Provided by TMA Bucks:
As winter arrives, TMA Bucks is dedicated to ensuring safe travel on the roads by offering a comprehensive set of winter driving safety tips for commuters. With the challenges posed by snow, ice, and freezing temperatures, these guidelines are designed to help motorists navigate Bucks County’s roads safely and confidently.
Winter weather can create hazardous driving conditions with little warning, so it’s essential to prepare yourself and your vehicle for icy and snowy conditions. We encourage all commuters to make safety their top priority by following these tips for a secure and stress-free winter travel season.
First and foremost, you should have a mechanic check the brakes, battery, hoses and belts on your vehicles. We also recommend packing some kind of winter emergency kit in your vehicle to help you in your preparations. This kit should include items such as a flashlight and batteries, jumper cables, ice scraper, small shovel, gloves, blanket and anything else you may need to accommodate family traveling with you.
TMA Bucks Community Traffic Safety Program manager Carly Wible emphasizes the importance of making smart decisions during bad weather: “If snow or ice is in the forecast and you don’t have to be on the road, stay home. Work remotely if possible, so PennDOT and local road crews can treat and clear roads for essential workers like first responders and emergency personnel. If you must drive in winter weather, make sure you’re prepared and follow important safety tips to stay safe.”
– Remove all ice and snow from windows, mirrors and all vehicle lights before you drive and as often as needed.
– Remove snow and ice from the hood and roof of your vehicle. State law states that if snow or ice from your vehicle strikes a vehicle or person and causes death or injury, you can be ticketed.
– Slow down and increase following distance.
– Avoid sudden stops and starts.
– Beware of roads that may look wet, but are actually frozen, often referred to as “black ice.”
– Use extra caution on bridges and ramps, where ice can often form without warning.
– Do not use cruise control while driving on snow-covered roads.
– State law requires you to turn on your headlights when your wipers are on.
– Use your low beams in particularly bad weather, especially in cases of heavy or blowing snow.
– Do not pass or get between trucks plowing in a plow line (several trucks plowing side by side).
“It is important to remember not all highways in Bucks County are state highways and several are municipally-owned and are treated and plowed by the borough or township and not PennDOT,” explains Wible. “You need to keep in mind it might take them a bit longer to get these roads cleared so please be patient. Bucks County also has several rural, two-lane highways, so please be understanding of this and allow PennDOT or municipal crews the necessary time to reach these roads.”
Most municipalities in Bucks County enforce snow emergency policies. It’s important to familiarize yourself with your township or borough’s specific policy ahead of winter storms. Following these guidelines helps ensure roads remain clear and safe for everyone during and after inclement weather.
While PennDOT recommends not traveling during winter storms, motorists can check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles, by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information, and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.
If your school, daycare or organization in Bucks County would like to schedule free programming on highway safety topics please contact our program manager Carly Wible at carly@bcmta.com or 267-895-5186.
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