Rakes and Brakes and The Importance of Cleaning Off Salt Flakes

I drive at least twenty miles five days a week. Why? I have to get myself to and from school. However, it isn’t as short of a drive as you’d expect. School is from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm. If I leave my house at 7:10 am to get there, I’ll be on time with twenty minutes to spare. If I leave at 7:20, I’m ten minutes late and can’t find parking. It’s all a game of traffic. If I leave the school to go home at 3:35, or promptly, I’ll make it home by 4:15 at the latest. If I leave any later, I hit a weird slowdown on the freeway entrance just down the street and potentially some early rush hour slowdowns the rest of the way home. Apparently everyone in Utah county has somewhere to be Eastbound from 4:45 to 6:30 pm and the congestion stacks up. Usually, I don’t even leave that early. When my younger brother has soccer practice, I’m his chauffeur and wait until 5:00 at the earliest to leave. While traffic in my tiny bubble of a valley is hardly comparable to LA’s bustling chaos, it’s still awful when you just want to get home and finish the stacks of homework you have to get done before class the next morning. It’s awful.

Why is any of this relevant? Well, it sets the scene for our title: “Rakes, Brakes, and The Importance of Cleaning off Salt Flakes.” The rake incident was on a brisk, Spring morning, just a month from when I got a driver’s license. The ordeal was during an earlier than usual commute to school and I fortunately had extra space around my vehicle. A red leaf rake flew out the back of the truck in front of me, but I was able to swerve out of the way to avoid impact. The following distance I left is really what saved my life. That rake, at seventy mph, should’ve pierced the front window of my car and killed me. I’ve had more following distance experiences with similar, miraculous endings too. I’ve had cars merge without blinkers suddenly, vehicles blow tires in front of me, and more. It’s scary, but my basic driver’s education has been a blessing, as it’s taught me to create the time to brake needed to stop in an emergency always.

Now that I’ve cleared up the rake and brake part, you’re probably starting to wonder what salt flakes have to do with driving safety. You see, there are two things you have to know about Utah for this to make sense. First, the Bonneville Salt Flats International Raceway is approximately a two and a half hour drive from where I live. It’s normal for new drivers to learn the basics out there due to the amount of space to maneuver. Second, it’s not uncommon for salt to be on the icy Utah roads in winter. This salt tends to cake onto your car with frequent travels. As such, to prevent rusting, it is important to regularly wash your car. However, salt flakes aren’t the only thing you need to know how to get off your car. You see, regardless of how much you believe in the powers of your rear defroster, you have to wipe the snow off your car. It surprises me how many folks don’t remove snow from their car. This poses a risk to other drivers. It can act as a projectile or obscure visibility. The first problem is obvious, but the second is a bit odd. Utah snow tends to be powdery. Therefore, it easily blows off your car onto others when you hit speeds above thirty mph. Honestly, it’s extremely annoying when the rate of powder hitting your vehicle is not as fast as your lowest wiper rate, but too frequent for it to be practical to turn it on manually each time you need to clear your windshield. It’s such a silly problem with such an easy solution. It’s also such a silly problem to have ants or mice in your car. Most get in because there’s food chilling in your car door or under the back seat. My parents had that problem a while back. Mice chew through wiring, which is, frankly, dangerous. On top of that, the damage from rodents and ants can get expensive. The damage from snow and salt can be too. For instance, if the seals of your doors aren’t regularly checked and cleaned, they may freeze shut in the winter from water. I found that one out the hard way. As such, routine cleaning is extremely important to safety.

No matter how much I drive, I learn something new every time, whether from awareness gained by other drivers’ misfortunes or personal trials experienced with my own failures. However, with every lesson comes a renewed sense of strength and safety. Cars are dangerous, but the operation of them can be made safer with more practice and awareness.