CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA– The holiday season is here.
Millions of people are expected to travel over the next month and a half.
AAA of Southern Pennsylvania offered some tips to make sure drivers are prepared for winter weather:
Be sure your vehicle is equipped with an Emergency Kit that should include:
- Bag of abrasive material such as sand, salt, cat litter for traction
- Snow shovel
- Flashlight
- Gloves
- Ice scraper and snow brush
- Jumper cables
- Blanket
- Warning flare or triangles
- Mobile phone and emergency charger
- Food & water
- First aid kit
When heading out, be sure your vehicle is ready for the weather then focus on a few tips:
- Drive slowly to account for lower traction on snow and ice.
- Accelerate and decelerate slowly to gain traction and avoid skids.
- Increase your following distance to allow more time to stop.
- Know your brakes, keep the heel of your foot on the floor and use the ball of your foot to apply pressure to your brake pedal.
- If you can avoid it, slow your speed down enough to keep rolling until a traffic light changes.
- Don’t power up hills as applying extra gas on snow-covered road will cause you to spin.
- Don’t stop going up a hill, whether snow or ice covered, getting started on flat roadway will help your slow, steady climb.
- Of course, whenever possible, we always suggest staying off the roads until they are safer to travel.
