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January 22, 2009
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Beat the system Life can be complicated. Sometimes getting yourself from point A to point B, making sure you get the best deal, or just getting your errands done feels like a bigger hassle than it should be. Here are a few ideas on ways to save money, time or peace of mind as a consumer. And since “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” experts also offer ideas on how to keep your car on the road and drive safely in the winter. If you have any tips to share, or questions you want answered, e-mail hmasek@hippopress.com. Deal with your credit cards: Think the amount you pay in interest on your credit card is crazy? Suzann Knight of the UNH Cooperative Extension recommends you try gathering those other credit card offers that show up in your mail, and ask your current company to match lower interest rates that you are pre-approved for. Even without offers, still try calling, she said. “What’s really important with credit cards is to make sure at least the minimum is paid, and that the credit card company receives it by the deadline. If not, late fees are considerable,” Knight said. They add to your debt load, she said. A late payment can also end low introductory interest rates. With online banking, it’s important to see when the payment will be made to ensure your money gets to the credit card company in time, Knight said. The time of day a payment is due can vary. Knight said transferring debt to a card with an introductory zero-percent interest for a limited time is OK for people who actually have a plan to pay off the amount in that amount of time. Each UNH Cooperative Extension county office has an educator trained in money management. Information is also available at www.extension.org and extension.unh.edu, Knight said. Bother: Taking the time to read fine print, call customer service, and pay attention to dates. Worth it? Since interest compounds, you could save a lot, and get out of debt faster. Tip: Set an alarm on your phone’s calendar or e-mail account calender to remind you in time. Free file: Tax time is coming. The good news is that there are 72 free tax preparation sites around the state with IRS-certified volunteers who help taxpayers electronically file their federal income tax returns, which will all be operational Feb. 1, Knight said. Visit nheitc.org or call 211 to find one. You’ll get your refund between eight and 14 days after electronically filing, she said. There’s no income limit to use the free help, although there are a few limits on which forms they work on. If you want to go it alone, you can actually use one of the e-file products out there like Turbo Tax and Tax Act for free if you earned $56,000 or less in 2008. Visit irs.gov for details on “freefile.” “We tend to focus on low and moderate income,” Knight said. She heads the EITC Alliance. The Earned Income Tax Credit helps working people below a certain income level, she said. Knight said they focus on helping get money into people’s hands that they may not know they are eligible for through EITC. Bother: Some of those “freefile” e-file Web sites are surprisingly easy to use. Worth it? Save money on tax preparation. Shop hospitals: Medical bills “between” health plans are unpleasant, especially if you discover later that you might have saved $500 at a different facility. The New Hampshire Department of Insurance and Commissioner’s Advisory Committee on Health Insurance created www.nhhealthcost.org, where you can compare possible prices for some procedures around the state. You’ll want to look at it before you need an emergency room, though. The data is updated quarterly, said Tyler Brannen, of the Department of Insurance. The last update was Dec. 22. Bother: A few minutes at the computer. Worth it? Could save a lot. Membership pays: If you are a member of anything, chances are discounts come with that. Your health insurance card might get you discounts on eyeglasses. AAA’s many discounts include hotels, Six Flags, Dell and $1 off Currier admission. If you are of a certain age, AARP has a long list of deals. UNH alumni members can get hotel and electronics discounts, among other things. Your Southwest Rapid Rewards membership might get you a cheaper car rental. Sometimes, you can even find deals from your credit card company. Bother: Figuring out how you can get the best motel price in Cleveland by going through your various discount options could take some time. Many amounts might seem negligible. Worth it? Depends how much your time is worth vs. money saved. But, then, you might just like that warm fuzzy feeling that comes from saving a buck. Try outsourcing this project to your Web-savvy kid or grandkid. Have her create a spreadsheet of your discounts that can be cross-referenced with businesses that earn you extra airline miles or credit card rewards. Holding your car together, part 1: You are driving a nine-year-old vehicle with more than 100,000 miles on it. Do you want to put new parts on the thing when stuff breaks? In many cases, no. That’s when it’s time to start calling salvage yards, according to Car World in Candia. Yards keep inventories of parts they’ve pulled off cars they are recycling. You can usually pull parts off cars yourself in their lots, too. For that, you might want to bring a mechanically inclined friend on a warm day. However, “if it’s a part that typically wears, it doesn’t make sense to get another worn part,” said Marc Bellerose, chair of Automotive Technology Department at Manchester Community College. Those usually are not expensive, new, anyway, he said. A replacement outside mirror or a taillight is the kind of thing to seek at a salvage yard, Bellerose said. Yards are listed at the Auto and Truck Recyclers of New Hampshire (atranh.com). You can rest assured it uses environmentally friendly practices if it’s a NH Certified Green Yard (des.nh.gov, 271-2938). Also try searching the Internet for parts, including auto forums. You can ask your repair shop about used parts, but dealerships usually won’t sell them, Bellerose said. Bother: Could be a few extra phone calls, or an out-of-the-way errand. Worth it? Depends, but it might save you bundles. Holding your car together, part 2: Read the instructions. What better time to find out what a mass airflow sensor is than when yours is broken? Bellerose said you can find books written specifically for “laymen” on how cars operate. He also recommends checking the Web site Howstuffworks.com. There are guides for your model published by Chilton and Haynes at auto parts stores, but those service manuals are mainly about how to take something apart or put it together, not about how things work, Bellerose said. Beginner car maintenance courses are available, and Manchester Community College runs one periodically. Bother: Time studying up on a subject you may know nothing about. Worth it: Some people feel better understanding their car; others don’t care. You could save money on simple repairs. You might not even get dirty by changing a bulb or fuse yourself. Tip: Try Internet searches on broken car parts, and visit www.cartalk.com. Click and Clack went to MIT, so hopefully they know something. Avoid ticket fees: Going to a concert or game is pricey enough. Why pay extra for the privilege of buying a ticket? Skip the “convenience fee” that comes with buying tickets online or by phone and stop by the venue’s box office yourself. Box office hours are usually posted on the venue Web site. For instance, if you buy a $98.50 ticket to Barry Manilow at the Verizon Wireless Arena, online you’ll pay a $9.98 Ticketmaster convenience fee. You don’t pay that extra fee at the arena at 555 Elm St. in Manchester. In both cases there’s a $1 building facility charge. Want tickets to something in Boston? Perhaps a commuter friend can grab them if you do a local errand in return. Bother: Very little, if the box office is in your usual path. Worth it? Probably, unless gas to the venue costs more than the convenience fee. Don’t wait: You can avoid standing in line at Manchester City Hall to register your car by using their online payment service or mailing in your check, according to Stella Chase, a registration clerk. If you have to go in, avoid the beginning or end of the month, and you should be clear, as far as long lines go. At Nashua City Hall, the middle of the month, middle of the day, and middle of the week, for some reason, are usually quiet, said Nancy Naples, Nashua’s Vehicle Registration Supervisor. The beginnings and ends of months are chaotic, she said. Nashua posts a check list of everything you need to register a car on its city Web site. She recommends checking that so you don’t end up making two trips. If you received a notice to renew registration by mail, you can just mail the payment in by the deadline. Concord has a drop box for payments, online and phone options, and you can mail in payments. If you need to come in, avoid the beginning or end of the month. Bother: A few moments and a stamp, depending. Worth it? Could save you a trip, parking meter fees, or wait time. Switch to digital broadcast: If you use an antenna to watch TV, when the country switches from analog to digital television broadcast Feb. 17 your TV needs to include a digital tuner — or you’ll need a converter box. If you bought a TV made in the last 12 to 24 months, it should have both analog and digital tuners, said Alex Jasiukowicz, creative services director at WMUR. If you are buying a new TV in a store with low turnover, you might want to double check that the TV has both, even if it’s a fancy-looking flat screen. Converters are said to cost between $40 and $80, Jasiukowicz said. The government was distributing $40 coupons to help defray the cost, but funding ran out. If you need one, Jasiukowicz recommends calling 1-888-DTV-2009 to get on the waiting list. According to Comcast, if you have cable or satellite service connected to your TV, you don’t need to do anything. To make things more complicated, low-power analog repeaters can still be used, which means some North Country viewers might still be able to use an analog tuner. Bother: Depends on how you watch TV, where you live, and how old your TV is or what it includes. WMUR, Comcast and NHPTV have held meetings so folks can get answers. There’s one more Jan. 22 at Durham’s Town Hall at 6:30 p.m. Also see www.wmur.com/digital/, www.dtv.gov, www.dtvanswers.com or call the FCC at 1-888-225-5322. Worth it? Depends on how much you like TV. Save on saving: Notice a $3 deduction from your savings account each month? Ask the bank to stop, or seek out a fee-free account elsewhere. You might have more luck with a community bank or credit union, or online option, like ING, www.emigrantdirect.com or www.fnbodirect.com. Make sure it’s insured, of course. You should be able to find fee-free options for checking, too, if you look (and/or have direct deposit). Bother: You’ll have to shop around and carefully read everyone’s fine print, set up a new account, and close your old one. Worth it? Absolutely. Saving money shouldn’t cost you. It defeats the purpose. Fix your computer: John Andrews, who writes the “Techie” column in the Hippo, wrote in an e-mail, “Repair services from the big box stores (Geek Squad, EasyTech, etc.) are OK, but they’re geared more toward installations of stuff you buy from them. The corner computer store is better, especially for older systems. Make sure to tell them if you need the data stored on the computer or if you just want it working again with your data possibly wiped out. The latter is a lot simpler, faster and cheaper, but has obvious drawbacks.” Andrews said, “even data on truly trashed hard drives can be recovered,” but the price can go into the thousands of dollars. Andrews used to use Computing.net to do his troubleshooting, but now mostly uses Google searches. “The key is effective wording. If it’s an error message, search the exact wording (or partial wording) of the error. If it’s problematic hardware, use the exact product name or part number. Manufacturer Web sites are hit or miss as far as being helpful. Microsoft’s is surprisingly useful, as are HP’s and Dell’s,” Andrews wrote. If you don’t have access to another computer, try the public ones at the library, he said. Bother: You might luck out with an easy fix from an Internet search. Or you might be hauling your equipment around for repairs. The fact that it can be cheaper to wipe your computer to fix it is one more reason to back up files. And don’t forget to check what your warranty or service plan can do for you. Worth it? If you are now frighteningly dependent on a computer with Internet access, yes. Get fit for less: Your health insurance plan might include a reimbursement for gym memberships. Harvard Pilgrim offers a $150 reimbursement. You can often find discounts for fitness programs as a member. Bother: Extra paperwork, possibly extra time. Worth it? More money available for your copays. Get better gas mileage: Marc Bellerose, chair of automotive technology at MCC, said first of all, follow the maintenance schedule in your warranty or owner’s manual. Other simple things are maintaining tire pressure and removing items like roof racks or deflector hoods that might be affecting mileage. Bother: The effort of maintaining your car. Worth it: If the gas prices go up again, yes. Get your car inspected: It’s not fun to discover your car can’t pass inspection because your windshield wiper blades are not up to par. Patrick Moody, director of public affairs, Traffic Safety in Northern New England AAA, said that car inspections are used to raise awareness of problems that the owner was unaware of. If you know you have bald tires or worn wipers, you’ll be replacing those for safety anyway, he said. Bellerose said the state inspection laws are posted on the state’s Web site, so you can read through the list yourself to know what to expect. A lot are things any owner can check, such as lights and wipers, he said. The windshield washer, doors, windows and defroster all have to be working. Check tire tread depth. Bother: Replacing wipers, light bulbs or more. Worth it? It’s better than paying for a second inspection because of a screw-up, or paying labor when you could have replaced a light bulb yourself. Fixing your airline woes: Your flight is canceled/delayed. You are going to miss your connection or your friend’s wedding. While standing in line at the service desk with all the other put-upon travelers, put your cell phone to work and call the airline’s customer service department. That can get you results faster (and don’t forget to endear yourself by being polite, not bitter). Help increase your odds by offering to fly out of a different airport, if you can. The U.S. Aviation Consumer Protection Division also recommends checking your flight status early, so you can call and check for another flight if you have to. They also point out that booking nonstops at least prevents the issue of missing connecting flights, and they say booking earlier in the day will help you avoid delays and give you more options if a flight is canceled. Read more tips at airconsumer.ost.dot.gov. They also recommend checking www.fly.faa.gov for updates on airport situations. You can usually arrange for your airline to send you text messages with flight status updates, too. Bother: Practically everything about flying is a bother these days. Worth it? Anything you can do to make air travel less stressful is probably worth it. How to (try to) not get a crap cell phone: Software glitches, weak batteries and other issues can make a person wary about what they’ll get with their next cell phone. Plus, you want something tailored to what you’ll use it for, without paying for extras. Go cell shopping armed with a list of questions pertaining to your needs. For example: Which one is the most durable? Which actually works in northern Maine? Who can I call for free? Find out what the carrier’s employees use themselves, and why. Bother: Extra time at the cell phone stores, and the stress of wondering what the sales person is omitting. Worth it? If your phone lasts longer than your contract, and you don’t find extra charges on your bill. Get free magazine subscriptions: Your airline miles are about to expire, and you don’t have anywhere near enough for a ticket. Some airlines, like American and Northwest, might let you transfer them to your mom — for a fee, starting at about $80. Or, you can trade them in for subscriptions — about an $80 value if you want The Economist — totally free to you. The airline might send an order form, and you can check their Web site. If you still have miles left, consider donating them to a cause — also listed on the airline’s Web site. Bother: Picking out subscriptions and charities. Worth it? Um, yeah. Go wireless: Do you actually need a land line? You might if you work or fax from home, make a lot of calls during the day, or like the security of a land line for emergencies (no need to worry about a dead battery on an old-school phone). However, if you aren’t home during the day and aren’t concerned about a child possibly needing to dial 911, you might be able to get by with just the cell. Bother: Time involved closing your land line account. Stress if you have a cell-free house guest. Worth it? One less bill to pay. Freeze your cell phone: Don’t need your cell service for a few months? You probably don’t have to pay a full month’s fee for something you aren’t using. Ask your carrier if they can suspend your service for a limited time. There might be a fee, but you should still be able to save a lot of money without losing your number or being penalized for ending your contract early. If you are traveling far, it helps to put a local friend or family member on your account who can activate it, if need be. Bother: Some time chatting with customer service. Worth it? Yes, it should save you some dough. Use your cell outside the U.S.: The trick is a SIM card and an unlocked GSM phone. If you are planning to study, work or travel outside the U.S., check to see if your cell is GSM and which frequency bands it works with. According to Telestial Wireless Solutions for Travelers, many countries, including those in Europe, use GSM technology on the 900 and 1800 Mhz ranges while the U.S. and Canada use the 850 and 1900 Mhz range. Some U.S. cell networks use GSM (T-Mobile and AT&T) while others use CDMA technology (Verizon, Sprint, U.S. Cellular). CDMA is starting to spread abroad, according to news reports, and works in Canada — see www.cdg.org to check which country’s frequencies match your CDMA phone. Next, ask your cell company to unlock your phone. An AT&T spokesperson said they unlock for customers. Once you have your unlocked, compatible phone, get a SIM card with a local (London, for example) phone number and pay-by-the-minute account. Come home, and put your regular SIM card back into your phone. No need to rent or buy a foreign mobile, or pay global roaming charges from your American service. (Although, of course, AT&T strongly recommends using their international roaming plan.) Bother: Do country-specific research on SIM cards and phone frequencies. If you are about to buy a phone to use everywhere, ask lots of questions, including about unlocking policies and battery charging. Find details on GSM and SIM cards at www.telestial.com, or do an Internet search on “using foreign SIM cards.” Ask colleagues/classmates/family at your destination for advice. Worth it? If you need to stay in contact with fellow travelers or locals (and you aren’t on an expense account) it’s probably worth it, especially if you travel frequently. It also means your Bremen customers won’t have to call a U.S. cell number to reach you while you’re in Germany. The drawback is that folks calling you from the States might want a cheap international prepaid phone card to reach you. If you roam internationally with your American number, it shouldn’t affect your U.S. callers, just your bill. Taking the bus: There are all kinds of interesting options for buses these days. No longer do you have to pay $60 to take a Greyhound. Megabus offers a limited number of $1 seats (www.megabus.com). Bolt Bus offers wifi and electrical outlets (www.boltbus.com). You’ll want to read FAQs to make sure you get the best deal, and find out which terminals they use because they may not be the ones you expect. There are still plenty of Chinatown options like LuckyStar and Fung Wah. They usually leave from South Station in Boston and arrive in an East Coast city’s Chinatown. And although most of these new buses leave from the Boston area, bus service from New Hampshire to Boston is becoming more frequent (see www.bostonexpressbus.com), and there’s a train from Dover. Bother: Trying to reserve one of the few $1 seats online and getting yourself to South Station. Overall, this usually takes longer than driving with no traffic, by an hour or two to New York, for example. Boarding a Chinatown bus doesn’t always involve proper queuing behavior. Worth it? On average, you’ll pay $15 for a ticket from Boston to New York. (To compare, a ticket from Concord to Boston is also $15.) If you don’t want to find parking in New York or D.C., gas prices are high, or you have something better to do than stare at the Merritt Parkway, like sleep, this is probably worth it. Plus, the bus drops you in a city center, while flying usually involves an extra taxi or something. Getting to and from an airport: If you are lucky, you know someone with copious free time to chauffeur, or you have an expense account. Otherwise, consider scheduling your flight at a time when you know a friend can fetch you — like after work. If you can’t impose, figure out if parking or ground transport will be a better deal. If your trip is short, there’s an economy lot for $10 per day at Manchester’s airport (www.flymanchester.com) and an offsite lot that charges about $60 per week (mhtairportparking.com). Mancunians can hail a cab when leaving the airport (although it’s not cheap), and there is a city bus from MHT to downtown until 5:48 p.m. weekdays, and 4:48 p.m. Saturdays. Flightline offers service from park-and-rides for about $19. Find airport shuttle info at www.flymanchester.com. Reserve early and keep the phone number with you. Logan Airport economy parking costs $18 per day. Check www.parkrideflyusa.com for off-site lots. Boston Express buses leave Nashua, Londonderry, Manchester, Salem and Concord park-and-rides to Logan, and ticket costs range from $15 to $20. See www.bostonexpressbus.com. Don’t forget to match your transportation to your flight time. The last Boston Express to Exit 5 in Londonderry leaves at 11:25 p.m., but the last one to Nashua is at 8:40 p.m. Keep the phone number of a shuttle service in case your flight is late. Visit www.massport.com for options. There is a Logan T stop, so you can get creative about public transport if you have a favorite parking place with MBTA access. Bother: Assessing your options, making reservations and paying are bothersome. Transporting yourself without a car is frustrating in suburban New Hampshire. It can get expensive and involve lots of planning. Worth it: If you can afford airport parking, a good car or limo service, or know a good off-site parking deal, probably stick with that. Tip: Check to see if your destination hotel has a complimentary airport shuttle to get rid of at least one headache. Electrical help: When the lights go out or you have an issue with your electricity, you can call PSNH (if that’s your provider) at 1-800-662-7764 to talk to customer service or report an outage through an automated system. You can also fill out a power outage form online, if you happen to be near a working computer, according to Martin Murray of PSNH. Bother: Making the call. Worth it? If it gets the lights back on faster. Finding the cable guy: You don’t need to call out of work to wait for the cable guy these days, said Jim Hughes, director of public relations for Comcast in this region, noting that service calls go as late as 7 p.m. and appointments are available seven days a week. Their appointments now involve two-hour windows. “Our goal is always to make sure customers have the best experience possible,” Hughes said. If customers have problems but no time to call, they can e-mail customer service or use live chat at comcast.com. Bother: Shouldn’t be too much. Worth it? If you want to get your cable working. Tips: Hughes recommends that folks try out their On Demand function, if they haven’t. There are plenty of TV shows and even movies that you can watch “on demand” whatever time you want, sans commercials, that are included with your service. You don’t have to pay extra for any of it, except for a few top movies — but they will be labeled as such. Your contracts: The New Hampshire Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau at the state’s Department of Justice can be of service if you have a complaint about dealings with a company. The Bureau can’t do anything about a high percentage rate on your credit card, but if you have a concern about not being properly charged, you can file a complaint in writing or online. You can look into using their mediation program or work it out with the credit card company, according to Richard Head. If you are running into problems with a gym membership, again, you can file a complaint. The bureau likes to keep track and make sure that health clubs are following contracts in a way that’s “consistent with what we’ve been told would happen,” Head said. If not, they offer to put it in the mediation program. If you have a complaint about your utilities, file it with the Public Utilities Commission. If you have a complaint about cable, you usually need to bring it to your town officials, since cable companies usually have a municipal contract to operate. As with any agreement in which you give money up front or become obligated to pay monthly, people should understand what their rights are and what’s in the agreement, Head said. Head said that at doj.nh.gov there is a “Consumer Protection” section that includes an online consumer source book. You can call their hotline at 888-468-4454 if you have questions. Bother: Paperwork or phone calls. Worth it? Could be. Keeping your car on a snow-covered road: Patrick Moody, director of public affairs, traffic safety for Northern New England AAA, said the number one winter driver tip he has is to “slow down and leave more room between you and the car in front of you.” Most learn in driver education to leave a car length for every 10 miles per hour, Moody said. However, AAA has moved away from that to a timing system. Pick a landmark, like a telephone pole. Once the car in front of you passes it, start counting seconds until you pass it. They recommend being 3 to 4 seconds behind a car in regular conditions, and 6 to 8 seconds in snow conditions, Moody said. Also, look further down the road, so you can anticipate actions of others while there is more time to react. Moody said you also need to understand the kind of brakes you have. Many cars now have ABS — anti-lock brakes. When you apply even pressure, and the car is skidding, the brake pedal should feel like it’s vibrating. They are applying and releasing very quickly, which should give you steering ability. With anti-lock brakes, Moody said to remember “step, stay, steer.” With traditional breaks, if you skid you lose turning ability until you take your foot off of the brakes. Team O’Neil Rally School offers Winter Driving School at its driving park in Dalton, near Littleton and Whitefield (www.team-oneil.com). Instructor Mike Doucette said the first thing you need are winter tires. “All-season tires are great three seasons of year,” Doucette said. However, the compound of a snow tire is softer and the tread pattern different, to provide more grip, he said. Rally champion Tim O’Neil explained that if you are going to use studded tires, they should be on all four wheels. One of the most common problems is to put two studded or winter tires on a front-wheel-drive car. At a corner, the front will grasp but the back can slide. O’Neil said that his wife has studded tires, and it’s when you don’t notice black ice that they can be useful. However, using studded tires, like driving an SUV or other vehicle built for challenging conditions, “tend[s] to build your confidence.” You might take a corner too fast in poor conditions, expecting the equipment to compensate. Some winter tires are almost as good as studded tires now, O’Neil said. O’Neil, also a mechanic, said he’s seen many accidents from people using only two snow tires. ABS, dynamic stability and traction control are all designed for use with the right tires for the conditions. “Eye placement skills are vital,” O’Neil said. “It’s very important that people remind themselves to look where they want to go, not which way they are headed.” O’Neil teaches students to “get away from target fixation.” If you are looking at something you don’t want to hit, you tend to drive toward it, he said. If a deer, a moose or another vehicle is in front of you that you need to avoid, look toward the back of the animal, for example. By the time you get there, the deer may have moved or you will hit from an angle, and the glancing impact should do less damage than a dead-on impact. O’Neil recommends developing and practicing your skills so that your response is automatic if, for example, an animal jumps in front of you. “The point is to visualize each one of the situations so when it happens to you, you automatically do it,” O’Neil said. Regarding braking, O’Neil said that most vehicles are equipped with ABS and won’t lock up. That works well on pavement, but on a loose surface, like dirt or snow, you need to give yourself two or three times the braking distance, he said. Know your brakes, he said. Try to find a place to practice using different pedal pressures on loose surfaces, O’Neil said. “You’ll find the amount of pressure can decrease [braking] distance dramatically,” O’Neil said. Skid control is “primarily what the school is built on,” O’Neil said. There are several ways to make it around a corner depending on many variables, including vehicle size, speed and equipment. Most motorists end up in a skid if they go too fast on a corner and the car doesn’t turn. There are a number of solutions, including letting off the gas, shifting down, or in some cases accelerating out of it. Understeering and oversteering situations need to be handled differently, he said. It’s important for people to know what happens when you hit the brakes, O’Neil said. Years ago, it was much easier to find a parking lot without obstacles like light posts. Each season, “we’d just spin around to see how our car handles in a skid,” he said. They switched to winter mode driving — adjusting speed and being smoother on brakes and steering. Now, cars have traction control, ABS, dynamic stability and other safety features. However, relying on those means people are losing some of their driving and skid skills, and it’s hard to find places to practice, he said. Safety systems are very good, but people still crash cars, and there’s still a high number of fatalities. As a driver, it’s your responsibility to monitor conditions. As the temperature freezes, for instance, adjust your speed. Bridges freeze at about 35 or 36 degrees, by the way, he said. If it’s raining, and the windows start to fog, O’Neil will turn on the defroster and turn the radio down. If he doesn’t hear the sound of tires splashing, and doesn’t see tread marks in water from the car in front of him, he’ll take those as clues that he is driving on black ice. Accidents can be prevented if people watch their outside temperature gauge and other cars, recognize signals and adjust speed accordingly, O’Neil said. These are the kinds of things that O’Neil and his instructors teach, but he can only reach so many people per year at his school, he said. As society tries to make cars safer, responsibility is no longer being put on the driver, O’Neil said. “I can teach you skid control, because I think it’s important,” O’Neil said. But if you have the right attention and judgment, you can avoid skids. Still, if a student does end up skidding, he wants to make sure the student can get out of it. Bother: Relearning some of those tips from driver’s ed, and then some. Possibly shelling out a few hundred dollars for proper winter tires. Practice. Worth it: You could prevent yourself from getting stuck or hitting something and the paperwork and payments that follow, or hurting yourself or others.
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AAA’s Basic Roadside Emergency Kit Checklist: More tips from AAA
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