You might go camping - Any time you head out on winter roads you might find yourself camping overnight in your car

Across the country, hundreds if not thousands, were stranded this weekend on roads due to snow, ice, fallen trees, downed powerlines and accidents. Some for minutes and others for more than a day. This would be a trying experience for anyone. On rural roads it might take a day for someone to drive by and see a car in a snow bank.

Be prepared in your car for a night of camping. Have enough for you and your regular passengers.

 

Keep this stuff in your vehicle throught he winter months:

Water and food, flashlight, signaling device like flares (the old school sticks are best in the winter since they can't freeze), extra blanket, handwarmers (work great in shoes for your toes), spare kid and baby stuff (diapers and powdered formula).

 

Some things we have no control over, but we do have control over how we drive. SLOW DOWN AND GIVE EXTRA ROOM! Don't make sudden moves on snow and ice. Slow ahead of curves. Unless it's an emergency don't brake through corners, do ease through with the throttle. Don't drive if you don't have to.

 

Other winter car tips: Don't weight the tail of a front wheel drive car since it will likely unload your drive wheels. On most vehicles, extra weight can help you get moving but makes braking and turning worse. Four wheel  and all wheel drive gets you moving and turning but does nothing to help you stop. Keep sand/gravel/kittylitter with you to put under tires to get you moving. Carry your own recovery strap, jumper cables and shovel, not every passer by will have these on hand to help.

 

Lastly, don't park your car in the roadway or in plow turn arounds. Parking in a roadway because you can't get in your driveway will likely get you plowed in (plowed snow is hard to shovel), potentially get your vehicle towed because you are blocking traffic, and you will likely block the plows from plowing the rest of the road past you leaving every other home or business past you stranded. In big storms this becomes a huge issue because plows can only keep up with a limited rate of snowfall and big graders are much fewer and slower. Blocked roads also mean longer responses for Fire, Medical and Law Enforcement.