Winter Driving Safety

The snows of winter can make driving very difficult for some drivers.

Even traveling a short distance on snow covered roads can be dangerous. White outs across the area this past weekend and several inches of snow last night have been a driving factor in many auto accidents this week. Lieutenant Matt Boyd with the Ohio State Highway Patrol said the best thing to do is avoid travel in bad weather.

“Most importantly in these conditions, if you don’t have to travel don’t,” Boyd said. “Don’t just go out for a joy ride or it’s not the day to go out for a movie or go eat when the road conditions are like were over the weekend.”

Boyd said many of the accidents he sees involve vehicles that have not been properly maintained for the winter. He recommends making sure your anti freeze is refilled at the start of winter and that your tires are ready for the snow.

“An important thing to remember in that regard is a sliding or spinning wheel can’t change direction, so if you’re going down a hill and your wheels are sliding, you’re going towards a ditch you may have to let off the brakes a little bit to be able to steer because in order to change direction you have to have some sort of friction between your wheel and the roadway,” Boyd said.

If you find yourself driving in white out conditions like last weekend, Boyd said the best thing to do is to pull over and wait for it to pass.