Disclosure: This 10 winter Driving Tips post is sponsored by Desjardins Insurance. All opinions are my own.
I love to travel and have taken some really long-distance road trips in the winter over the years. Driving in severe weather conditions can be super scary and dangerous. You always should know the safety rules for coping with winter roadside emergencies and always be cautious while driving in severe weather. Driving in Canada in Winter can be a challenge, especially during a severe winter storm.
Make sure you Check out these ten Winter Driving tips from Desjardins Insurance.
10 Long Distance Winter Driving Tips
- Watch the weather reports before heading out on a long-distance road trip.
- When bad weather is expected, delay your trip. If you have to leave, let family members know your route and estimated time of arrival.
- Always make sure your vehicle is in very good working condition, by having it inspected at an approved auto repair facility.
- Maintain at least half a tank of gas in your vehicle at all times.
- Pack a cell phone, medications, blankets, warm outdoor clothing, as well as plenty of food and water in your vehicle.
- If you become snowbound, stay in your vehicle. It will provide you with temporary shelter.
- Don’t over-exert yourself, if you try to dig your vehicle out of the snow.
- Tie a neon-colored cloth to the antenna to signal distress.
- Make sure your exhaust pipe isn’t blocked with snow. If your exhaust pipe is blocked, it could cause carbon monoxide to leak into the passenger compartment when the engine is running.
- Run the engine and heater just long enough to remove the chill and try to conserve gas, until help arrives.
Desjardins Insurance has the right coverage to help you protect the things that matter most to you.
If you get snowbound and are staying in your vehicle make sure your exhaust doesn’the get blocked or you could succumb to carbon monoxide poisoning.
Would love a chance at free gas,shame it’s not available in my area!
Thanks for the info. I do have my car ready for winter and we just had a major storm.
Great post, throughout the winter months I always make sure my gas is full and I keep some supplies in the back, you just never know what will happen, I have ditched my car a few times and it was all because of black ice, it’s better to be prepared!
These are all great tip! Nothing worst to get stranded in winter time and not be prepare.
Keeping a half tank between paydays is tough to do
I wasnt aware that tying a neon coloured cloth to the antenna signals distress. Good to know 🙂
It really isn’t asking too much to get your car ready, but it is so simple to ignore the task.
Keeping gas in the tank – good idea
not in my area but lots of great info!
so glad we moved to BC where winter isn’t an issue most of the time! i have learned to just stay off the roads here when the weather gets bad because no one here knows how to drive in it.
I always need to remember to maintain at least half a tank of gas!
be great to win free gas, its so expensive
Great contest! 🙂 thanks for sharing. Free gas for a year would be such a big help.
Those are all fantastic tips for winter car safety, and great reminders – thank you!! I’m in BC, the lower mainland, so we don’t get a lot of snow. Thus it is helpful to read these tips for when we drive to the Okanagan or Whistler, as well as for our trips back East every few years. Also, great contest for those in the applicable provinces – good luck to those of you who can enter!