**By Sarah Bailey, Seattle Customer Service Representative**

Recently, I had the unfortunate experience of having my car break down, which led to the even more unfortunate experience of having to buy a new car. Since I work for a company that provides security systems and environmental monitoring, staying safe in all climates is something that is often on my mind. When I got my new car, I started doing research on how to be properly winterized and I came up with some good resources that I think would be helpful to everyone.

The best article I could find on proper winterization was from Cartalk. Click and Clack (aka Tom and Ray Tuppet) make it easy for anyone who drives to know what to do with their car in any situation. I admit, that sometimes I drive around randomly just so that I can listen to their radio show J. When I read their winter driving suggestions, I especially liked their suggestion about putting weight in the trunk for winter driving!

I found a great app for my phone from the Washington State Department of Transportation. Their website contains lots of useful information about current traffic and road conditions, and also has alerts about road closures due to construction, but is hard to access on a smart phone. Their app is easy to use, and has all of the same data, just formatted for a smart phone. Just remember, never use the app while driving!

Seriously– don’t text and drive!

On the topic of cars and safety, make sure you always lock your car doors to prevent theft. If you have a garage at home, you might also look into a residential alarm system to make sure no one has access to your car or home. As a customer service representative, I’d be happy to talk to you about ways to increase your security!

Hopefully these resources help keep you safe on the road this winter.