Winter Driving Tips

Winter time in West Michigan certainly means a lot of different things for everyone:

• Some employees eagerly anticipate holiday bonuses (as long as it’s not a membership to the Jelly of the Month Club!).
• Children look forward to a break from school and homework.
• Adults are busy getting caught up in everything entailed with the holiday season – shopping, baking, wrapping, decorating, etc.

Of course, something this time of year means for motorists in all our local communities is travel conditions that can be hazardous at times!

Now, no matter if you use our paving services or not, we want you and your loved ones to stay safe while you travel this winter season. With this in mind, here are some winter driving tips to help you survive roads covered in ice and snow:

• Leave early. Everything takes longer on snow-covered, icy roads, so your first step in staying safe is to give yourself enough time to get there. Remember, even a short drive that usually takes ten minutes in nice weather can take twice as long this time of year.
• Accelerate and decelerate slowly. The best method you can use to regain traction and avoid skidding is to apply your gas slowly when you need to accelerate. A little patience can be a good thing since you shouldn’t try to get your car moving in a hurry. Also, be aware of upcoming traffic lights and give yourself time (and space) to slow down. Obviously, it’s going to take a bit longer to slow down on an icy road, so think ahead.
• Drive slowly. In addition to speeding up or slowing down, keep your constant driving speed slow enough so you can better maneuver your car, and especially during turns.
• Give ‘em space. Whereas you can safely follow another car at a distance of around three to four seconds on dry pavement, you need to increase this to eight to ten seconds in the winter. If more people gave this increased margin for safety, we would see less winter-time accidents every year.
• Know how to brake for the conditions. No matter if you have antilock brakes or not, threshold braking is the best practice for stopping your car. Threshold braking is a matter of keeping your foot on the floor and using the ball of your foot to apply steady, firm pressure on the brake pedal. Pumping your brakes is something to be reserved for situations wherein you have started skidding and do not have antilock brakes.
• Don’t stop (if you can avoid it). If you are able to do so, avoid coming to a complete stop. The amount of inertia it takes to get a car moving from a full stop is much greater than to get a car moving faster while it is still rolling. With that in mind, if you’re able to slow down enough and keep rolling until the traffic light changes, do it.
• Don’t power up hills or stop before going up one. When you apply extra gas on snow-covered or icy roads, you will just spin your wheels most of the time. Instead of trying to hit the gas pedal harder, keep some inertia (even if it’s slight) before reaching a hill and then allow the inertia to help carry you to the top. As you reach the crest of the hill, reduce your speed so you don’t go downhill too quickly.
• Stay home. The best winter driving sometimes is “no winter driving.” If you don’t absolutely have to go out in treacherous weather, don’t. Sure, you might be the best winter driver in the world, but the fact is you’ll be driving amongst those who aren’t. As in many areas of life, there is only so much you can actually control. Since you can’t control other drivers, don’t tempt fate!

Following these tips is a good starting point for making sure you survive the winter season. Other things to think about include the condition of your car (you don’t want it to break down on you in the middle of a harsh winter storm) and what you bring with you (warm blanket, flashlight, cat litter, etc.).

As we mentioned at the start of this post, winter means different things to different people. If you own property—residential or commercial—this is a great time of year to start thinking ahead to your spring and summer paving projects and making sure you budget accordingly.

Not sure how much to budget for 2018? Contact our team at Stripe A Lot and request your FREE estimate. When you do, you can find peace of mind knowing we never sell you on anything you don’t really need. (Hey, just because other guys do it doesn’t mean we will!)

For more information, or to request your estimate, call us today at 1-800-BLACKTOP (or 616-772-2559)!