It’s hard for high school students to stay safe in the winter because theye’re new to this whole “taking care of yourself” thing. You already know this winter is a bad one, given the five snow days the district already has a month into the semester.
It’s important to be prepared for any and all situations you could face in the winter because conditions, especially road conditions, are harsher and more dangerous than they are in other months.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, more than 1,300 drivers are killed during the winter months and over 116,800 people are injured in vehicle crashes on snowy, slushy or icy pavement annually. Every year, nearly 900 people are killed and nearly 76,000 people are injured in vehicle crashes during snowfall or sleet.
To help you avoid becoming a statistic, here are just a few ways to stay safe this winter season.
1. Keep jumper cables in your car.
One of the most common occurrences when driving in the winter is a car breaking down from the cold outside. Keeping a set of jumper cables can help you in all seasons, but especially the winter. It’s always better to have them with you then stand on the side of the road like a hitchhiker waiting for a car to pull over and help you.
2. Always have a coat, hat, and gloves.
If something does happen and you have to stand outside after your car breaks down or you hit a patch of ice and run your car off the road, it isn’t smart to stay in the car. Keeping protective warmth gear like a coat or gloves can come in handy in these situations, while you wait for AAA to get to your location, which can take hours.
3. Keep an emergency contact in your phone
On iPhones, there is an emergency contact feature where you can share their information along with anything that a person would need to know if you are unable to tell them at that moment.
If you hold the power button and lower volume button on the iPhone X-15, the emergency contact slider will pop up and whoever needs it can see all the information needed. To put the information in the emergency contact, just go to your health app and click on the emergency contact.
However on android phones, you open the safety app, tap safety and emergency, then emergency sharing. You then scroll to the bottom of the screen and tap settings. Select the information you want to share with your emergency contacts during an emergency share.
4. Avoid slips and falls to the best of your ability
Lastly, a majority of injuries come from falling on a patch of ice or slipping in the snow or the sleet. You can try to avoid this by watching where you walk in the winter.
Test a sketchy area with one foot before applying full pressure to the surface. If safe enough, you may have to waddle a little like a penguin would to ensure you don’t fall. While you might look a little stupid with your waddle, would you rather look like a penguin or sprain your ankle?
If we take these into consideration, we can stay safe better in the cold ice-prone winter months. And always remember not to do stupid things just to be stupid, injuries are easy to get and you wouldn’t want to be on crutches during an ice storm.
