Skip to main content

Is your car ready for Christmas travel?

Christmas is a time for gathering with loved ones and enjoying the season. But, often, travel is required to get together with family and friends. Some of us will put on a mask and fly greater distances to celebrate Christmas. But many will load up the car and drive somewhere for the holiday.

Which is it for you? Or will you stay home? Maybe, you’ll stay home while loved ones drive to your home. But, whatever your personal situation, during Christmas time, there’s a whole lot of travelin’ going on.

Travelpulse claims that 85-million Americans are expected to travel this Christmas. TravelandLiesure suggests that 47-million of those will mask up and take to the ‘friendly skies.’ If they have the numbers right, that still means that 38-million Americans will hit the roads to spend Christmas with loved ones.

With all those people on the road, even if the conditions are good, folks need to be aware to arrive at the homes of loved ones safely. If the conditions aren’t so good – if there are icy or snowy roads, if there are foggy nights or heavy rain – you’ll face a great challenge staying safe out on the roads.

Another consideration is the condition of your vehicle. The last several weeks, we’ve run some articles here about winterizing your vehicle. Hopefully, you’re on top of preparing your car for the season. If not, if you’re driving on a wing-and-a-prayer, you may find yourself on the side of the road.

While you’re sitting on the roadside somewhere waiting for a service truck to arrive, your loved ones are checking their watches and wondering where you’re at until they decide to call and check on you. In the meantime, the little ones are getting impatient waiting for you to arrive so they can open presents under the tree, as well as those in the back of your car.

Adding an additional element to your drive is the risk posed by intoxicated drivers. While revelry is expected this time of year, not everyone has enough sense to put sufficient time between the party and the road.

Whether it’s a question of a drunk driver creating a dangerous situation, ice or snow impacting your drive, or simply the dangers when too many people are on the same road at the same time, you want to have your vehicle prepared for the drive and you want to be attentive whatever the conditions. 

You have loved ones depending on your safe arrival. Christmas is no time to disappoint them. 


check brakes Wonder Lake




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Is your antifreeze safe from freezing this Richmond winter

You still have time to have it checked Well, there’s no denying it – winter tends to get chilly here in Richmond. We have to deal with snow and ice on the roads, scraping the same off our windows and windshield, and staying warm while we drive. Of course, you had your antifreeze checked before winter rolled into town. What?! You didn’t have your antifreeze checked before winter clamped down on Richmond? So, how’s your antifreeze doing?  If you haven’t had it checked, there’s really no way of knowing, is there? This car has overheated in the middle of a Richmond  winter. But, on the other end of the spectrum, the antifreeze can also freeze if it's not up to its job. Hopefully, you haven’t had a serious problem with your antifreeze already. If you did, you’d probably know. When antifreeze fails, it’s a potentially catastrophic condition for your vehicle’s engine. You could have hoses that have burst because of freezing antifreeze. Worse than that, your engine block may have crac...

Blocks of ice falling from cars in McHenry could cause accidents or damage

We’ve all seen those blocks of snow falling from behind the rear tires of a car when the snow rolls into McHenry . Fortunately, they’re just packed snow that will disintegrate under your vehicle’s tires as you simply drive right through them, right? Don’t count on it. Those blocks of snow are often packed so tight, condensed by the thaw-and-freeze cycle, that they’re anything but oversized snowballs . They’re often more like boulders.  Hit one of those blocks and the collision between the block and one of your tires could send you careening off the road or into oncoming traffic. In some cases, they’re so solid you could pound them with a sledgehammer with little effect. They truly can represent a serious road hazard. The problem is that it’s difficult to tell how solidly they’re packed when you see them on the road, left their unwittingly by another driver. Either way, your best bet is to try to avoid them. But you want to be careful dodging blocks of ice in the road, too. You need...

Get out to McHenry Music Festival for a good time and music near to home

Some folks here in McHenry will load up the car and head out to Red Rock Amphitheater near Denver to see a show. Some will go to the MSG Sphere near Las Vegas. Some will go to the Bonaroo Festival Concert to see a show. That’s quite a bit of driving and you’d better make sure your vehicle is up to the trip. What happens, however, if something goes wrong – if your vehicle breaks down while driving there or back? What happens if the show is canceled, as happened this year with the Bonaroo Festival? We’re talking about some serious inconvenience, aren’t we? Wherever you go, whether your driving to Colorado, Nevada, Tennessee or anywhere else in this continent, you want to perform your due diligence and make sure the vehicle is up for the trip before you go. And it doesn’t really matter if you’re driving somewhere to see some live music or for any other purpose. A breakdown can be costly and may put you at the mercy of weather conditions or nefarious characters that come across you while y...