Adverse Driving Conditions

Adverse conditions including rain, snow, ice, and fog affect your visibility even in daylight. In these conditions, other drivers also have trouble seeing you. Your car becomes difficult to control on curves or even on straight stretches when the surface if slippery. As well, it’s more difficult to stop and it takes longer.

A few tips to remember when traveling in adverse conditions:

• If conditions are bad, don’t travel unless absolutely necessary. When the police or other official advise against travel, heed their warning. The roads are bad.

• Keep your headlights on; it will be easier for other drivers to see you.

• If conditions are extremely bad (such as a whiteout) you may have to pull over. Pull off the road as far as possible and turn on your emergency flashers.

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I arrived at a six-car pile-up that was caused when one driver stopped his vehicle in the middle of the road in heavy fog. This set up a chain reaction of vehicles running into each other. There were several injuries. The traffic was traveling too fast for the road conditions. By the time the drivers saw the other cars, it was too late to stop.

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• Adjust your speed to suit road and weather conditions.

• Obey road construction signs. At night, it can be confusing to try to read signs with flashing lights. Slow down.

Copyright 1997 Safety Health Publishing Inc.

Martin Lesperance is a fire fighter/paramedic and is the author of the best selling book “I Won’t be in to Work Today – Preventing Injuries at Home, Work and Play”. Martin delivers keynote presentations dealing with injury prevention. His talks are funny, but still have a strong underlying message. Visit his website at www.safete.com