Taking care in snowy weather

　When the road is covered with snow, you can’t determine the lanes or the edge of the road, and cars are prone to skidding. The most important thing is to behave carefully. If you aren’t accustomed to snow, take extra attention. For example, be careful not to slip over and wear boots.
　And even if there’s no snow around your house or apartment, often there is snow at the Kakuma campus.

〈Driving a car〉

• ●Switch to studless tires
  　Be sure to replace the tires on all four wheels with winter (studless) tires as early in the winter as possible.
• ●All “sudden” operations are off limits
  　Sudden motion, sudden acceleration, sudden turning, and sudden braking all lead to skidding or the inability to move the vehicle.
• ●Reduce your speed to well below normal
  　On snowy roads, the distance it takes to stop the vehicle is two to four times greater than normal. So reduce your speed to well below normal and maintain more distance than usual from the vehicle in front. Collisions occur frequently on snow-covered roads. If you’re used to driving, use the engine braking to reduce your speed on snowy roads. But the brake lights won’t be illuminated, so be careful not to cause a collision.
• ●Maintain plenty of distance from other vehicles
  　On a snowy road, there’s no knowing when another vehicle will start skidding. So maintain plenty of distance from other vehicles so that you’ll be safe if one of them slides toward you.
• ●Bends on slopes are highly dangerous
  　Even on a gentle bend on flat ground, you will skid at a speed of about 40kph. The Kakuma campus attracts more snow than the urban areas, and the area is filled with slopes and bends.
  　If you skid while ascending, you will block traffic, and if you skid while descending, lives could be in danger.
• ●Even 4WD vehicles skid on roads covered with ice or compacted snow
  　On roads covered with ice or compacted snow, vehicles of any type can skid and become impossible to control.
• ●Freezing in shade and on bridges
  　Kanazawa has a lot of bridges and slopes. Shady areas and the surfaces of bridges are prone to freezing. So slow down in advance and enter them slowly.
• ●Consideration for pedestrians
  　If you enter a puddle of snow melt runoff at high speed, you will spray dirty water and snow like a shower So drivers should show consideration for pedestrians and drive slowly.
• ●A shovel is an essential item to keep in your car
  　Always keep a shovel in the trunk of your care. It’s useful for removing snow from your parking space and getting out when your car has gone into a snowdrift or is stuck in a rut.
• ●Another essential item is a snow wiper
  　A snow wiper is useful for scraping off ice from glass surfaces and removing snow that has settled on your car.

〈Riding a scooter/bicycle〉

• ●Don’t ride two-wheelers on snowy roads!
  　On snow-covered roads, brakes don’t work, and there’s always the danger of skidding and falling off. And if you come off, you might be run over by a car. So basically, don’t ride two-wheelers on snowy roads.
  　Take the bus on days when snow is falling or is on the ground.

〈As a pedestrian〉

• ●Slipping on snowy roads
  　It goes without saying that is easy to lose your footing on snow-covered roads. So wear waterproof shoes for winter that don’t slip easily. Waterproof shoes are an essential winter item as there are lots of places where snow melt runoff is spurting out, lots of puddles, etc.
  　Sometimes you have to walk in the lane for cars, but the edges of roads are sloped, so if you fall over, you could get caught under a car, so it’s very dangerous. To prevent yourself slipping, walk on places where a little snow has settled.

• ●Avoid getting close to cars
  　On snowy roads, cars cannot be controlled. You don’t know when a car is going to skid, so walking close to cars is suicidal.
  　Even if the road is covered with snow, try to walk on the sidewalk if there is one.