Keep Your Family Safe on Winter Road Trips
Keep Your Family Safe on Winter Road Trips
Although the basics of winter driving safety don’t change much from year to year, it’s a good idea to refresh your memory (in case you’ve forgotten last winter). Here are some tips that will help make winter driving less stressful.
Can Your Car Handle the Weather?
Driving a vehicle you trust and that you are familiar with gives you confidence on the road. Make sure you know how your car handles in slippery driving conditions. For example, if your car has antilock brakes, find an empty parking lot or other safe area and test them out to see what they feel like when you brake suddenly.
If you’re looking for a new car, you’ll want one that can handle winter weather. Four-wheel or all-wheel drive will give you handling control on slippery roads; airbags and other safety features will give you the security of knowing that if something does happen, your family will be protected. For Ann Mackinnon of Minneapolis, an SUV was the answer. “Minnesota winters can be brutal, but you still have to get to work and shuttle kids around,†she says. She bought a Saturn Vue because of its good safety record. “I was drawn to Saturn because of features like the front and rear crumple zones, side impact protection, which is super important to me. There are so many things I like about it — the head curtain airbags which protect my backseat passengers, anti-lock brakes with traction control, controls over windows and locks and other features that simply give me peace of mind as a driver and a parent.†she adds.
A Winter Checklist
If you haven’t given your car a winter once over, now is the time to make sure everything is working properly. Check your brakes, windshield wipers, and defroster to make sure they’ll perform as needed in bad weather. Make sure your antifreeze and windshield wiper fluids are topped off.
Add some winter-readiness items to your trunk: a heavy duty ice/snow scraper to keep the windshield clear, a shovel and a bag of kitty litter to free yourself from snow banks, and jumper cables. You’ll also want to have an emergency kit that includes bottled water, candy bars, a blanket, and a flashlight, just in case.