Although the Canadian winter was looking fairly mild at first, the winter winds have gone full-throttle now, blowing the region a bitter winter that is predicted to range from temperatures of -20 to -28 degrees Celsius across different regions. This bone-chilling weather has come hand in hand with some unbelievable accident or collision spikes on Canadian highways, with some areas getting collision figures in the 60s for a single day and other areas getting stunning numbers in excess of a hundred for a single morning. In Ontario alone, nearly 150 collisions were reported in the early morning rush hour stretch, which spans a period of merely 3 hours. The result has been a spate of calls to auto glass repair and collision work shops, as motorists fight to stay mobile and able to go to work—this despite the fact that most authorities are now advising that locals stay at home for as long as the extreme cold lasts.
According to auto glass repair and collision repair authorities, a good number of the calls they are getting are not even from those who have been in accidents on the road. Apparently, locals are getting into trouble even at home, most especially with their glass defrost measures. Auto glass repair technicians are telling stories of people failing to defrost their windows properly and ending up with a need for windshield replacement after cracking their windshields with injudicious usage of the scraper. Auto glass repair experts are already giving out tips to the press and to others directly on how to defrost glass without damaging it, but the problems seem to persist, and the shops keep filling up.
Despite all of this, authorities say that the country is fortunate in that the number of fatal or near-fatal injuries from collisions has been remarkably low. They are crediting it to the care and precautions the citizens themselves are taking, and are advising locals to keep their vigilance on the roads, especially with fluctuating temperatures likely to produce patches of slippery, accident-causing black ice on Canadian roads. Black ice is formed when frost and snow start to melt, only to be frozen by a sudden drop in temperature that causes the melted water to freeze in a sheet-like configuration, making it especially treacherous. A possible precaution would be winter tires, according to authorities, as well as careful driving.
Luckily for the region, temperatures are expected to warm up this week, perhaps to more forgiving temperatures above the negative range. In the meantime, though, collision repair businesses and auto glass repair stores shall just have to pick up the slack and deal with those unfortunate enough to suffer vehicle damage on the frozen roads.
