PennDOT Urges Motorists to Prepare for Winter Driving

To help motorists prepare for winter driving, PennDOT released a new winter driving guide and the creation of a new online traveler information section.

The new winter driving guide is available at www.dot.state.pa.us and through PennDOT district offices. The guide provides winter driving tips and includes a list of what should be included in a simple emergency travel kit. Some of the basic items for every vehicle include first aid supplies, non-perishable food, water, warm clothes, a blanket and a small snow shovel.

The new online travel information section provides a variety of useful tools, including current weather-related travel conditions and closures, which is updated every 15 minutes for all Pennsylvania interstates. The site also provides links to PennDOT traffic cameras, roadway weather information systems and real-time weather conditions.

Another new customer information service that PennDOT is offering is an interstate road conditions hotline where callers can get weather-related road condition information updated every 15 minutes for all Pennsylvania interstates. The toll-free hotline is 1-888-783-6783 for in-state callers; out-of-state callers should call 717-783-5186. The online version of the winter driving guide will be available all winter on the PennDOT Traveler Information page, but a limited number of printed copies are available through local PennDOT District offices. Offices in the AAA Central Penn region are:

• District 2: 814-765-0423 (Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Juniata, McKean, Mifflin and Potter counties)

• District 8: 717-787-1446 (Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York counties)

• District 9: 814-696-7101 (Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fulton, Huntingdon and Somerset counties)