COLUMN: You're in Michigan; drive like it
While Mount Pleasant receives considerably less snow on average than other Michigan cities, it still remains a difficult place to drive for about four months out of the year.
The sparkling, sticky snow is pretty to look at as it falls outside your window at night, but what about the next morning when you have 10 minutes to get to class and forgot to brush it off your car?
Far too many drivers are either ill equipped to handle Michigan winters or are disillusioned about how to drive during one.
Too often, I am forced to slam on the breaks to avoid someone else fishtailing along a road or see other drivers forced to deal with a similar circumstance.
Maybe it’s the fact that some of us don’t receive much snow before the spring semester and haven’t yet acclimated to it, or that in the few months this state doesn’t receive snow, we’ve forgotten how it complicates driving conditions.
Either way, driving in Mount Pleasant during winter could stand to be improved for everybody involved.
When in doubt, just go slow. I know how being late to class feels as much as the next student, but is it really worth fishtailing out of control in an intersection or sliding into the back of someone else’s car to get there a few minutes earlier?
Just because you can’t see the ice, that certainly doesn’t mean it’s not there. Again, slow down.
Until recently, I didn’t put much stock into checking the condition of my tires at the start of winter, rather hoping my current ones would just get me safely through. Especially if you have an older vehicle, check to see what kind of tires you’re working with when snow starts to fall, and consider getting snow tires if that’s a possibility.
As always, just following the general safety rules of the road will prevent more winter accidents than not following them. Trying to navigate Mission Street at rush hour, or even any hour, is frustrating. However, acting on that frustration is not worth an accident.
So, buckle up Mount Pleasant, and just be glad we don’t live somewhere with lake effect snow.
