Ever seen that driver in McHenry who was in too much of hurry to take the time scraping the frost off their windshield before driving? That’s crazy, isn’t it? But it also highlights a point. Vision is critical when driving and never is it challenged more than in the winter.

Several characteristics of winter driving conspire to make it difficult to see when driving in the winter. If you accept the notion that visibility is reduced when driving at night, consider that the nights are longer in winter, and substantially so. In other words, you can count on doing more night-time driving during the winter months.

More night-time driving is not the only reason driving in winter is a challenge to visibility. 

As mentioned in the first paragraph above, winter tends to spread layers of frost across your windshield and windows. On some days, there is a layer of snow above the frost. That frost, and that snow, requires removal if you are going to see where you’re going. 

In fact, if you fail to adequately clear the snow and frost off your windshield and window, you could get a ticket for failing to do so.

Once you’re driving in winter, sleet and snow often come down from the sky onto your windshield. You need effective wiper blades to clear the windshield as you go. Making matters worse, other cars are throwing the moisture from the sky off the pavement and up into your path. Only the moisture from the road is a mixture of several elements.

That which is on the road is picked up by the droplets tossed into the air by passing tires and the wind of passing vehicles. Those droplets include a mix of dirt, oil, and road salt.

Particularly when they are atomized into a fine mist, they tend to dry on contact. As a result, you’ll find yourself with a deepening layer of the minerals from the road mix that builds up on your windshield as you drive. To see where you’re going, you’ll need to consistently clear those layers out of your way.

The essential tools to maintain your vision while driving in a McHenry winter include:

• Ice Scrapper and Snowbrush
• Windshield Washer Solvent
• Effective Wiper Blades
• Operational Windshield Defroster

The scrapper and snowbrush will help you get the snow and frost off your windshield before you head out onto the roads from your McHenry home. Windshield washer solvent will dissolve the layer of minerals on your windshield before a good set of wiper blades wipes them aside. The defroster will heat the windshield so that ice and frost melt.

These tools work together to spoil the conspirators who would block your vision while driving. It’s a good idea to make sure those tools are ready for the winter ahead.