Practical BC Winter Driving Tips

Set clear expectations and timelines. Help employees/drivers schedule their time so they can get their vehicle to the mechanic for an inspection, tire changeover, and so on.

Build a schedule to have your vehicles winterized about 2 weeks before the day you typically first see winter conditions. Building in that buffer should help cover the delays and surprises that often happen.

Involve a supervisor or manager to monitor progress. For example, if a vehicle is scheduled to be ready on October 10, the supervisor should check it on October 11 to confirm that the work was completed.

Supervisors and employers have a responsibility to make sure work vehicles are adequately safe. If winterizing work isn’t done as expected and snow starts to fall, the supervisor may have to pull the vehicle from service until the work is completed. If your employees use their own vehicles for work, you can also withhold their vehicle expense claim until they have shown the supervisor that winterizing is complete.

All the regular driving hazards — distractions, fatigue, hurrying — remain big factors in winter crashes. On top of that, many drivers forget how slippery winter roads can be. They end up driving too fast for the conditions, which often leads to an incident.

Also, winter catches many drivers by surprise. Even though it tends to happen about the same time every year, people tend to put off changing over to winter tires if it hasn’t snowed.

Then when it does snow, the long line up at the tire shop means they can’t get their winter tires on for several days but they feel they have to drive, so they chance it. Doing that often leads to a sobering near miss or a crash.

A big part of successfully communicating knowledge is knowing your audience and playing to their strengths.

For example, you might start with a refresher session to remind all employees about what they need to do to prepare themselves and their vehicle for winter. Review our Practical BC Winter Driving Tips Webinar and winter driving safety resources with them.

Start before winter arrives to give drivers time to develop their abilities and confidence. As winter approaches, pair them up with a mentor. Pick someone who has proven winter driving skills and can share information with the inexperienced driver.

Supervisors should play a big part in this learning process. Have them complete our Making Winter Driving Safer for Your Employees Online Course. It will give them tips and resources as well as great ideas on a range of training tools such as online courses, parking lot activities, coaching, and so on.

As you deliver training, it’s important to have regular communications. Don’t just tell drivers what they need to learn or do. Follow up.

The best strategy for dealing with freezing rain is avoidance. Watch the weather forecast. When freezing rain might be on its way, make plans to avoid or minimize driving during those conditions.

If you have to drive, winter wipers and windshield fluid are a must to maintain proper visibility. If you get caught in a freezing rain event and visibility is poor, find a safe place to get off the road. Other drivers could put you at risk.

In terms of traction, beware the beaten path. It’s probably going to be more slippery than less-travelled paths. You might find some traction if there’s gravel or sand on the shoulder. Ice grip tires or studded tires should provide better traction.

Having vehicles fully prepared for winter should help all drivers avoid a crash.

Can you assign drivers specific vehicles? For example, an inexperienced driver is likely more comfortable driving a smaller all-wheel drive SUV rather than a three-quarter 4X4 pickup. Perhaps inexperienced drivers get vehicles with ice grip winter tires while experienced drivers get regular winter tires.

Make sure inexperienced drivers participate in winter driving training so they understand what they need to do. Then manage their driving. Make sure they aren’t behind the wheel in circumstances that are beyond their skill level.

Think about weather and road conditions, especially before winter storms. Are less experienced drivers ready to tackle those conditions? If not, adjust drivers, driving assignments, and/or work schedules.  Give less hazardous routes to less experienced drivers.

Check in regularly with drivers to see how they are doing and whether they have questions or concerns.