Winter time has come once again to us in the Northern Hemisphere! All that snow may look pretty from the comfort of your home, but now is as good a time as any to remind you that driving in the stuff can be dangerous if you don’t take precautions.
There are a lot of ways you can prevent (or significantly decrease your chances of) getting into an accident in the winter, which includes the following steps:
- When accelerating or decelerating, do so slowly. No need to step on the gas or the breaks hard in the winter—if you do, you’ll be much more likely to skid out of control.
- Keep your following distance longer than you would on dry roads. You should increase the distance between you and the car in front of you to 8-10 seconds, instead of the usual 3-4 seconds on dry roads.
- Try to avoid powering up a hill. Stepping on the gas hard to get up a hill can cause skidding/slipping in the snow, so getting a little inertia going before you hit the hill so you have a “running start” would be better.
- Don’t stop going up a hill. Once you stop on the uphill in the snow/ice, it’ll be very tough to get going again without skidding/slipping.
What happens to your insurance if you do get in an accident because of snowy weather?
Hopefully, it never happens to you, but let’s say you do get into an accident during a snowstorm or other bad winter weather. Say you’re coming up to a stop light but because of the snowy weather you skid into the car waiting just in front of you. Is it your fault? Or the weather’s fault? How will your insurance be affected?
Well, unfortunately, there is almost always someone at fault, and it’s almost always not the weather. According to most auto insurance companies, it is the driver’s responsibility to adjust his/her driving to avoid an accident in inclement weather, and if you do happen to skid into another car, it’s likely your fault since you should have known to take steps X, Y, and Z to avoid it in the first place.
If you are deemed at-fault in the accident, you can always fight the ruling, though simply citing the weather as the culprit likely won’t get you very far.
Depending upon your particular insurance, your premiums could go up after the accident, leaving you to not only pay for the damages done but also more out of pocket every month as a result.
The best thing you can do to avoid getting into an accident and having your insurance premiums go up is to follow safe winter driving practices and learn all you can about adjusting your driving habits when you go out in the snow. Ideally, if you are able to just stay put instead of driving that would be the best thing, but if you have to drive in the snow, learn how to do so safely to avoid an accident.
