Your Driving and the Road
If You’re Caught in a
Blizzard (CONT.)
you. If you have no blankets or extra
clothing, make body insulators from
newspapers, burlap bags, rags,
floor mats
-- anything you can wrap around yourself
or tuck under your clothing to keep warm.
You can run the engine to keep warm, but
be careful. Run your engine only as long as you
must. This saves fuel. When you run the
engine, make
it go a little faster than just
idle. That is, push the accelerator slightly.
This uses less fuel for the heat that you
get and it keeps the battery charged. You
will need a well-charged battery to restart
the vehicle, and possibly for signaling
later on with your headlights.
Let the
heater run for awhile.
Then, shut the engine off and close the
window almost all the way to preserve the
heat. Start the engine again and repeat this
only when you feel really uncomfortable from the cold. But do it as
little as
possible. Preserve the fuel as long as you
can.
To help keep warm, you can get out
of the vehicle and do some fairly vigorous
exercises every half hour or
so until help
comes.
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