Protect yourself and your car: Did you know?

Did you know?

• If your car gets stuck on a sheet of ice, kitty litter can come to your rescue! Thanks to its moisture-absorbing properties, litter creates enough traction on the slippery surface for your tires to grip and go.
• Never use your car’s cruise control on a road that’s slippery, whether due to snow, ice or water. Should your back tires start to skid, the system might try to compensate by accelerating, putting you at risk of losing control of the vehicle.
• Because cool air is dryer than warm air, turning on your car’s air conditioning is a good way to quickly defrost or defog your windows in any season. In fact, most recent cars automatically trigger the A/C when the airflow is directed toward the windshield.
• Time of day is one of the main risk factors for falling asleep at the wheel. Indeed, nodding off—or coming close to—while driving is more common between midnight and 6 a.m. and between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., as our metabolism tends to slow down during these periods.
• At just 30mph, the impact of a crash is comparable to falling from a four-story building. It also multiplies the weight of everything in the vehicle by at least 20, meaning that a 150-pound passenger becomes a 3,000-pound projectile. Always fasten your seat belt: it cuts your risk of severe injury and death in half.
• If your car starts to skid or hydroplane, slowly steer in the same direction as the skid, but don’t look toward it: keep your focus on where you want to be on the road.