It’s a good time to brush off your car and brush up on safety tips for navigating Pittsburgh’s “slippy” winter streets.
Winterize Your Car
- Give your car a once-over check for battery health, lights, brakes, wipers, windshield fluid, and tire pressure. You might want to get winter wiper blades so they don’t streak.
- Invest in snow or all-season wheels, or get snow chains for your tires. Chains are permitted in Pennsylvania between Nov. 1 and April 15.
- Check the tread on your tires. AAA recommends the quarter test: Put a quarter into the tread of your tire and look for George Washington’s head. If you can see any part of the top of his head, you don’t have enough tread, and you should replace those tires.
Be Prepared
- Tidy your driveway! Snow should never be shoveled onto the street. Make sure the snow isn’t piled near the oncoming direction of snow plows so that it won’t get pushed back into your driveway. And don’t forget to clear ice and snow off your car. It’s the law.
- Keep your gas tank at least half full to decrease your risk of getting stranded.
- But in case you do get stranded, keep an emergency kit in your car with a blanket, extra warm clothes, jumper cables, flashlight and batteries, bottled water, snow shovel, ice scraper, and other supplies.
- Know your route, but plan for changes. Pittsburgh’s hills can get pretty dicey, so it’s a good idea to get familiar with multiple routes in case snow and ice send you on a detour. There’s actually an app where you can track where Public Works has plowed snow.
Drive Defensively
- Maintain steady speeds and keep extra space between yourself and other cars — no matter what type of vehicle you have.
- Be extra careful on bridges and underpasses. Those are the slippiest!
- If you begin to skid, let off the accelerator and brake, then turn your steering wheel in the direction you want to go.
Respect The Parking Chair
There is a sanctity around parking chairs in Pittsburgh – especially with our steep and narrow streets. If you see a chair, cone, or object of any kind holding a cleared spot in the snow, be a friendly neighbor and find a different spot.
This article was adapted from an article written by Hey Denver editor Peyton Garcia.
