Saskatchewan cold snap brings vehicle safety concerns

With temperatures near -30C, drivers are urged to be prepared for emergency situations. Jacob Carr reports.

The sputtering sound of a dead car battery is a familiar problem during Saskatchewan cold snaps, but CAA Saskatchewan says many winter breakdowns can be prevented with proper preparation.

“These frigid temperatures are real,” said Angel Blair, senior communications specialist with CAA Saskatchewan. “When we’re in Saskatchewan, the best way to prepare for that is to actually be prepared.”

Blair said a vehicle’s battery is especially vulnerable in extreme cold and recommends plugging in vehicles once temperatures reach –15C — a threshold well surpassed as temperatures hovered near –30C Friday night, with similar conditions expected through the weekend.

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“Think of your car as your body. You have your battery and that is really the lifeline of your car,” Blair said. “You first of all want to take care of that battery. Make sure you are plugging in your car.”

CAA Saskatchewan also advises motorists to carry an emergency kit in their vehicle during extreme cold, even if the vehicle is in good working order.

“Make sure that you have things like water, make sure that you have non-perishable food like little snacks,” she said. “You could have anything to do with helping you get out of a situation. So have a shovel, have some booster cables, maybe make sure that you have a phone charger.”

Extreme cold can also have a significant impact on tire pressure. According to Kal Tire national account manager Geoff Wiebe, a temperature drop of 10 degrees Celsius can result in a loss of up to two pounds per square inch of air pressure.

“In the past three or four days it has dropped 20, 25 degrees Celsius,” Wiebe said. “That means your tire could have gone down four or six pounds of pressure, and that’s enough to cause a situation where the air pressure in that tire is no longer at operating pressure.”

Wiebe recommends checking tire pressure at least once a month, noting that underinflated tires can lead to irregular wear and permanent damage.

“Sometimes if it’s a lower pressure you’ll have irregular wear patterns, you can have too much heat,” Wiebe said. “On a day like today we’re talking about too much heat, but a tire will heat up if it’s operated at a low pressure, and it will sometimes sustain irreparable damage.”