The Weather Channel is forecasting nasty weather for us again this weekend, this after the week started with yet another ice storm.
Sliding down my driveway as if I’m on a snowboard is fun the first or second time you get to do it each winter. But we’re not even fully into winter yet, and I’m getting kind of tired of all of this icy weather.
At least when we lived in Michigan, we had a good, macho winter with tons of snow we could play in. In my area, we might get a dusting of snow here and there, but more likely we’re getting ice.
Plus, when you live in Michigan (or any other snowy place for that matter), you quickly learn how to safely drive in slick conditions.
Not so much here in the Mid-Atlantic, where people still run to the grocery store to stock up on bread, eggs and milk at the very mention of an impending snowstorm. Please, people. Are you going to subsist on French toast while you’re snowbound? My guess is you probably have enough food to survive a couple of inches of snow. However, considering that where I live most people don’t know how to drive during bad weather, it’s probably a blessing in disguise that the timid ones get their shopping done before the precipitation begins. That way I won’t have to be out on the roads with them. And neither will you.
But just in case you are, I thought it made sense to post a timely reminder about safe winter driving. Here are some tips, courtesy of AAA:
- Accelerate and decelerate slowly. Applying the gas slowly to accelerate is the best method for retraining traction and avoiding skids. Don’t try to get moving in a hurry. And take time to slow down for a stoplight. Remember: It takes longer to slow down on icy roads.
- Drive slowly. Everything takes longer on snow-covered roads. Accelerating, stopping, turning – nothing happens as quickly as on dry pavement. Give yourself time to maneuver by driving slowly.
- Instead of counting “one Mississippi, two Mississippi” count up to eight or 10. The normal dry pavement following distance of two to three seconds should be increased to eight to ten seconds. This increased margin of safety in front will provide the longer distance needed if you have to stop.
- Know your brakes. Whether you have anti-lock brakes or not, the best way to stop is threshold breaking. Keep the heel of your foot on the floor and use the ball of your foot to apply firm, steady pressure on the brake pedal.
- Don’t stop if you can avoid it. There’s a big difference in the amount of inertia it takes to start moving from a full stop versus how much it takes to get moving while still rolling. If you can slow down enough to keep rolling until the light changes, do it.
- Don’t power up hills. Applying extra gas on snow-covered roads just starts your wheels spinning. Try to get a little inertia going before you reach the hill and let that inertia carry you to the top. As you reach the crest of the hill, reduce your speed and proceed down hill as slowly as possible.
- Don’t stop going up a hill. There’s nothing worse than trying to get moving up a hill on an icy road. Get some inertia going on a flat roadway before you take on the hill.
- Stay home. If you really don’t have to go out, don’t. Even if you can drive well in the snow, not everyone else can. Don’t tempt fate: If you don’t have somewhere you have to be, watch the snow from indoors.
In thinking about winter driving, I can’t help but think of ICE. Not ice as in the stuff that forms on my driveway but ICE–in case of emergency.
A lot of people have been sending me emails reminding me to plug in ICE (in case of emergency) phone numbers into my cellphone. The idea here is that should you be in an accident or a life-threatening situation, the police, firefighters or EMTs that respond to help you will know how to get in touch with your loved ones.
For the longest time I thought that this notion of ICE was a bunch of bunk. I couldn’t help but think of that OnStar commercial that shows a car accident, in slow motion, with the driver’s cell phone flying out a cup holder and into the back seat of the car. It’s a pretty effective ad, in that it gets you thinking that if your cell phone isn’t secured when you happen to have a crash, you’re pretty much screwed in being able to find it to call for help. And that’s where OnStar steps in. The car “signals” OnStar that there’s been a crash, and OnStar dials 911 for you. (I don’t have OnStar, OnStar isn’t paying me to write this, but I do find this notion of OnStar intriguing.)
OK, so OnStar has nothing to do with ICE but I think you get the point: if you’ve been in a crash and your cell phone has gone flying, are the first responders really going to take the time to find your phone and then scroll through your address book.
Actually, in many instances they are.
My mom is friends with someone who works as an EMT, and he has confirmed for her that there have been instances where the victim’s cell phone has allowed them to find contact information for someone related to that person. A police officer I spoke with also confirmed this. While he said that they’re probably not going to go looking through a person’s cell phone at the actual accident scene, they will hand the phone over to the staff at the hospital so that they can use it to contact the ICE person.
Here’s another thing to think about with an ICE number–don’t include one person only, especially if that person is likely to be in a car with you when you might have an accident. I listed my husband–and his cell, work and our home number–as my #1, #2 and #3 ICE contacts. Then I spoke with someone who had done the same, only to end up in an accident with her husband and two kids. The parents were pretty beat up; the kids were fine. As each other’s ICE people, there was no one else that the emergency room staff could call to come take the kids because, at that point, the parents were in no shape to recall a neighbor’s phone number.
So now I’ve got to figure out whom I’m going to list as my alternate ICE person.
Do you have ICE numbers in your cell phone? And who are the people you’ve listed?
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