Most students at Bucks have had to face driving through harsh weather this winter.
Harsh weather refers to anything that increases your stopping distance. This includes things like snow, rain and ice.
Janson Fidishun offers advice as a driving instructor from John’s Driving School.

Fidishun says, “The slower you go the quicker you can stop and any time you can increase your visibility, it’s going to help you out.”
Jason Totten, a History Professor at Bucks said, “People tend to speed, they don’t know how fast they are going.”
Traffic accidents are the number one cause of teen death, and harsh weather is a close second. According to Fidishun. “You want to give respect. I don’t think people respect weather the way they should.”
The veteran driving instructor advises people to slow down during harsh weather.
Fidishun says, “Leave with as much time as you possibly can to get to a certain place, and if there is harsh weather, leave earlier.”
Fidishun also advises all drivers to use their headlights in times of harsh weather or any time you use windshield wipers. He adds, “When you’re talking about rain, your visibility is cut way down, same with fog.”
You’ve got to remember it’s not just your life on the road, it’s everybody else’s, so your mistake… affects everybody.
Many students at Bucks are also worried about other drivers. Brianna Hamilton, 20 year-old Nursing major adds “I get nervous… there is a hill on Woodbourne Rd. This guy from St. Mary’s ran right into my mom’s car.”
Jules Goldfarb, a student auditing for this semester said: “They do things on the ice and snow that I wouldn’t do on dry ground…the larger SUVs and such think they are invincible and they are all impatient. Everybody’s got to be first.”
Not all students are concerned about the weather. Dan Robitaille, age 18, and a Small Business Management major said, “My truck doesn’t really get stuck. Nothing really concerns me.”
Harsh weather can be difficult for young drivers with little experience. Fidishun advises young drivers to be careful with their brakes to avoid skidding.
Fidishun believes young people get in accidents during this time of year due to “inexperience and panic,” and advises new drivers to be careful while braking.
Older drivers are also affected by the harsh weather conditions on the roads. Fidishun said, “With older drivers, they have a problem with reaction time. According to DMV.com, Pennsylvania actually recently started retesting older drivers recently for vision and reaction time.
Recently, Pennsylvania faced massive power outages, which left many stoplights out of order. According to Fidishun, when a stoplight is out you should always treat it as a stop sign.
Fidishun said, “When you get there, stop, wait three seconds, make sure you check both ways, and as you’re crossing through the intersection check to the left and the right because you may not have seen something originally. If gives you a chance to be a defensive driver and get out of the way and prevent the accident.”
While it is best to avoid accidents, it is always good to know what to do if you are involved in an accident. Fidishun advises, “Anytime you’re in an accident you should call and make a police report. Get them to come out and make a report, even if nobody is hurt.”
Fidishun also advises accident victims to make sure to exchange your names, addresses, phone numbers, insurance information, as well as year, make, model and license plate of the vehicles involved in the accident, so that insurance can handle the issue as quickly as possible.