Scott Law details essential winter car maintenance tips

Just after a heavy snowstorm last January in Thayer, southern Iowa, Drake University sophomore Kayleigh Summers found herself with an injured leg, stuck in a snow-covered ditch.

Summers said her leg was bleeding heavily by the time she was in the car to go get help. Her father panicked as he tried to get her to the ER in the family car as quickly as he could, but living at the top of the hill made this difficult, Summers said. The roads were covered with fresh snow and ice. At the bottom of the hill Summers lives on is a ditch. 

“It’s not super deep, but the snow had flattened it so it looked like the road … and we ended up going into the ditch,” Summers said. 

She and her father had to wait in the ditch for some time. 

Because of the snowstorm, Summers was stuck and had to call her neighbor for help. He was able to drive her to the ER in his vehicle, but she wasn’t in the clear yet. She had another incident on her way home. 

 “On the way back, he was going to take us back up to my house, back up the hill, but he couldn’t get up because it was so completely iced over,” Summers said.

By this point, Summers had fresh stitches on her leg, but needed to walk up the icy hill to get home. 

Scott Law, the executive director of public safety at Drake University, offered essential winter car prep tips to prevent drivers from experiencing the kind of roadside crisis Summers faced.

“Keep a small shovel with you in your vehicle,” Law said. “That way, if you do get stuck in a little bit of snow or something, you have the ability to dig yourself out.”

Law also suggested ways to prevent a vehicle from being stopped or stalled because of winter weather conditions. His ideas emphasize double-checking everything to be prepared. 

“Checking that tire pressure, your fluids … antifreeze, coolant, all of those things you want to make sure are in good working order,” Law said. 

These checks, paired with seeking out additional services, like switching to winter-grade oil, are essential for drivers to do before snowy and icy roads become an inescapable reality, Law said. 

   The weight of Law’s point about taking precautions before anything happens became very apparent to Summers, stuck in a ditch.   

Such cold, icy, hazardous conditions make driving less appealing to many in the winter. According to Law, many students do not start their cars for weeks around this time of year, keeping Public Safety workers busy with car maintenance support. 

“Around this time — Thanksgiving time through students leaving for winter break — [Public Safety will] do a lot of jump starts,” Law said. 

Starting the car every now and then helps the battery. Law said students should try to go out and start their car at least every other day. 

Alternatively, Law said that purchasable kits exist to jump-start a vehicle without needing to call for help. Jumper cables are also an option. 

When bad weather strikes, it can lead to dire circumstances out of anyone’s control, just like Summers’ situation.

The next day, Summers’s car was still in the ditch. 

“The engine had melted down the snow under it, but then it refroze in the night because the car was just sitting, and it was cold, so it had frozen to the ground,” Summers said.

If her neighbor had not been able to get her or if her house had not been within walking distance from the icy hill, Summers would have had to wait in the vehicle. 

Even while stuck somewhere, Law said drivers can still be prepared.

“If your car [battery] dies, it’s going to cool off quickly. So having something, a small blanket or something, there [is important],” Law said. “You never know if you get stuck and you have to wait a little while.”