#1 Leave extra room between you and other vehicles you are sharing the road with.

#2 Use your headlights at all times. Even in daylight, headlights can help others see you in bad weather.

#3 Slow down. Odds are, wherever you are going can wait a few minutes. Most winter collisions occur because of drivers driving too fast for conditions.

#4 Turn off your cruise control. Cruise control is a nice feature, but not on icy roads when you should slow down but it keeps making your wheels spin.

#5 Be realistic about the capabilities of four wheel drive. Four wheel drive vehicles are great, but when the roads are slick the roads are slick. You still need to slow down and be cautious.

#6 Be careful near chain up areas. When driving through the mountains or even other areas, you may come across a pull out or widening specifically meant for putting chains on tires. Be careful in these areas as cars are entering and leaving the roadway at slow speeds and they may become obstacles.

#7 Watch for typical icy spots. Even when road crews have taken care of a highway, there can still be some spots where ice builds up faster than in others. These include shaded corners, bridges, offramps, onramps, and dips where water may have built up before it froze.

#8 Be cautions around snowplows. Snowplows are out there making the roads safer for everyone. In really bad weather, the safest place to be is following a plow driver. Still, every year there are a lot of collisions involving passenger vehicles who have decided to pass snowplows, only to find the roadway in the passing lane or in front of the plow is not in as good of condition as back when they were following the plow. Be patient and settle in behind those big brightly painted vehicles… it can really pay off over the course of your trip.

Traction Tires Advised
When roads become a little harder to travel because of significant weather issues, the first level of advisory that the Department of Transportation uses is Traction Tires Advised. This is meant to advise the public that all season or winter tires should be used when crossing the mountains. This level of advisory also prohibits oversize vehicles from crossing the mountain passes.

Traction Tires Required
When severe bad weather hits and it becomes harder to keep the snow off the roads, the Department of Transportation may put out an advisory for mountain passes that states traction tires are required. When going to Traction Tires Required, passenger vehicles are then required to have approved traction tires on them. Larger vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 10,000 pounds are required to have chains on when the rating is Traction Tires Required.

Chains Required
The Chains Required advisory is somewhat self explanatory as it means that extremely bad weather has hit and chains are required on all passenger vehicles. Four wheel drive vehicles are exempt from this requirement.

One thing you can do is check the traffic cameras in the area you’ll be traveling to see what the current traffic level is. For example here is a look at Maryland’s Bay Bridge, which is sure to be packed with cars from people heading to the ocean this weekend, and you can see it is easy to use cameras like this to see what a commute will be like before you leave.

Among UPS’s tips are: reduce the amount of idling you do, plan your route before you leave, and as unusual as it sounds, avoid left turns when possible.

You can avoid many of the hazards and annoyances of winter driving by just having your vehicle maintained properly. If you’ve analyzed the weather and you and your vehicle’s capabilities and have still determined that making the trip is the proper course of action, your ability to succeed will be greater if you have inspected the following:

Battery
Filters
Brakes
Brake Fluid
Lights
Antifreeze
Defroster
Motor Oil
Tire Pressure
Power Steering Fluid
Windshield Washer Fluid
Windshield Wiper Blades
Belts
Heater
Hoses

If your vehicle is properly maintained and ready for adverse winter driving conditions, then you will be one step ahead of not only the weather, but all those people waiting in long lines to get their vehicles serviced when the first snow falls.

Some people indicate that this doesn’t make the streets any safer. There are studies that indicate placement of these cameras has cut down on the amount of cross-traffic (broadside impact) collisions but they may have raised the amount of rear end collisions (fender benders). Fender benders are usually less fatal than a broadside collision, so this is seen as a valid trade off.

Some drivers claim this is a right-of-privacy violation while other claim you have no assumption of privacy while you are on the public roadway.

Others claim that this technology is either part of a “Big Brother” campaign to monitor citizens’ movements or is purely put into place to generate revenue. The latter argument is solved if people stop running red lights. If no one runs red lights then no one pays these extra fines, if no fines are paid there is no increased revenue.

While these are all arguments heard over and over in recent years, a new issue is being brought to light by a number of people ticketed for running red lights (here is one example letter to the editor). The issue is the proper length of time a light should remain yellow. In truth, yellow lights should be somewhat standard in terms of their length. Training people that they have 2 seconds, for example, to safely enter the intersection when the light turns yellow and then having some lights operate on 1 second delays could actually cause more accidents or tickets. Some more complicated intersections require longer yellow lights to make sure traffic can get completely through the intersection safely before cross traffic is released. An interesting issue that should be followed closely.

Driving in snow, slush, or on icy roads requires a different approach than driving in normal weather conditions. Combining common sense with preparation usually results in a safe winter driver. Here are nine tips for safer winter driving:

1. Always Drive With Your Headlights On

2. Drive For The Conditions

3. Make Room When Stopping

4. Avoid Cutting Off Large Trucks

5. Look Farther Up The Road

6. Avoid Cruise Control

7. Allow More Room

8. Slow Down For Trouble Spots

9. Avoid Abrupt Actions

Using common sense and being careful can get most motorists through the winter driving season unscathed. Drive safe, drive smart.

Part of being ready for adverse winter driving conditions is having your vehicle properly supplied. When you have all the things you need to help your car operate during winter weather than you are not only ready for the weather, but one step ahead of the other drivers who drive all over town looking for items that the stores have already sold out of.

If you drive in rough winter weather, you and your vehicle should be equipped with:

Emergency Cash
Jumper Cables
A Bag of Sand/Cat Litter for Traction
Ice Scraper
Snow Brush
Tow Chain/Strap
Small Shovel

If you do go off the road or are hit by an unexpected storm, why wait for assistance? With the above articles packed in your vehicle you can begin helping yourself and your passengers get unstuck from whatever predicament Mother Nature put you in.