BUFFALO, N.Y. — A winter mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain made for some slick commutes Wednesday night. Cars and roads were expected to see a lot of ice through the night.
"I have to go to work at six in the morning so I'm not feeling too good about that," said driver Bruce Foster
"It's very slippery out so I would just like to tell everyone just be careful driving its very slippery out," said student Asad Waffi.
Shawn Gancasz, AAA Fleet Supervisor said not to panic because at peak hours they have about 20 Light Service Drivers and 10 Tow Operators standing by to help. He told 7 News, depending on the conditions, it can take between 45 minutes to 2 hours for aid to get to you.
"It's difficult because we understand like they're in need and as much as we want to get there as fast as possible we also have to make sure we're practicing the things to make sure we're safe too," said Gancasz.
Gancasz said any driver on the road Wednesday night and Thursday morning should remember to accelerate and decelerate slowly, increase your following distance to about eight to 10 seconds instead of just three and be careful when you step on your brakes.
"If it is in a situation where you're trying to slow down because maybe you're coming up on somewhere you have to stop," said Gancasz. "We want you to practice what they call threshold breaking. It's where you keep the heel of your foot down on the floorboards and you put the ball of your foot on the break pedal and you firmly press onto the breaks."
Gancasz said it's also best to not start your car ahead of time. He said one of their most high volume calls are from people who have locked themselves out of their cars. He said if you can leave your car in the garage or a carport great, if you can't there are still precautions you can take.
"Try to place you vehicle somewhere in your driveway or wherever you park it where its not under any branches or trees or power lines or any other objects that could potentially build up with ice and maybe fall and damage your vehicle," said Gancasz.
While these conditions may not be the worst this city has ever seen, you can never be too safe.
"It's Buffalo," said Foster. "We all know what it's about. Just try to prepare and have some flashlights at home and the proper stuff you need at home to get by."
