AAA Offers Snow Maintenance

ZANESVILLE, Ohio-Winter weather can cause problems for motorists and their vehicles. 

The American Automobile Association has seen a 40% increase in roadside assistance calls over the last three weeks compared to this time last year. Many of the calls can be attributed to weather related issues. 

“Anytime we see temperatures drop down below twenty degrees for several days in a row we see a huge spike in vehicle breakdowns. We’re looking at things like flat tires, dead batteries, lockouts and even hard breakdowns that require tows. This winter we’ve actually seen, over the last several weeks, a forty percent increase in the number of people breaking down and calling AAA for roadside assistance.”, spokeswoman Kimberly Schwind tells WHIZ.

The sharp increase in roadside assistance needs can lead to a train on the AAA system. There are several things motorists can do to alleviate the situation. 

“If your car has been sitting for an extended period of time during this pandemic, we have a lot of people that are working from home, not driving very much, you wanna make sure that you’re driving your car. The worst thing your car can do is sit, so you need to drive it regularly in order to charge that battery. With the tires: tires are your main point of contact so the tires are extremely important during the winter when we’re talking about driving on ice and snow so you need to make sure that you have tires that are filled adequately with air.”, Schwind continued.

AAA also advises you to travel with an emergency kit consisting of winter clothes, phone chargers and snacks in the event of long waits for roadside assistance.