McHenry winter safety tips to consider before you drive

Recently, on this blog site, we discussed adjusting yourself mentally for driving in winter conditions. Since winter is definitely coming to McHenry, that makes a lot of sense. Considering National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics, there are 440 fatal reasons from 2019, and 33,000 injury examples of why to adjust your driving for the cold and slippery conditions of winter (440 fatal crashes and 33,000 injury crashes due to wintry conditions).

But there are other things to consider when driving in winter. First of all, if you are in an accident, what should you do?

If you’re hurt, stay in your car (as long as it is safe to do so) and try not to exert yourself.

Try to make sure you car is visible – leave the lights on and turn the flashers on. If possible, you should put out road flares.

Be aware of the possibility that exhaust fumes may be bringing harmful levels of carbon monoxide into the car. If so, open the windows and/or get out of the vehicle.

Call for assistance if you’re not certain someone else has done so.

Before you drive in this coming McHenry winter, there are some items you want to put in your car so that you’re prepared for different potentialities. For instance:

Emergency markers or road flares
Proper window cleaning utensils – ice scraper and brush
A flashlight
Carphone charger
Jumper cables
Blankets
Water and some snacks
1st Aid kit
Sand or road salt you can throw under the tires when you need a little extra traction

It is important to let people know when you’re heading out on the road, where you’re going and what route you’ll use. This way, if you do breakdown, and the cellphone won’t work, they know where to look for you when you don’t arrive as expected.

If you’ve done everything you can to prepare you vehicle for this coming McHenry winter, following the suggestions above can help ensure that you’ll have the best opportunity of surviving this winter without any serious problems.

Comments

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...

Timely maintenance is even more important with your Johnsburg Electric Vehicle

Even if you have an electric vehicle in your Johnsburg driveway, maintenance is still critical. You pull out of your Johnsburg driveway and you watch the gas stations go by as you smile from behind the wheel of your EV – Electric Vehicle. Of course, at some point, you will have to stop and charge the battery but you still take some comfort that you’re not standing next to your car as the fuel pumps into your tank. One of the true comforts you take with your EV is that the mechanics of your vehicle are simplified. You don’t have to worry about the engine breaking down anymore, and we all know how costly that can be. But there’s more to your EV vehicle than you may have considered when you first parked it in your Johnsburg driveway. Many of the parts found on gasoline-driven vehicles are also present on your EV. These require the same maintenance as your gasoline-powered vehicle. For instance, you EV still has: Tires and Wheels Brakes Steering and Suspension Windshield Wipers and So...

Performance Unlimited Blog

Search This Blog