Lexington's Radio News Leader

Winter weather means preparing your vehicle for icy conditions

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For the second time in four days, central and eastern Kentuckians woke up to find potentially treacherous roads. The latest round of sleet and freezing rain left many who keep their vehicles outside a garage “iced” out of their vehicle. Lori Weaver Hawkins is the public affairs manager for Triple-A Bluegrass. She saidit’s important to prep before the storm hits by drying areas of your vehicle with weather-stripping.

“And then use a little bit of either WD 40 if you've got it handy, but cooking spray works well Vaseline works well, just put a light coating on that weather stripping. And that'll keep it from freezing.”

According to Triple-A, at least a fourth of the 1.6 million traffic accidents and 8-thousand deaths on the roads during winter months each year are weather-related. Police and safety experts say when roads are bad, it’s best to stay off them. Hawkins saidif you must drive then, drive slowly – even if you consider yourself an excellent driver.

“When you hit that ice, it doesn't matter how skillful you are. If you're going too quickly, you're going to end up in a in a slide and could crash or end up going off the roadway.”

Other AAA tips: check your vehicle’s battery and wiper blades and keep your tank at least half-full to avoid gas line freeze-up.

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John McGary is a Lexington native and Navy veteran with three decades of radio, television and newspaper experience.