Winter Safety Tips from Your Resident Managers

As I mentioned in last week’s Community Connections, on November 18 I gave a Winter Safety presentation at the Community Center. We had a good turnout, with many great questions – thanks to all who attended. Topics covered included dressing properly for the cold, driving safelyon slippery roads, preparing for winter journeys, and much more.

That same day I visited the weekly resident manager meeting. I used the opportunity to ask how many had never experienced a cold winter before moving to Wisconsin. About half of the room raised their hands. So I asked them what their best tips were, based on their personal experiences. Here are some of their suggestions:

– Clear your parking space and vehicle as soon as possible after a snowfall. Once snow has gone through a couple of freeze-thaw cycles, it becomes rock-hard ice, and is much more difficult to remove. Remember: Residents are responsible for clearing their assigned parking space; free snow shovels are available for temporary check-out at the Community Center.

– Covering your windshield overnight with a blanket or commercially available windshield cover will save you a lot of time and effort clearing the frost from your windshield in the morning.

– It’s OK to warm your car for a short time, but the recommendation is no more than 5 minutes. An idling vehicle in cold temperatures does not warm quickly, so you’ll beburning fuel and pumping exhaust for little gain. Once you begin driving, the vehicleworks harder and warms the interior much faster.

– Make sure your windshield washer fluid is rated for cold temperature use. Regular washer fluid could freeze onto your windshield in very cold temperatures, which can be very unsafe while driving.

This is a great way to show that solid cold-weather safety ideas don’t all have to come from the long-time denizens of the North; those relatively new to the area can provide useful suggestions as well. Get to know your neighbors, and you may be surprised at how much you can learn from them about cold weather, even if they only have a single Wisconsin winter behind them.

Jeff Kirchman

University Apartments Community Police Officer

608-264-2677 | jkirchman@wisc.edu

University Apartments Community Center, Room 131