Episode 446 Articles:
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The whiteout advice may work for a Green Beret, but it’s terrible advice for anyone else. This isn’t when light discipline is critical like in the military. With your lights out, other people can’t see you and you’re much more likely to be hit by someone else.
Best advice? Slow the heck down. You should not be using your brights, that is a good suggestion, but slow down. You should also be sure to have your vehicle up to snuff for the winter. Have the proper tread on your tires, have the correct coolant and rated washer fluid with good wipers.
When in doubt pull over but keep your damn lights on.
Turn your headlights off, your parking lights (all the red and Amber ones ) will keep you visible and be more than adequate to see down the road . That’s why fog lights are amber, not white.
Especially if you drive like you’ve got some sense, slow down .
This advice I think is pretty good when used responsibly. I have had to do this several years ago…needed to make an emergency trip from my home in Indiana out to Norfolk Virginia and I had neglected to check the weather before departing. I ended up getting stuck in a snow storm that left me in whiteout conditions from about 1AM-7AM. Not only was I screwed for visibility, but the snow came down like a slurry and was freezing onto the car as I drove, forcing me to stop every 30 minutes to scrape the windshield, the lights, and clear the grill to have air for the engine.
I quickly learned that my headlights hurt me more than helped, so I often just drove with my parking lights on so others could see me and I could just cautiously see into the distance. I would occasionally flash my headlights back on for a few moments to try and get a glimpse of some reflectors in the distance, but this didn’t consistently help as many we’re snow-covered, depending on which direction they faced. Following the tail lights of semis did prove helpful, but they were going way faster than I felt comfortable doing (I was doing about 25, they were barreling down at least 50-I suppose they were able to see better due to greater height from headlights to driver).
When the sun rose, visibility substantially improved, allowing me to now see how many cars and semis had slid off the road. It was quite a sight! When I did get home, I immediately ordered the parts to install fog lights on that car, as I really saw the value of having very low-mounted lights on a car to prevent being self-blinded. My current car was bought with factory-installed fog lights just for this very reason, and they work well!
Biggest two rules I’d say here are:
1) Ensure others can still see you.
2) Don’t drive faster than your visibility allows you to react. If your visibility is only 20 ft, your max speed should be an idle, because you won’t be able to stop in time for anything that suddenly appears in your visibility.
Thanks for your feedback!