Just this past Saturday, we turned the clocks back for Daylight Savings Time. The premise is that, during the winter, moving the clocks back in the fall helps to maximize our use of daylight hours. That’s because there are fewer hours of daylight in the winter. The Winter Solstice, for McHenry, is Dec. 21. That’s the shortest day of the year, in terms of daylight.
The days have grown shorter since the Summer Solstice last June. After the Winter Solstice, the years will start to grow longer, about one minute of additional sunlight each day, until the next McHenry Summer Solstice, June 20, 2016.
When it’s dark out, you want your headlamps to work and work well. Driving with limited vision is form of vehicular Russian roulette. Hopefully, you won’t run into anything. Hopefully, you won’t run into anybody. In either case, if you do run into something, or someone, the cost is potentially great – financially and emotionally. And, driving with limited visibility may be a factor they’ll take into account when assigning blame and degree of responsibility.
Another benefit of effective headlamps in the winter is, not only do they help you see, they help others to see you. Maybe it’s not the middle of the night. Maybe it’s even the middle of the afternoon. But, if you’re driving through a snowstorm, or contending with fog, your ability to see others, and to be seen, will depend greatly on the ability of your headlamps to do their job.
Wiper blades won’t help others to see you. But, they will help you to see. Keeping the windows clear in the winter is a challenge. First, the effects of cold, humid air is to create frost on the windows – inside and out. Then there is snow that can buildup on your windows and windshield – snow or ice, or a combination of the two.
If your wiper blades are worn, they can leave bad streaks in the window. They can even miss entire areas of your windshield with each swipe. You want a good set of wiper blades so they’ll do a good job of cleaning your windshield and give you the best chance to see the road and others on it.
Two other factors that are important, along with headlamps and wiper blades, in terms of winter visibility while driving:
- Windshield washer solvent
- Defrosters
Even good wiper blades will leave streaks if you don’t have a reservoir of windshield washer solvent. Not only will you deal with the snow and ice, but you’ll also deal with the powdery effects of road salt on your windshield. And when frost begins forming on your windshield, even while you’re driving, the heater had better put out some heat through the defrosters.
Take care of these issues in advance, and you’re liable to have a safer winter. Slippery McHenry roads are enough to deal with. You don’t want to compound the problem with poor visibility.
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