Expert from AAA offers tips for safe winter driving to OUWB community - News at OU

Luck appears to beryllium moving retired for Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine aesculapian students who person frankincense acold avoided having to thrust successful a bully aged fashioned Michigan snowstorm. 

According to the National Weather Service bureau successful White Lake, a wintertime tempest is expected to interaction the portion connected Wednesday with accumulating snow. That includes an estimated 4-6 inches of snowfall predicted for Pontiac and its surrounding communities. Additional accumulation is expected connected Friday and passim the weekend.

The expected snowfall follows a adust wintertime — Oakland County received 10 inches little precipitation than mean successful December, and January has been connected a akin pace, per the National Integrated Drought Information System tally by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

But Michiganders cognize it’s lone a substance of clip earlier snowfall rolls through, which is wherefore OUWB precocious hosted a typical from AAA — The Auto Club Group of Michigan, to speech astir driving and car information successful the winter.

“This lawsuit is ever particularly utile for our students that travel from retired of state, but for immoderate of america it is simply a bully refresher arsenic we caput into winter,” said Katy Torma, administrative coordinator, Student Affairs.

“We walk truthful galore months retired of the twelvemonth driving successful icy oregon snowy conditions that it's important to beryllium prepared for a assortment of scenarios that whitethorn occur,” she added.

OUWB aesculapian students similar Christian Santiago, M1, were among those who attended.

“I’m from Florida and we person nary accidental of driving successful snow, ever,” helium said. “This was a large accidental for maine to truly recognize the skills I request to beryllium prepared for question successful Michigan oregon different parts of the Midwest.”

‘A small much seriously’

Rachel Wilson, pb instructor, AAA – The Auto Club Group of Michigan, presented the league successful OUWB’s O’Dowd Hall.

Wilson said adjacent for the astir hardened Michigan driver, the archetypal large snowfall lawsuit of the twelvemonth tin contiguous challenges.

“The archetypal clip we get a snowstorm, it seems similar we hide however to thrust successful it,” she said.

Further, drivers who are caller to snowstorms “may person nary conception of however hard it tin be, and however antithetic it tin beryllium than adjacent driving successful rain.”

If thing else, she said, the anticipation is that everyone takes driving successful a snowstorm “a small much seriously.”

Wilson talked astatine magnitude astir 1 of the biggest issues: reduced traction.

The key, she said, is adjusting velocity — the slower you go, the amended traction.

“I’m talking astir varying degrees of however dilatory you person to go,” she said. “If it’s conscionable flurries, you whitethorn person to dilatory down 5 to 10 percent. If there’s a batch of snow, you whitethorn person to dilatory down truthful overmuch you consciousness similar you are virtually crawling.”

Wilson suggests drivers who are caller to snowfall err connected the broadside of caution until they get a consciousness for driving successful inclement wintertime weather. One mode to bash so, she said, is find a large unfastened parking batch wherever determination are nary different vehicles, poles, etc., and deed the brakes astatine definite speeds.  

Another tip, she said, is to let for astatine slightest 7 seconds of stopping region betwixt your conveyance and the 1 successful beforehand of you. This allows for plentifulness of abstraction to determination successful lawsuit of emergency.

“You ever privation to person a program B,” she said. “Make definite you tin halt successful clip if the conveyance successful beforehand of you abruptly hits the brakes.”

Other tips offered by Wilson included:

• Warm your conveyance successful an unfastened abstraction with snowfall cleared distant (especially astir the exhaust).
• Before moving your vehicle, wide each windows — not conscionable 1 “hole” wherever you tin spot a fraction of the road.
• Clean disconnected the hood of your conveyance to debar having snowfall stroke towards the windshield and fundamentally creating a “mini-blizzard.”
• If you commencement to skid, look and steer toward wherever you privation to go.
• Use harmless driving practices, specified arsenic wearing a spot loop and staying focused.
• Don’t beryllium overly reliant connected conveyance technology, specified arsenic rear cameras and different sensors that tin beryllium covered with dirt, slush, salt, etc.
• Keep your headlights connected truthful different drivers tin spot you better.
• If you person snow/ice physique up connected your windshield wipers, get disconnected the roadworthy and wide them.
• If you get stuck, wide snowfall distant from tires and effort spreading soil oregon kitty litter adjacent your tires to summation traction.
• Prepare your car for harmless travels (see graphic below).

For much information, interaction Andrew Dietderich, selling writer, OUWB, astatine adietderich@oakland.edu.

To petition an interview, sojourn the OUWB Communications & Marketing webpage.

This enactment is licensed nether a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.