When it comes to winter driving, nearly 30% of Canadian car accidents occur on snowy or icy roads. Although you can’t control how others are on the road, here are five tips to help you stay safe this season.
Tip 1: Clear off all the ice and snow from your car
Clear snow from your roof, windows, headlights and hood to ensure your car, lights and visibility are impeccable when driving. It only takes one area of snow to come down at a stop to blind your windshield and cause an accident. Snow and ice from a moving vehicle can result in a cracked or broken windshield and structural damage to your vehicle’s exterior. Not to mention, it’s against the law to drive with impaired vision.
Tip 2: Reduce your speed
Although you should never go over the speed limit on the road, winter conditions make it thirty percent more dangerous, as reported by the RCMP. The ice makes roads slippery, and roads aren’t always cleared or salted.
Tip 3: Never slam on your brakes
The heat and pressure generated when slamming on the brakes can result in premature wear and tear and damage your car’s anti-lock braking system. This can compromise your safety on the road as it can render your breaks unresponsive.
Tip 4: Get winter tires
Winter tires help your car maintain a better grip on snowy and icy surfaces with their patterns that improve traction, handling, offer more stability in turns and better stopping power and control in cold weather.
Tip 5: Allow for extra travelling time
With snow, hail, fog and storms being more frequent in winter, not to mention the surface of the ground being more slippery, calculating more time for travel or delaying a trip if the weather is inhospitable is another tip you can adopt to stay safe.
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