Driving Tips for Winter Weather

If it gets slick out there, here's how to make your travels safer.

While slip-sliding cars on snowy roads can make for interesting (cringe-inducing) YouTube videos, you never want to be driving one of those cars. Here are tips on how to drive safely on snowy and icy roads: Have an emergency kit and good supplies. In the winter months, AAA recommends that you keep the following items in your vehicle: Leave room. It can take a driver twice as long (and twice as much space) to stop a vehicle when driving in snow versus driving on dry pavement. You should leave twice as much room as you normally would between you and other vehicles on the road. Slow down. Driving too quickly for the conditions is the biggest cause of snow crashes, according to Edmunds.com. Don’t slam on your brakes. If you’re sliding on a …

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Village Sprouts

Walk At Your Own Risk

If we want our main street to thrive, we have to make drivers pay attention.

What is up with the drivers around here? Last week, I was almost hit by a car.   OK, it's not like I had to jump across the hood, but I was in the middle of the crosswalk at E. Oxford and Mt. Vernon avenues with my 1-year-old on my hip, a massive box under my other arm and my 3-year-old dilligently clinging to my pants pocket. This guy drove through the crosswalk and didn't even tap his breaks, staring at us in the middle of the road the entire time. The car behind him did the same.   I was furious. If I was darting across the road without a crosswalk or jumping out into traffic with little warning, I might understand. But I'm very cautious with my kids. We walk the extra distance to a crosswalk and, while we may not always move quickly, I…

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K L

3:39 pm on Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Replying to Daan Zweers' comment, Jill was saying people waiting to cross the street shouldn't have their strollers sticking out into the street while they are *waiting* to cross. And if there is no marked crosswalk then you're jaywalking.   more ›

Alexandria's Drivers Are Far From The Safest

City ranks No. 184 out of 193 in Allstate report.

Alexandria’s drivers, as well as those in much of the Washington, D.C. region, rank near the bottom of the barrel in the 2011 Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report. The insurance company’s report ranks America’s 193 largest cities in terms of car collision frequency to determine which citizens are the safest drivers. Alexandria ranks in at No. 184, falling from No. 177 last year. Alexandrians average 6.4 years between auto accidents. The national average is one accident every 10 years, according to Allstate. Arlington comes in at No. 180, while the District of Columbia is dead last at No. 193. Baltimore ranks 192. Fort Collin, Colo., ranked No. 1 in the poll, with residents averaging 14 years between accidents.

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