Traveling Safely on the Winter Roads
Thanksgiving is tomorrow, which means people are getting on the road to travel. As winter approaches as well, these things all make for potentially dangerous road conditions. We spoke to Presque Isle county road commission to get some tips on how to stay safe on the roads this holiday season.
The holidays are coming, which means that travel is going to be more difficult than usual. The weather gets cold, the roads slick over, and driving can become an inconvenience. After the first snowfall, people have to remember how to drive in these conditions; so Presque Isle County Commissioner David Kowalski gave us some tips on how to stay safe.
“First thing you want to do, slow down,” he said. “If you’re unsure of what the road conditions are, slow down. It increases your reaction time, time to catch the vehicle if it starts to spin or lose control, that’s the biggest thing. And just analyze and try to compensate, and if you’re not comfortable, find a place to get off the road.”
As holiday travel will start to pick up, more people will be on the road traveling long distances. Kowalski gave advice on how to get to your destination safely.
“Watch the weather, don’t get overtired – our drivers are only allowed to drive so many hours before we take them off the road so they’re alert – and that’s just one of the biggest things is drowsiness and not being on your phone when you’re actually driving,” he said.
As drivers get more accustomed to driving in the winter weather and deal with unsavory road conditions, they get more used to it as the winter goes on. But Kowalski says the conditions are still unrelenting.
“Normally, later in the winter, we have the snow and it’ll dust around a bit, it’s much easier to drive in than the slush,” he said. “Slush is the worst, it can take you across the road into oncoming traffic, put you in a ditch. The first couple snows are the worst.”
Every driver is different. Some are more confident in their abilities to drive in winter conditions than others; so Kowalski says to be considerate of everyone’s driving habits.
“Slow down and be alert, and give the other people some room, cause not everybody is as capable of driving your speed. We see it all the time,” he said.
