Winter Driving Message Simple, Slow Down
Friday, November 9, 2012 @ 2:18 PM
Winter Safety items you should have in your vehicle – photo 250 news
Prince George, B.C.- When it comes to winter driving safety, the safety message boils down to two words:
Slow down.
“In the north, we face long driving distances between communities” says Staff Sergeant Gord Flewelling of North District RCMP “The speed limit may say 90 or a 100, but road conditions, reduced daylight and the movement of animals means you should reduce that speed to about 70 during this time of the year.” He says that reduced speed will give a driver time to recognize the problem and come to a safe stop. S/Sgt Flewelling says each year, “October through to December 31st, we will lose, on average, 20 lives on Northern British Columbia roadways. That’s 20 people who will die in that three month period. This is something none of us should be prepared to accept.”
S/Sgt Flewelling offers these safety tips:
- Check your vehicle prior to going eout, each and every time
- Maintain a winter survival kit in your vehicle complete with candles, matches, a lighter, blanket,
- Maintain good winter tires, and tire inflation
- Keep headlights and tail lights clean
- Keep all windows clear
- Maintain your windshield wipers
- Keep your windshield washer reservoir full
- Be alert to your surroundings
- Slow down and drive according to the road and weather conditions
- Use the DriveBC website to plan your trip
- Slow before reaching an intersection and when you stop, leave enough room that you can see the license plate on the vehicle in front of you, and
- Turn the cell phone off.
“If we can create an environment where all drivers are trained to drive defensively, create a driving behaviour where all drivers remain alert and pay attention to their driving, we can, without question, reduce crashes and save lives “ says S/Sgt Flewelling “Please, drive to stay alive.”
Comments
Just for something to do, I was going down Chief Lake, 85K, icy conditions – no one around, slammed on my brakes – anti lock, and slid almost the distance of two power poles. Did the same trick again at 60K, and stopped in about one quarter the distance of two power poles. Maybe there’s something to it. At 85K there’s no way I could stop for anything suddenly coming onto the highway, be it moose car, or child, at 60 K I very likely could
Seems pretty easy to put All the resposibility on the driving public. But we could atleast be helped out by having are roads maintained to a higher standard!
better maintained roads only encourage the lesser skilled to venture out further than they should.
Slow down, drive to conditions, maintain your vehicle, use WINTER (not all season) tires, and slow to 70 km/h (over 80 km/h zone) or 40 km/h (under 80 km/h zone) when approaching emergency response personnel.
I think the police want to say “slow the **** down”, I know I do every morning when some people drive to work.
It’s called “defensive driving” for a reason, you need to be able to “defend” yourself from the hazards that may occur. Too many people practice “offensive driving”, this is driving too fast for conditions, taking chances when it’s clearly unsafe conditions (passing when unsafe) and generally driving like idiots (big truck, big tires, no brains, yuck yuck).
You need to be able to “get there” regardless of road conditions and do so safely. This means being responsible for yourself and other road users. Easing up on the peddle, slowing it down and turning the stereo down (better yet off) and cracking the window open so you can hear. Most importantly is forgetting what time it is, when the road conditions are bad your “appointment” goes out the window. Get there, when you get there, pull over and phone in that your running late (see that I said pull over and phone).
The roads don’t need to be perfect, they just need to be respected when the conditions get bad. Ensuring your vehicle is ready for the conditions is critical, fuel, emergency gear, washer fluid, tires and last but never least YOU. Awake, fed, coffeed up and alert and ready to go, feel like crap, stay home, there’s always tomorrow.
I`m going to have to call a bit of bs on this message. They are telling me that if I started heading out in any direction out of town right now on bare and dry pavement to stick to going 70k…. sorry, not this dude..I`m not one with a death wish. I`ll probably drive how I see fit.
At 70k I would be constsntly either tailgated or get passed. At most times It`s too dangerously slow.
Being able to stop is no more important than being able to react to a situation.
Go ahead and drive to the rules you`re right….dead right.
And please turn your damn lights on! I can’t count the number of vehicles I see in the twilight that don’t have them on.
70? smoke another 1
Professional, that was an excellent post!
Too bad the dummies don’t read………
Anyways, I like driving safe, being courteous to others. If you haven’t had a defensive driving course it’s a good indicator of what you’re doing wrong or right.
I recall a high speed driving course at Boundary Bay that really opened my eyes to stopping distances. Yes, Please, drive to conditions, don’t use the cellphone, concentrate on DRIVING!
Slow down exept if you drive the Hart lol
I wish, I wish, I wish that ALL drivers would make sure that their headlights AND taillights are on, even in the daytime. An oncoming vehicle is so much easier to see coming towards you, if it has it’s headlights on. I can’t believe how many vehicles I see driving around in snowy, foggy, rainy conditions without their headlights on! Come on people, it’s not difficult! Turn on your headlights AND your taillights every time you head out in your vehicle, daytime or night time!
While you are at it, how about making sure that you have decent mudflaps on your vehicle. I can’t believe how many idiotic rednecks there are around here with jacked up trucks and huge tires. If you can afford the price of a lift kit and oversized tires and rims, how come you can’t afford a decent set of mudflaps. I get really tired of these idiots throwing rocks and debris at my windshield. Try following one of these morons in wet weather with those big tires throwing a huge rooster tail behind them. This is a safety issue and the law requires mudflaps. Why aren’t the police ticketing these clowns???
And it would be really really nice if the large commercial transport truck drivers would learn to stay in their own lane. I am tired of driving onto the shoulder of the road to avoid a collision with a large transport truck driving over the centre line. Come on Guys! You’re supposed to be “professional”! Drive like you are
Lsst but not least, I’m not allowed to use my cellphone while driving. I’m perfectly fine with that as I understand that it can be a distraction. But every day, without fail, I see people driving around with their freaking dogs loose in their vehicle. All too often, Fido or Fifi is sitting on the driver’s freaking lap! How is that safe, for the driver, for the dog and for everyone else that has to share the road with these boneheads?
My job requires me to do a lot of driving, much of it on the highway. I sometimes find it unbelievable that I have to share the road with people that do not respect or appreciate how dangerous the simple act of driving is. Remember folks, you are driving a missile, often several thousand pounds of missile, down the road at 90 or 100 kms per hour. Don’t you think that you should pay attention and keep safe!! Don’t you have someone at home who hopes you come home??
Slow down. Gives you better control of your car.
But, it also means you will be on the road longer and thus increase your chance of getting into a crash caused by someone other than you.
;-)
Using this logic , the slower you go the more likely to be in a Collision , or if you go really fast you will do better. This is weird !
fed up: it is not possible to have all the roads as dry pavement all the time. Get used to that fact. Even what appears to be dry pavement sometimes in the winter, can have a very minute layer of ice on it which simply comes from moisture in the air condensing on the cold surface and freezing.
Ice and snow covered roads also have very different traction aspects at different temperatures. We learn this mainly by experience.
I don’t know how many times I’ve slowed down due to conditions and had some idiot fly past, only to end up in the ditch. If no one is hurt or in danger, I don’t give assistance. I let them figure it out on their own.
Professional gave really good advice. If you can’t handle it, you’re living waaaay too far north.
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