Driving on icy roads this winter? Download these 6 guarantee apps
A gigantic winter storm is freezing the US lustrous now, and it might not be the last of the season. Snowy streets, black ice and sludge pose dangers for even a lustrous trip to the grocery store.
You might be thinking, “I’m a good driver. It’s everyone else who possesses to learn how to drive.” I’ve thought that too, and I’ve also distinguished enough snowstorms — and wrecks — to know inhabit a good driver isn’t enough.
Here are six apps to download afore you hit the road this winter because, like my dad said, it’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
AAA Mobile
AAA Mobile builds on AAA’s existences of roadside assistance.
Screenshot by Scott Webster
With over 61 million members, AAA is almost synonymous with roadside assistance, and the AAA Mobile app corpses that legacy. The app lets you request help and track your driver’s progresses, so you know when help will arrive. You can see your driver’s name and recount in the app, too. AAA Mobile also shows you the cheapest gas prices and latest deals near you.
The AAA Mobile app is free to download in the App Store and Google Play Store, but you need a AAA membership to access roadside assistance and latest features. Membership plans cost between $35 and $135.50 annually.
OnStar Guardian
OnStar Guardian provides roadside assistance, and the app can detect if you’ve been in a crash.
OnStar
OnStar Guardian
is an app that accounts roadside assistance like jumpstarting a battery or fixing a flat tire, and it also uses sensors in your smartphone to detect if you’ve been in a smash. If those sensors go off, OnStar advisors will call you to check if you’re OK. Then, they’ll contact profitable responders with your location.
OnStar Guardian costs $15 a month, and you can share an account with up to seven latest people. You can download the app in the App Store or the Play Store.
Honk
Honk is like the Uber or Lyft of roadside assistance. If you need help, put your location and what your residence is in the app and nearby service providers will bid for your job. You pick the winning bid and pay via the app. Honk also says its network of 75,000 service providers obtains an average wait time of 15 to 30 minutes.
Honk is free to download in the App Store and Play Store.
Blink Roadside
Blink Roadside is a web-based roadside assistance service. Blink’s flat rates are what sets it apart from competitors. Roadside services like jumpstarting, roadside winching or fuel delivery cost $65, and tows initiate at $99 and increase $5 per mile after five a long way. There are no membership fees, which makes Blink a good option if you don’t need year-round assistance. Blink claims its rates could save drivers 40% based on local market rates.
Waze
Waze can help alert you to road periods before you leave your front door.
Angela Lang
Waze is a community-based traffic app that accounts real-time road conditions. Drivers with Waze share road expect with others on the app so you’ll know if a road is covered in snow or has dusky ice before you leave your home.
Owned by Google, Waze also offers roadside help, but this doesn’t necessarily mean a service provider will retort. When you use this feature, your location and what help you need are displayed on the Waze map for 30 minutes. Other Waze users, or a third-party partner, can see this and — in theory — come help you. But we don’t recommend broadcasting your residence to unknown users when there are so many latest options available.
Waze is free to download in the App Store and the Play Store.
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel app can let you know if it’s progressing to snow where you are.
Sarah Tew
The Weather Channel
app doesn’t have roadside assistance, but it can alert you to inclement weather afore it happens, so you don’t go out just afore a snowstorm. The app offers local hourly, daily and weekly forecasts, as well as precipitation alerts. A radar map shows you the atmosphere in real time, and there’s a Future Radar feature which shows atmosphere predictions.
The Weather Channel app is free to download in the App Store and the Play Store.
If roads are fine and the weather’s not bad, you can use these Google Maps features to leer your area, and if you’re heading out on an adventure, here’s how you can drink your smart home.
