One of the biggest dangers on the road in the winter time is the threat of icy roads. Freezing rain and snow can cause normally safe roads to become a huge hazard in a matter of minutes. This doesn’t just apply to those who live in snowy states, but also for those who are not used to driving on such terrain like many of your southern states. Not every icy road is created equally and knowing how to navigate across the slick surface can be the difference between life and death. While a good accident attorney can help you in the event of a crash, it is best to know what you can do to avoid it. Today, we are going to look at 3 important tips for driving safely on icy roads to keep you and other people on the road safe.
Drive Slowly
One of the best courses of action that you can take when the weather starts to head south is to start to slow down the speed of which you are driving. Driving at a normal speed when the road conditions have started to become slick can cause serious injury as you will have a higher risk of losing control and less traction when it comes to applying your brakes. As a rule of thumb, you should always reduce your speed by about half and go with the flow of traffic. This helps to keep you and others on the road safely as you will all be traveling at a safe speed together. Having one vehicle driving much faster than others on an icy road can be very hazardous to everyone on the road.
Increase Your Following Distance
While you start to slow down your speed, you need to keep in mind that your stopping distance is going to increase, meaning it will take longer for you to come to a complete stop. To ensure that you keep you and other drivers safe, you will need to make sure that you keep a safe distance from the car in front of you. While normal driving distance is about a car or two behind, you may want to increase this to about 3 or 4 cars to give you adequate stopping distance in the case of extreme braking. Many accidents happen on icy roads, so being prepared to safely come to an abrupt stop is going to be key to staying as safe as can be.
Accelerate and Decelerate Slowly
Last but not least, you will want to make sure that when you accelerate and decelerate, you are doing so slowly and with caution. When accelerating quickly on icy roads, your tires will spin, giving you zero control of your vehicle and possibly causing you to wreck. Decelerating too quickly can cause your brakes to lock up which will leave your tires sliding against the ice. This will cause total loss of control of your vehicle and depending on what is in front of you, can be quite deadly. To help avoid these problems, try your best to avoid coming to a complete stop so that your tires are constantly moving and keeping traction.
