Illinois Storage Unit - By: Kamyar Shah

Winter is still two weeks away; however, our merciless Mother Nature has started the cold season early as usual. Illinois's wintery climate is subject to icy roads and hazardous roadways. A slight sprinkle of water will freeze at temperatures near and above the freezing level resulting in conditions ideal for ice skating, not driving. According to the U.S. department of Transportation, over 450,000 injury crashes occur annually in adverse weather conditions. As a self storage insider, please drive carefully to your storage unit in Illinois this winter and follow these widely acknowledged safety tips.

Priority number one is packing a safety kit. Go to your storage unit in Illinois and retrieve that winter safety kit you stored last Spring. Take inventory; you should have an ice scraper, tire chains, sand or kitty litter, booster cables, small snow shovel, blanket, snow brush, flares, and flashlight. Give the flashlight fresh batteries and check the bulb. Remember, the kitty litter is not for Muffy; rather, it is use to regain traction if your wheels are stuck in a spin.

Get familiar with your vehicle. Knowing how to handle your vehicle and how it reacts in hazardous weather conditions is vital. Hitting the break pedal too hard will cause you to lose control of the car. See the recommendations that you owner's manual provides on braking and tire traction in hazardous weather. At slow speeds, try testing maneuvers in an empty snowy or icy parking lot.

When driving on slippery roads to your storage unit in Illinois, remember that every maneuver slows down. Drive, steer and brake more slowly than normal. Keep at least a 3 car distance from the car in front of you. Stopping takes twice as long compared to normal driving conditions. Be aware of the invisible presence of black ice. Black ice remains on roadways that are hidden from direct sunlight. It is common on roads that hug around lakes and rivers, in tunnels, on overpasses and in highly shaded, rural areas. Black ice is virtually invisible, so be especially guarded when driving into shaded areas, and decrease your speed during your approach in such areas. Arrive to and from your storage unit in Illinois safely.

There are other areas you should approach extra cautious. Besides areas with lack of sunlight, other areas that claim victims to wintery weather are bridges, overpasses and tunnels. If there are bridges, overpasses, and or tunnels on the way to your self storage unit in Illinois, avoid them by taking an alternate route or use extra caution.

If you are unfamiliar with your vehicles drive type, identify whether it is front or rear-wheel-drive. It makes a difference when driving under slippery conditions. Front-wheel-drive vehicles are more superior to rear wheel drive vehicles on slippery roads. The weight of the engine is on the drive wheels of front-wheel-drive cars, which helps to improve traction. On rear-wheel-drives there is virtually no weight on the back wheels of your car. The risk is high that your car will fishtail (slide side to side) during turns on snowy or icy roads. If you own a rear-wheel-drive car or truck, place bags of sand in the bed of the truck or trunk of the car to add weight to the rear wheels for extra traction. Save these bags of sand in your storage unit in Illinois during the warmer months and use them again in the future.

While in your owner's manual, check information regarding your braking system. Not all braking systems are the same. Identify which type of brakes your vehicle uses.

Anti-lock braking systems (ABS) is best on slick roads, if operated correctly. Drivers should apply steady pressure to the brake pedal during the entire stop. ABS will automatically pump the brakes, if necessary, to keep the wheels from locking. Never manually pump ABS brakes yourself. Apply only steady pressure continuously until you come to a complete stop.

On the contrary, cars without ABS brakes, you should gently apply pumping pressure to your brakes during slippery conditions. Do not apply steady pressure to your brakes. Steady pressure on your brakes will only lock up the wheels, and may result in your car spinning out of control.

No matter how slow and cautious you drive, you may find yourself in a skid. Handling skids is the same for front-wheel-drive and real-wheel-drive vehicles. If you are in a skid, slowly take your foot off the gas, but do not hit the brakes. Braking will make the skid worse. Gently turn your steering wheel in the direction that your rear wheels are sliding, but don't turn too sharply. Before you put your car in gear, improve your visibility by wiping all snow and ice from your vehicle. While you are at it, remove ice and snow from the hood, the roof, the trunk, the turn signals, the tail lights, the headlights, the windows, and the mirrors. Ice sheets may blow off from the top of your car, and could be dangerous to other motorists on the road if you fail to clean the snow off your car.Low beams provide better visibility during a snow or ice storm. Use the low beams rather than the high beams.

If other motorists seem to be in a hurry on the way to a storage unit in Illinois, don't be intimidated by aggressive drivers. Maintain a speed that you are comfortable with. If possible, find a safe area to pull over and let them pass. You don't need them to hit you in the rear for their foolishness when their car fails to stop in slippery conditions. Allow yourself for greater stopping distances. Give 8-10 seconds between you and the vehicle in front of you during slippery conditions.

Uphill driving on ice is a bit tricky. Locate a path that will allow the most traction, usually on unpacked snow. Watch vehicles in front of you for the slippery areas to avoid where they spin wheels or slide about. Decrease speed before curves and turns to maintain control of your car. Sudden acceleration or deceleration during a turn will send you into a skid.

The biggest mistake that most inexperienced wintery weather drivers make is applying the brakes while driving on ice. Our instincts tell us to hit the brakes when out of control, but our instincts are wrong. Brakes add fuel to the fire when driving on ice. When approaching ice patches, brake during the approach, not on the ice.

If you get stuck in a patch of snow or ice on your way to your storage unit in Illinois, there are ways to get out if help is unavailable. First and most important, do not spin your wheels. This will only dig you in deeper - you will dig your self in a deeper hole, in a manner of speaking, literally. Instead, turn your wheels from side to side a few times to push snow out of the way and then, try to proceed with a light tap on the gas, to ease your car out. If you packed one, use a shovel to clear snow away from the wheels and underneath the car. Get a hold of the sand or kitty litter that you should have pack in your safety kit. Pour the sand or kitty litter in the path of the wheels. If you neglected to pack sand or kitty litter because you left it at your storage unit in Illinois, find some gravel as a substitute.

The people from self storage industry, call center, self storage business, storage association

All things considered, you should avoid driving if you can to your storage unit in Illinois during snowy, rainy, or icy weather. Wait for the snow plows and sander trucks to finish their work. Your possessions are as safe as they ever were in storage. If it is an emergency to retrieve something out of your storage unit in Illinois during extreme weather conditions, please be alert of other drivers and use the advice provided above by your storage insider.

The people from the self storage industry and the call center want you to be safe this winter, especially when driving to your storage unit in Illinois. You can find more advice on storage and on self storage trends on one of the many self storage blog websites. Not only is it time to get your safety kit out, it's time to retrieve your shovel and other winter supplies too from your storage unit in Illinois.

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