Southland Police are reminding drivers to stay vigilant now wintry conditions have settled in. With morning temperatures again dropping below zero and heavy fog on the roads, it’s a timely reminder for motorists to remember to de-ice the windows on vehicles and turn your headlights on in the morning.
Whilst you may be able to see the road ahead of you without your headlights on, other motorists might not see you.
When driving in the morning and evening please remember that you are required to have your headlights on from 30 minutes prior to sunset to 30 minutes after sunrise.
If you have a smart phone, the weather “app” should advise you of these times otherwise they can be found in your local newspaper in the weather section.
We’d also like to remind motorists to be mindful that the automatic light setting on your car may not be active in fog, so do not rely on this function for the safety of yourself and others.
Drivers should allow more time for their journey and exercise caution when experiencing rain, ice, or snow. Often, adverse weather will reduce visibility and increase stopping distances, so please remember to increase your following distances when in traffic. It’s important to slow down and drive to the conditions, which may be slower than the posted speed limit.
We all have a part to play in making our roads safe and reducing any unwanted tragedy. With your help we can make our roads a safer place to be.
Be conscious of driving to the unpredictable winter driving conditions. We can all drive in a manner and at a speed that enables us to safely respond to the unexpected, be that another road user making a mistake in front of us or something unexpected in the road environment. If we all do this consistently we can avoid mistakes leading to tragic outcomes.
