is anywhere from 3 to 9 times greater than it is on a clear, dry road.

2. The bridge surface can be as much as 6 degrees cooler than the adjoining roadway because the overpass is exposed to cold air on all sides. Thus, a wet road can turn to ice almost instantly as you drive over a bridge.

3. Don’t overestimate your vehicles capacity for navigating icy winter roads. Remember that “4 wheel drive” says nothing about stopping. On ice, it simply equates to a 4-wheel skid. Yet every year, many new 4-wheel drivers learn this lesson the hard way after pushing their car too fast on icy roads. Hailing from Colorado, we encounter (and hear stories about) these 4-wheel morons endangering the lives of others all the time, each of whom thought their car was invincible until it went into an uncontrollable skid on the interstate. Don't be one of them.

How to prepare your car for winter driving
The winter driving experience can be made a whole lot better through a few simple preparations. In addition to aiding your overall safety, these suggestions will spare you some unnecessary stress and anxiety on the road:

1. Get snow tires for your car. They really do make a significant difference. Driving on regular tires that are often worn down or balding is like attaching sledding inner tubes to the bottom of your car. Snow tires do not make you invincible, but they do make a world of difference.

2. Equip your car with a first-aid kit/winter driving box that can be used in an emergency. Some suggested items for a winter driving kit are: blankets, flashlights, salt (for melting ice), sticks (to place under the wheels for traction), beef jerky or other easily accessible non-perishable food items (keeping warm requires calories to burn), and a thermos or container for melting snow (or bottled water).

3. Keep chains in your trunk in case you get stuck, and practice putting them on when it's nice out so that you know how to do it when you need to.

4. Print the information in this heading and keep it in the glove box of each car in case of emergency.

What to do if you become stranded in your car during a winter snowstorm
Every winter people die because their car rolls into a ditch or they otherwise end up stranded during a snowstorm. Not knowing what to do, they make the wrong decisions that get them or their loved ones killed. The National Weather Service offers the following guidelines for what to do if you get stuck in your car during winter:

1. Stay inside the car. It's your best shelter from the cold, and disorientation can occur quickly in wind-driven snow. Unless you can see clearly to a nearby occupied house, don't wander away from your car.

2. Tie something red (or another bright color) to your car door or antenna. This will make you more visible to rescuers and signals that you need help.

3. Do not keep the car running. Instead, run the vehicle for about 10 minutes every hour for heat and then turn it off. This will preserve gas and limit the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

4. Keep the tailpipe clear of snow to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning.