Your safety comes first. ?Critical reminders for winter travel.

1.?Set your expectations before you get in the car.?

Be prepared for your travel time to take longer than normal.? Tension between motorists breeds unsafe conditions.? It seems simple but setting expectations in advance can help you stay calm and collected when stressful conditions present.

2.?Increase your following distance to 8-10 seconds.

Normal following time in dry conditions is 3-4 seconds so, you need to at least double your normal following distance to give extra time to react to the conditions.

3.?Break with even and controlled pressure.?

Never slam on the breaks.? Slamming your breaks causes your wheels to lock which means you lose all traction on a snowy surface and can no longer steer the vehicle.? Break slowly and use your steering to avoid collision.

4.?Keep speed slow and steady when going up hills.?

Powering up hills will only cause your wheels to spin out while stopping on a hill can make it very hard to get started again.? Get some inertia going on a flat surface before approaching a hill.

5.?Avoid the false confidence of 4-wheel drive vehicles.

4-wheel drive gives you the torque to power through snowy conditions but it does not provide additional traction for stopping.

DON?T FORGET TO BUCKLE UP!