Experts say it’s the simple things that enhance safety such as wearing a seat belt, driving the right speed for the conditions and paying attention to the road. These are the very things most drivers involved in accidents neglect to do. They also say that 95% of crashes are caused by human error. People driving too fast for the weather conditions plays a major role in fatal crashes each year, especially during the winter months.
Speed is said to be the single greatest contributing factor to serious crashes in winter driving. And even driving the speed limit is sometimes too fast for certain weather conditions. If you are on an icy, slippery road and the posted speed limit is 55mph, going 40mph may still be going too fast. It is also said that fatal crashes were 14% more likely to occur on the first snowy day of the season, compared to subsequent ones, because it takes a few snows for even a seasoned driver to get their sense of the snow.
Snowfall obviously makes for dangerous road conditions. But fatalities actually drop across the nation during days with high amounts of snow. This is both because more people stay at home and because they tend to drive slower under inclement weather.
Snow tires are quite expensive and putting chains on your tires every time you want to ascend the mountain to ski or partake in any winter sports is a pain, but well worth the effort. In fact, just thinking about it makes me glad that I live in the South where we get little snow in winter.
Although winter driving is intimidating, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration claims that the most dangerous month to drive is actually August and the most dangerous day to drive is Saturday. So you can just forget about driving drunk on any given Saturday in August.
Until next week…
Daun Thompson
Writer / Comedienne / Artist
Winter Driving – Comedy Defensive Driving