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Winter safety behind the wheel

Due to record breaking cold temperatures and heavy snowfall, the BPD would like to remind Bellevue citizens how to keep safe while driving in the winter. BPD has been covering an unusually high number of crashes as well as people running their cars into snowbanks and getting stuck.

Captain Herb Evers is commander of the Road Patrol Bureau. He has this advice for Bellevue’s drivers:

1. Think about winter before winter by checking the condition of the vehicle you’ll be driving most often. This includes the tires, battery and windshield wipers.
2. Leave earlier than normal for your destination so that you can allow yourself to drive more slowly.
3. Keep lots of extra room all around your car in case you have to take evasive actions.
4. Make sure your car will start and continue to run for several minutes before you start driving.

Evers acknolwedges that the fourth suggestion above requires warming the engine before driving. It's technically illegal to leave a car on the street, with engine running and without a driver. However, he adds, 'If you’re watching your car and the doors are locked and we stop to check it and you’re right there to let us know you’re watching it, we’re gonna say ‘alright, have a great day' and we’re gonna drive away.' Evers says keep your car within your view at all times while warming the engine.

Bellevue Police also doesn’t use an Accident Alert system which asks citizens not to call the police and instead to swap information with the other driver in the event of an accident. Bellevue Police recommends calling the police for any accident, Evers explains, "We have never gone on accident alert, we want to be out there protecting those people’s rights. They have several rights when they’re in an accident. We want the call, plain and simple." There are more winter driving safety information in the FAQ section of this website.

Photo by Sgt Matt Jarvis