You were keeping up with traffic, making great time down the highway, when suddenly your windshield gets struck by a stone coming off a construction truck, and your vehicle needs a window replacement. In some cases, this situation is unavoidable – how were you to know what the truck was carrying? – but there are ways to avoid having your windshield struck by flying rock chips.
Barring the role of chance, there are a few simple things you can do to minimize the risk of rock chips taking a chunk out of your windshield:
Increase Your Following Distance
Depending on where you are, the rules differ for how much following distance is required by law. For some, it’s four to six seconds; for others, it’s measured in car lengths. However, it’s questionable how often people follow this rule of the road.
If you want to avoid rock chips creating problems for your windshield and paint, then it’s actually worth increasing the amount of space between you and the vehicle in front of you. The reason increasing following distance helps is that the closer you are to that person, the more likely it is that their car’s rear wheels will pick up something on the road and hurl it at your vehicle, causing cracks in the windshield and other damage.
Reduce Your Speed
In addition to increasing your following distance, you should consider decreasing the speed at which you’re traveling. While it may be tempting to get somewhere faster, there’s a physics-based reason for why you should keep a little closer to the speed limit.
The faster you travel, the more pressure you apply to your wheels, increasing the chance of debris on the road getting kicked up into your vehicle where they can cause damage. However, traveling a little more slowly increases the chance that your tires won’t kick up chips and lessen the impact of debris that gets kicked up. Plus, the slower speed makes it far more likely for you to see debris on the road and avoid it.
Avoid Construction and Gravel Roads as Much As Possible
Finally, the most obvious thing you can do to avoid rock chips is to minimize your car’s exposure to the material. Construction areas and gravel roads increase the chance of rock chips flying into your windshield through the sheer volume of rock chips present. In particular, construction areas have an additional layer of danger, since they often use trucks that require multiple wheels, which multiply the chance of one rock chipping your windshield.
To find out more about how to avoid rock chips, or to get a quote from a Delaware-based window replacement company, call Delaware Auto Glass today!