Winter Driving (or, this is Canada, after all…)

Wilma Kenny | Dec 18, 2014

At a recent meeting between South Frontenac OPP, township staff and local reporters, we discussed winter driving in South Frontenac. Constable Roop Sandhu and Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth are working together to try to reduce winter road accidents in South Frontenac. It brought back memories.

I have never forgotten the time my mother was seriously injured in a car accident on an icy road just north of Kingston and the terror of rushing down two flights of stairs in the middle of the night in Toronto to answer a heavy pounding on the door, to meet the uniformed policeman who had come to tell me.

I also remember vividly another time, the sense of a thousand pounds of moving metal out of my control, watching the guard rails loom up first on one side of the road then the other, while time slowed down incredibly during the few actual moments before the car thumped to a stop, safely, in a shallow ditch. Afterward, the adrenaline hit, the disorientation, the shivering, the sheer luck this time.

Those of us who drive, or know people who drive, can tell similar or worse stories. In other words, all of us.

Our local police, emergency rescue staff and volunteers, and road crews are far too often grimly reminded of how an apparently normal situation can snap within seconds into a scene of horror.

The roads crews work hard at keeping our roads safe to drive, and are continuously trying to improve, to respond as quickly and effectively as possible to the results of capricious winter conditions. “We know there are things we could be better at,” says South Frontenac Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth, “and we’re constantly trying to improve.” Segsworth welcomes comments and questions, preferring phone calls to e-mails. (613 376-3090, ext 3322).

The Ontario Municipal Act of 2001 divides roads into five classes: the 400 highways are class 1; Road 38 is class 2; the former county roads are class 3; the rest are classes 4 & 5. This ranking is determined by measuring a combination of posted speed and traffic volume. Details of minimum standards of maintenance are set for each. These standards address things such as monitoring road and weather conditions, snow clearance, ice treatment, potholes, etc. Details are available on the Service Ontario website.

Most times, the S.F. Roads Department exceeds these standards: e.g. according to the legislation, on a class 3 road such as Sydenham Road an icy surface must be treated within 8 hours, and 8 cm/3” of snow should be cleared within 12 hours. For our part, we must be prepared for driving in snowy, icy conditions during weather changes.

“The major cause of all rural Ontario road accidents is speed too fast for the road conditions,” says Roop Sandhu of the South Frontenac Detachment. Sandhu’s three main recommendations are:

1. Drive at a speed appropriate to the road conditions;

2. Have winter tires and good vehicle maintenance (e.g. winter wiper blades, washing fluids topped up);

3. Carry an emergency kit: blanket, flashlight, phone, additional warm clothing, etc.

He reminds us that at 60 km/hr, it takes 20 metres to stop on a dry road, but 70 metres to stop from the same speed on ice: “Adjust your speed, slow down when conditions are poor, leave a greater distance between vehicles.” Sandhu also recommends using full headlights, not just running lights in snowstorms, so your vehicle’s tail lights are visible. “And don’t pass a snow plow. They’re there for a reason.”