Now’s The Time To Prepare For Winter Driving

With winter weather just around the corner, now the time to make sure your vehicle is in tip-top shape.

Gary Howard with CAA Atlantic said you should get a check-up of your battery, lights, brakes and windshield wipers.

Howard said it is also important to have four matching winter tires, not all-season tires, on your vehicle.

“There’s no such thing as what we call all-seasons, they’re three seasons. The best tire that you can have for the winter driving is winter tires,” said Howard, the senior vice-president of marketing and communications for CAA Atlantic.

Looking outside the vehicle is not the only thing you should keep in mind for winter driving. Howard said it is also good to have a winter survival kit, which you can keep in your trunk.

“You would include things like a first aid kit, flashlight, good batteries, a blanket, and that can be just a thermal blanket if that helps,” he said.

You should also have a shovel, sand, emergency food and extra windshield washer fluid.

But your vehicle is not the only thing you should prepare before the first winter snowfall rolls around. Howard said drivers also need a refresher on how to drive in winter conditions.

“I refer to it as the Great Canadian Memory Loss. That first snowstorm, we seem to have lost memory of how it is to drive in winter conditions,” he said.

Howard said the safest strategy is to avoid driving in bad weather, but if you must, slow down, keep your gas tank at least half full, and remove all snow from your vehicle.

It is also recommended to stay on main roads, match your speed to the conditions, and avoid passing other vehicles when conditions are bad.