Image courtesy of NWS

With some expected snowfall happening later this week, it is a good time to remind motorists of some safety precautions.

Greene County Sheriff Jack Williams tells Raccoon Valley Radio that motorists should have more than a half a tank of gas in their vehicles during adverse weather conditions, that way you know you can take additional time to drive to your destination and if someone slides off the roadway and into a ditch, they can keep their vehicle running to keep themselves warm until a deputy can pick them up. He advises that if your vehicle goes into the ditch to either call 911 if it is an emergency or the non-emergency number for the law enforcement center (515-386-2136) and what can be done if you can’t describe the location of where you are to dispatch.

“Just have your cell phone charger there so you can keep your phone charged. And you can also, if it got to a point to where we didn’t really know or you didn’t know where you are, you could have you share your location with an officer so we can get that. If they’re iPhones, we can get your location. Cell phones have made things a lot easier.”     

Williams adds to also have an emergency kit with blankets, bottled water, food, warm clothes, kitty litter and a shovel to help gain traction to get out of the ditch. He adds to not use high beam headlights at night if it is snowing hard because the reflective light from the snowflakes causes more vision issues than benefits.