The ability to see while driving is, obviously, crucial. But, a McHenry winter provides even greater challenges to visibility. Are you ready?

Imagine driving down 120 in McHenry with your eyes closed. Probably not a good idea. How ‘bout wearing dark, dark sunglasses while driving at night? Uhm … that’s not the best idea either, is it? Or, you could make a pin hole in cardboard and look through that as you drive. As with the other ideas, why would you do that?

There’s really no good reason to accept substandard visibility while you drive. In other words, when you’re operating a vehicle that can drive at substantial speeds, on roads that are lined with fixed objects, and sharing it with other vehicles moving at similar speeds, the ability to see where you’re going is generally well appreciated.

We’re probably all in agreement then that we shouldn’t create situations that make it harder to see. By that same standard, should we accept situations that limit our visibility while driving.

The ability to see while you drive is essential to safe operation of a vehicle. The better your vision the better your chances of avoiding an accident, right? If an afternoon sun is in your eyes driving West in McHenry, that’s a problem. You use sunglasses and the visor to combat the problem.

At night, while you drive, you turn on the headlights. That only makes sense. It’s too dark to drive safely at night otherwise.

What about the challenges of a McHenry winter when it comes to visibility?

Winter brings its own challenges to visibility. On a frigid day, you can still find the sun in your eyes. At night, you still need your headlights. When it rains or snows, you still need the wipers. But there’s more to it than that.

If the wipers are worn, they may not do a good job with rain on a warm summer day. But, in the winter, it’s not just rain. Often, it’s not rain at all. It’s snow. It’s often a mix of snow, drizzle and roadsalt. Even good wipers can have a problem cleaning that off the windshield efficiently. What can you expect when the wipers are worn.

You want plenty of windshield washer solvent. Good wipers and plenty of washer solvent are essential to good vision during winter driving. But there’s one more element that’s equally important – the defrosters.

The defrosters are the vents on the top back of the dashboard where, hopefully, warm air will blow across the inside of the windshield when you ask it to. Without the defrosters, you may find that it’s very difficult to keep ice from forming on the windshield, even if you’ve done a good job of sweeping away snow and scraping away ice.

When the defrosters work properly, you may still have trouble when the windshield gets too warm while your driving and road spray and such are dried onto the windshield before you can wipe them clean.

Make sure your headlights work, are clear of snow and clean. The same goes for all your other lights – headlights help you see others; the other lights help others see you and help you to signal your intentions.

Finally, do you have the proper equipment to sweep snow off your car and scrape ice from your windshield and windows. Even if you have the advantage of parking in a garage, you may go out somewhere. You may park somewhere in McHenry where the snow and ice sneak up on you. You want to be covered for all contingencies so you can always see where you’re going.