Driving Tips
If you're native to Minnesota, you're already familiar with our two seasons: road
construction and winter. And more than likely, you're also familiar with our unique
collection of hazardous road conditions, ranging from "light rain" to "first snowfall".
Whatever the forecast, don't miss our collection of driving tips.
But most of all, remember: it's never too late to turn off that turn signal.
- Hey Minnesotans, put down your iced latté and drive with both hands. Statistically speaking, a gigantic glass of ice-cold summer soda dumped in your lap is every bit as likely to cause an accident as a glass of steamy winter coffee or hot chocolate. The hot stuff leads the Permanent Injury category though.
- Do you enjoy those cable TV "Lock-up" programs that showcase life in jail? Just hit a worker while speeding through a summer highway construction zone. Your new reality TV will be securely bolted to the concrete wall of your cell.
- Are you made of money? Gas is over $4.00 a gallon, and you're still carting 100 pounds of winter sand and cat litter around in your trunk! Pile traction enhancers in the garage and save gas this summer. Note: This IS Minnesota - so schlep them back IMMEDIATELY after the State Fair.
- Insist on keeping that old coolant in your rusting radiator just one more summer? Remember to turn the heater up full blast as soon as you spy steam gushing up from under the hood. It'll help prevent the engine from blowing up until you can find a safe place to pull off the road.
- Hate sharing the summer road with bikers, walkers, runners, scooters, strollers, skaters and protesters? They probably feel the same way about you. Chill out, enjoy the ride and share anyway.
- Minnesota law enforcement officers REALLY resent being buzzed, sideswiped or narrowly missed while assisting motorists by the roadside. Minnesota judges REALLY dislike crowding their courtrooms with drivers who do that. Get the picture?
- Windshield spattered with insects? Do NOT roll down the window and attempt to spray and wipe the glass while the car is moving. This is extremely dangerous and causes streaking.
- Illogical as it may seem, 'high' beams make it harder to see in rain and fog because water reflects light. Your service representative can't fix this.
- Note to smokers: Rolling down the windows before lighting up doesn't fool parents, spouses or car rental agencies any better in summer than in winter. You're still busted.
- Patching winter-cracked belts and hoses with duct tape is cheap. Replacing your engine isn't. Think about it.
- Sure you're happy baseball's back. But slamming your fist into the steering wheel at 60 mph, whether out of joy or frustration, is still dangerous and does nothing to improve Twins' pitching.
- Driving with one slippery sweaty hand and adjusting your iPod with the other could result in a life-threatening situation - and screw up your tunes.
- It is impossible to apply make-up, talk on your cell phone, read the paper, yell at your kids, argue with your spouse, catch up on work or plan your summer vacation while driving any vehicle, anywhere, at any time, at any speed. Impossible, dangerous, and really dumb. Got that?!
- Note to motorists who like to think of Minnesota's countryside as a personal trash can: Enjoy spending your summer vacation walking along the side of the highway in an orange jump suit, jamming litter into yellow plastic bags under the Sentenced to Serve program.
- If you do run your car into a ditch anywhere in Greater Minnesota this summer, don't panic. Four men in the cab of a four-wheel drive with backward baseball caps and a tow-chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them. Just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.
- Before you maneuver up to the pump into a crowded gas station with boat and trailer in tow, think seriously about which side your gas cap is located. Pump rage is rampant enough as it is.
- Deer like dinner about the same time you do - late afternoon into early evening. Keep your eyes pealed and everyone will enjoy their meals, including you-when you arrive home safely.
- It doesn't matter how fast you go. You can't outrace that idiot riding your bumper in the left lane. So pull over, slow down, and know there is justice when the Highway Patrol pulls him - not you - over a couple of miles down the road.
- A car without a "Baby on Board" sign does not constitute an open invitation to drive badly, carelessly or stupidly in its proximity. Instead, assume all cars have babies on board and drive accordingly.
- According to the University of Minnesota's Climatology Working Group, the latest recorded measurable snow in Minnesota is 1.5 inches at Mizpah in Koochiching County on June 4, 1935 and the earliest documented snow in Minnesota is a trace that fell at the Duluth Airport on August 31, 1949. In other words, it is statistically safe to remove your snow tires in Minnesota for the entire month of July.
