Winter Tires and Winter Driving
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winter safety winter driving safety tips road safety rear view camera car safety backup camera systems backup camera system backup camera back up camera

My idea of winter driving was to warming my Subaru sedan up, leaving early and driving slow/defensively. While the two later latter points are valid, I learned later that heating up the car is not a good idea. I also learned more about winter tires.

Winter Tires

Growing up in the Midwest I definitely heard of winter tires, but had never used them. According to the Traffic Injury Safety Foundation, certain types of these tires can impact braking distance by up to 25 percent. This distance could be the difference between a close call and an accident, which is huge. In adverse winter conditions even all-wheel drive vehicles slow down during an emergency stop. Winter tires are made from special rubber compounds with different tread patterns than regular tires. Because winter tires stay flexible at low temperatures, they grip the road better than the all season counterpart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlYEMH10Z4s

I've recommend winter tires to all my friends back home. Writing this post brought back some old memories of scraping ice off my car before driving to work. I miss having a car most of the time, but not during winter. Speaker of winter driving, below are some tips from AAA on driving in these conditions, please stay safe out there.

AAA Driving Tips

  • Accelerate and decelerate slowly. Applying the gas slowly to accelerate is the best method for regaining traction and avoiding skids. Don’t try to get moving in a hurry. And take time to slow down for a stoplight. Remember: It takes longer to slow down on icy roads.
  • Drive slowly. Everything takes longer on snow-covered roads. Accelerating, stopping, turning – nothing happens as quickly as on dry pavement. Give yourself time to maneuver by driving slowly.
  • The normal dry pavement following distance of three to four seconds should be increased to eight to ten seconds. This increased margin of safety will provide the longer distance needed if you have to stop.
  • Know your brakes. Whether you have anti-lock brakes or not, the best way to stop is threshold breaking. Keep the heel of your foot on the floor and use the ball of your foot to apply firm, steady pressure on the brake pedal.
  • 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 just starts your wheels spinning. 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 down hill as slowly as possible.
  • Don’t stop going up a hill. There’s nothing worse than trying to get moving up a hill on an icy road. Get some inertia going on a flat roadway before you take on the hill.
  • Stay home. If you really don’t have to go out, don’t. Even if you can drive well in the snow, not everyone else can. Don’t tempt fate: If you don’t have somewhere you have to be, watch the snow from indoors.