Traction and caution are critical when driving in a McHenry winter

Snow and ice of a McHenry winter offer a

serious challenge to traction when you're
driving that could land you in trouble. But
there are things you can do to improve your
traction and adjust your driving.

You walk into the kitchen of your McHenry home, unaware that someone in the family has washed and waxed the kitchen floor and it’s still wet. What’s going to happen?

In one scenario, your feet slide out from under you, and you land flat on your back. In another scenario, as your arms windmill frantically, your feet and legs splay out wildly in every direction as you struggle to stay upright.

What you lack in the scenario above is traction. Merriam-Webster dictionary describes traction as: “the adhesive friction of a body on a surface on which it moves.”

We count on traction with nearly every step we take. And no one likes to be caught by surprise without traction when they need it.

Well, traction isn’t just something we enjoy when walking; it’s also something we want when we pull our car out of our McHenry driveway.

A loss of traction when walking can be painful. A loss of traction when driving can be more than that. It can be painful. In some situations, it can even be fatal.

Winter’s nasty trick that makes roads slick

Winter has more than one nasty trick up its sleeve when it comes to eliminating traction. Those tricks involve snow and ice. Winter can even layout patches of ‘black ice’ to confound even the most cautious drivers (the tricky thing about ‘black ice’ is that it’s so hard to see).

A thin coat of snow can cause a significant loss of traction. A thin coat of snow on top of a thin coat of ice is an accident waiting to happen.

A heavy coat of ice is, potentially, a big problem. And, if it has ice underneath …, well, ‘OH BOY!’

With thin coats of ice and/or snow, you can find yourself spinning and sliding out of control. That’s a very uncomfortable feeling as, lacking control, you never know where you’ll land or how hard.

Thick or thin, slippery conditions make stopping a potential calamity. And getting going can prove troublesome, too.

Adjusting to the slippery driving conditions of winter requires the application of considerably greater levels of caution. Try not to do things too suddenly. Reduce speed further in advance of a potential stop.

You can also ensure that your tires have the correct air pressure so that the maximum tire surface is fighting to gain traction with the road.

Speaking of tires, are you tires ready for another winter? Even if you have good tires on your vehicle, if you want an additional edge in the battle for traction, you may want to consider a set of snow tires. You’ll still need to drive with caution but snow tires provide more traction and give you better odds every time you pull out of your McHenry driveway.

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