Burnaby, BC (Nov. 13, 2019) \u2013 BCAA\u2019s newly released Winter Driving Survey shows that while a large percentage of British Columbians are nervous about driving in ice and snow, many are still not taking steps to prepare their vehicles for winter.<\/p>\n
The BCAA survey, conducted by Insights West, reveals 43 per cent of drivers admit to being nervous behind the wheel when bad weather hits. Yet 32 per cent take a \u2018wait and see\u2019 approach to readying their vehicles for winter, and a further 21 per cent wait until the last minute or have no plans to prepare their vehicles for winter at all.<\/p>\n
Not unexpectedly, the survey shows that drivers are least prepared in typically less snowy parts of the province, such as Metro Vancouver and Vancouver Island. However, BCAA Automotive Manager Josh Smythe urges drivers not to stick their heads in the sand, or should we say in the snow, when it comes to the reality of winter, no matter where they live.<\/p>\n
\u201cChances are, no matter where you are in the province, at some point you\u2019re going to hit bad weather,\u201d he says. He adds that it\u2019s not just snow; but darkness, fog, heavy rain and ice that can all lead to suddenly treacherous driving situations which can go very badly for unprepared drivers.<\/p>\n
When harsh winter weather hits, calls to BCAA\u2019s Roadside Assistance can be 40-60 per cent higher across the province. In Metro Vancouver, call volumes typically double as drivers get into tough situations during snowy or frigid weather. And, Smythe says it isn\u2019t just the usual winter conditions that challenge B.C. drivers these days.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are newer weather patterns to consider, including windstorms, which some of B.C. has already experienced this season.\u201d If snow doesn\u2019t catch every drivers\u2019 attention, the unpredictability of today\u2019s weather does have more drivers taking notice, with 66 per cent saying that strange, unpredictable weather has made them \u201cmore vigilant\u201d about getting their vehicles serviced for winter.<\/p>\n
While Smythe sees that as positive news, how British Columbians rate their winter driving overall is not as rosy. Seventy-one per cent rate B.C. motorists as \u201cpoor\u201d winter drivers and half (49 per cent) go so far as calling B.C. drivers \u201cprobably the worst winter drivers in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Smythe, that\u2019s a perception he would like to see change. \u201cSome of us consider ourselves \u2018frost forward\u2019 and get our vehicles ready early in the season, but too many are too chill about winter driving and that\u2019s just dangerous for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
BCAA offers these tips for winter prep and driving:<\/p>\n
1. <\/strong> Prepare your car to perform in winter so you can drive more safely.<\/strong><\/p>\n 2. <\/strong> Adjust your driving to match the weather conditions.<\/strong><\/p>\n 3. <\/strong> Put safety first.<\/strong><\/p>\n Results are based on an online study conducted from October 13 to 16, 2019<\/span> among a representative sample of 1,443 adult B.C. drivers. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region. The margin of error\u2014which measures sample variability\u2014is +\/- 2.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Discrepancies between totals are due to rounding.<\/p>\n About BCAA<\/strong><\/p>\n The most trusted organization in British Columbia<\/span> by its Members, BCAA serves 1 in 3 B<\/span>.C. households with industry-leading products including home, car and travel insurance, roadside assistance, Evo Car Share<\/span> and full automotive services at BCAA\u2019s Auto Service Centres. BCAA has a long history focused on keeping kids safe on the road and at play through community programs such as its School Safety Patrol<\/a>, Child Passenger Safety<\/a> and BCAA Play Here<\/a>. For more information, visit bcaa.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Source: British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA)<\/em><\/p>\n Tags: British Columbia Automobile Association (BCAA)<\/a>, survey<\/a>, winter<\/a>Read the original article at Insurance-Canada.ca <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BCAA Winter Driving Survey Burnaby, BC (Nov. 13, 2019) \u2013 BCAA\u2019s newly released Winter Driving Survey shows that while a large percentage of British Columbians are nervous about driving in ice and snow, many...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17557"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17557\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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About the BCAA Insights West survey <\/strong><\/h4>\n