Jan 26, 2012

Mom Always Said

Mom always said, well, a lot of stuff.  Most of it was even pretty valuable.  But I'm pretty sure I will continue to hear her voice every winter for the rest of my life as I leave the house during the winter in my nonwintery shoes and a light jacket.  You see you don't spend your entire life living in the Midwest without ending up stuck in a snow storm at least once.  And by stuck, I mean literally, like car in a ditch or a snowbank stuck.
And being buried in the snow is not the moment you want to be wearing you cutest shoes!  As a true Midwesterner, and always prepared mama, my mom ALWAYS had a heavy blanket and often serious winter boots in the trunk of her car.  You really think it will never happen to you but even the best winter drivers can end up in a mess on a slippery road.  To do your best to stay out of this situation, here are a few of my suggestions...

1. Learn to drive in the snow.  You may be able to avoid going out in the snow sometimes, but no matter how hard you try you will never be able to avoid it completely.  Thankfully the new rules in our state for getting a drivers license make this more likely to happen before a teen is licensed.  When I got my license, I took drivers ed in the middle of the summer.  I don't think I ever drove in rain, let alone snow before being given free reign of the wheel.  That first winter was SUPER scary.

2.  The best offensive is a good defense.  Yeah, that's actually a sports quote but it applies to driving too.  You may have completely mastered driving in the snow, but that doesn't mean everyone else out there has.  In snowy and icey conditions you need to be hyper aware of what other drivers are doing.  Just this month I was almost creamed by a semi blowing through a red light during the first snow storm of the season.  Had I not been overly cautious about entering an intersection on such a slippery day I may not have avoided a potentially serious accident.

3.  Keep your car safe.  Make sure your tires are ready for winter.  Change your wiper blades.  Keep your windshield washer solution full. If you have a front heavy rear wheel drive vehicle, tossing some sand bags in the trunk can help a lot. (I learned this after my first miserable winter driving, in a Thunderbird.) And never, never leave home without your trusty ice scraper. 

4.  Be prepared for the worst.  You can do everything right and still be unlucky enough to wind up stranded.  In today's cell phone society hopefully help is just a call away but in a bad storm it still make take them awhile to make it to you.  Keep at least one warm blanket in your car.  If you regularly wear dress shoes, keep some boots in your trunk. 

5.  Remember, spring isn't THAT far away.  Dealing with the cold and snow can get tiresome.  Fight off the winter blues by thinking about all the great things there are to do in the spring, it'll be here before you know it!

Snowball fights and snow angles are fun but driving in the snow and ice is serious business.  Stay smart and stay safe this winter!

For more great driving resources, check out Esurance on Facebook!

I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Esurance blogging program for 8,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

3 comments:

  1. I remember in college is when I had my first snowy problem driving. I got stuck on a patch of ice leaving work and I could not get off of it for anything! It was so scary, and Kalamazoo was super hilly so I always had trouble getting to my apartment at the top of the hill too.

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  2. Learning to drive in the snow is so important. We had a period of snow today and it is amazing how many people act like they never have driven before. Definitely used some defense today!

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  3. My first car was a little Hyundai Accent. I used to keep a shovel in my trunk because often I would have to shovel my tires out since the car was so low!

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