Winter Tips for Safe Car Travel

Winter is here, and fresh white snow is covering the city. Along with the snow comes slush, ice and dangerous driving conditions. Learn about winter driving safety and how to put together a first aid and survival kit for your car should you ever get stranded or stuck in the worst of winter conditions.

If heavy snows fall quickly and white-out conditions force you to park on the shoulder, it is possible that you may be stranded in your car for several hours. Hitting an ice patch that sends your car off the road can also leave you stranded or with minor cuts and bruises. The Urgency Room of Vadnais Heights, Eagan and Woodbury is here for you when an unexpected car injury happens due to winter weather.

Watch for Signs of Hypothermia

The first concern if you are stranded during a blizzard is hypothermia. This means that the body’s temperature gets too low from exposure to the cold and has reached a core temperature at 95°F or below. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, about 1,500 deaths occur annually from hypothermia.

Make sure you keep a tub of essentials in the car at all times. Below are the recommended items to have on hand during winter. Hopefully, none of these items will be needed; however, it is better to be prepared so you will increase your chance of survival if an accident happens.

Survival and First Aid Items:

• Non-perishable food such as granola bars, fruit snacks, nuts, dried fruits or other easy to open food that won’t spoil.
• Drinkable water – at least one gallon or more to maintain hydration. Eating snow will speed up dehydration.
• Blankets to stay warm while the car is turned off and/or after the gas tank is empty.
• Winter hats, heavy socks, and mittens or gloves will also help you stay warm.
• Chemical hand, foot, or self-warming seat cushions are valuable to have in the car to keep your body’s temperature up.
• Cat litter – keep a large bag of coarse clay-based cat litter to spread under tires to help the tires grip slippery surfaces. It can help get the car out of a rut and back on the road. You can also keep sections of cardboard boxes under tires to help traction.
• Car charging cords for cellphones. Also consider a battery backup charging unit so you can keep the cellphone usable.
• Flares to place in an area that rescue workers are likely to see.
• Bandages, gauze, tape, hydrogen peroxide and antibiotic ointment are important to treat minor injuries.
• Tire chains are helpful to keep in the car.
• Paper, pencils, crayons, board games, cards or books are good to have. You and your passengers might be waiting for a long time. Keep yourselves occupied with fun distractions rather than the scary situation.
• Flashlights and batteries: At some point you will run out of gas if you are stranded long enough, so have a flashlight.
• Snow and ice scrapers: You probably already have these and use them a lot during winter, but just in case you’ve forgotten the essentials, grab a few of these the next time you’re at the store.

This list is long, but keeping all these items in your car can save yours and your passengers’ lives.

Conduct a Winter Maintenance Check of Your Car:

• Check car tires and brakes before the snow falls to make sure that those are ready for ice and snow on the roads.
• Double check the battery, radiator, windshield blades, heater and defroster, belts and hoses to ensure all are in good working order.

Winter Driving Tips:

Always top off the gas tank on a regular basis and keep it at least half full when driving in the winter. The last thing you want is to be caught stranded with hardly any gas in the tank. Remember that wet roads and icy roads look similar, so leave more space in front of you and drive slower. Tap the brakes rather than pressing down hard. Quick braking or direction changes are amplified by slick roads.

How to Handle Being Stranded in Your Car:

In the event you are stranded in your car during heavy snow or a blizzard, take a moment to calm down. Then check on any passengers in the car. If you took off your winter coat to drive, put it back on. Stay warm. Attend to any injuries quickly and calmly. The phrase to remember is “Stay calm.”

Next, place flares and call for help to let emergency services know where you are. Then call family or friends. Severe weather also means an increase in cellphone calls, so service may be interrupted. Be patient and keep trying to reach emergency services or a person that can make calls for you. Make sure the GPS location is enabled on your device in case a loved one uses a “find my phone” function to locate you.

If your car survival kit is in the trunk, make one last, quick trip to retrieve the box. Distribute the blankets, hats and other body-warming items first. The primary concern after ensuring help is on its way is to keep warm and hydrated. Then, relax as best as you can to keep breathing steady and pulse rates down.

Once other passengers are calmed down and cozy, see if the weather conditions have improved. Look at whether you can use the cat litter or cardboard sections to help move the car and get back on the road. If you have doubts that you can get unstuck and moving, stay put. Staying in the car protects you from exposure to the cold. It gives you a place to sleep and keeps you in a larger, easier to find object. Do not risk getting lost walking in white outs—not only will you be hard or impossible to see by other drivers, but you might lose track of where you are yourself.

Monitor your gas usage and do not run the heater continuously because carbon monoxide can build up inside the car and cause illness. Crack a window open just a bit to ventilate the inside air when running the heater. If stranded for a long time, turn the heater on and off to conserve gas.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has addition information and winter car travel tips at http://bit.ly/2cGAM4Z. Call 511 to receive traffic alerts and road conditions. And, as always, The Urgency Room is here to provide tips and medical help when you need it most. Our comprehensive facilities enable our physicians to diagnose and treat any injury you’ve endured during the Minnesota winter. We’re open 365 days per year, including holidays, from 8 A.M. to 10 P.M. When minutes matter, get to The Urgency Room. And as always:

Remember

1. Stay Warm
2. Stay Calm
3. Stay in the Car