Most high schoolers drive their car into school every day. As the weather turns, it is important for students to stay informed on proper car care to stay safe. 

Senior Joslyn L. said, “I’m concerned about very isolated covered spots where there’s a lot of trees and the sun doesn’t reach the roads.” 

“People are less in control in the cold and often they’re more likely to hit you.” said senior, Tia B.

The following are small things each student can do to maintain safety on the roads and improve confidence while driving in unsafe conditions.

Tires

Many drive their car not thinking much about tires. No matter what wheels are driven; 4×4, AWD, FWD, RWD, side-wheel drive, 1 wheel drive, 3 wheel drive, whatever it is, here is what you should do:

-Make sure your tires aren’t old and they still have tread. You don’t want to have a blowout or hydroplane your car. 

-get your tires rotated every 5,000 to 7,500 miles, for even tread wear.

-get chains for your tires when it snows. To prevent sliding or getting stuck

-If you can, have a spare set of snow tires (or just run them on your car). This is so you don’t slide or get stuck.

Camas high school student counselor, Brian Witherspoon said, “When the roads are a little dicey, I definitely reduce my speed for sure, and any slip in the road I feel it. I go to 4 wheel if I need to just to get good enough traction.”

 -Make sure tire pressure is good including the spare. All tires should be at 32-35 PSI. If it’s too low, there can be uneven wear, less stability, sloppier steering, and worse braking.

Windshield Wipers and Antifreeze

Make sure that they are not too old, you can notice if your wipers are too old by:

-scratched windshield 

-squeaking noise

-less effective wiping

Also, make sure to leave the wipers in the up position so they don’t freeze stuck to the glass.

Make sure your windshield washer fluid and the radiator have antifreeze in them.

Scraping Ice and Snow

Make sure you scrape ice/snow off of: 

-mirrors

-windshield/glass

A big thing to make sure to do is to scrape ice off the roof. If you leave ice on the roof and then you drive on the highway, the wind may blow the piece of ice off your roof and it can fly back and go through the windshield of the car behind you!

Another option besides scraping is pouring warm water. 

Senior Ethan Hubble said, “Our window was frozen over so usually you’d think that hot water would work on the windshield but it’s actually lukewarm water.”

Because you don’t want the windshield to crack from really hot water, especially if you already have a chip.

Wash and Waxing

Your paint is less likely to get damaged from winter elements if you wash and wax.

This all is a bit of extra effort, time, and some extra bucks, but if you want to keep yourself and others safe and save your wallet from a fender bender, this is worth it! This will leave you better safe than sorry!