With temperatures dropping, fog rising and frost spreading, NRMA’s Terry Smith is warning Canberrans to be safe on the road. Photo: ACT Policing.
Fog and frost are common factors drivers have to consider when living in Canberra, but they aren’t always at the front of people’s minds.
According to the National Road Safety Partnership Program, fog and frost can increase the chance of drivers getting into a collision by up to 30 per cent, which is bad news for Canberrans.
According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), Canberra is the foggiest city in Australia, with an average of 47 days of heavy fog recorded each year.
The BoM is already warning of heavy fog for July and with frost now covering car windows most mornings, the NRMA has offered some handy tips for how to best look after your car during a hostile Canberra winter.
NRMA Roadside Canberra’s patrol team leader Terry Smith said the most important thing for Canberrans to do was drive cautiously and ensure they were using the best lights possible to pierce fog.
“The best thing a driver can do is to slow down and give appropriate space,” he said.
“If the vehicle has spotlights, by all means, use them in the right environment, but you do need to be careful because if you’re caught using them otherwise, you can be booked for unlawful use of fog lamps.
“A lot of new vehicles also have a rear fog light, which would be advantageous to use because it is a brighter light than what tail lights are.”
One thing Mr Smith is adamant about is not using high beam.
“High beam in fog will do you no good. It’ll actually usually make it worse, because it reflects off the fog and just bounces back at you,” he said.
“If you have fog lights, do use them and particularly if they have a rear fog light. It really does help cars that are behind you.
“Other important things include having good condition tyres and tyre pressure, wipers that are in good order and effective wiper blades.”
While fog may be the biggest worry for people on the road, frost can also cause problems for cars.
“One of the things we do see a fair bit of is where people do drive with windows fogged up, which is actually an offence. You can’t do it, ” Mr Smith said.
“You have to be able to see out your window. The key thing there would be to make sure you defrost your vehicle properly, but don’t leave your vehicle unattended whilst doing it.
“That’s where a lot of vehicles get stolen, where people go out and warm the car up and go inside and have a cup of coffee and they come out, the car’s gone.”
Mr Smith warned drivers not to use hot water to defrost windscreens.
“Obviously, hot water on a very cold windscreen can crack the glass, particularly if there’s any chips or anything in the windscreen,” he said.
“You’ve just really got to cool it down, get your heater going, get your demisters going and try to warm your car up naturally.
“If you’ve got heated mirrors, turn those on. A lot of new models of cars are fitted out with them and they’re actually one of the better things you can do to defrost and defog your car.”
