{"id":202074,"date":"2026-01-29T21:39:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T02:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=202074"},"modified":"2026-01-29T21:39:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T02:39:54","slug":"storm-led-to-many-roadside-help-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/01\/29\/storm-led-to-many-roadside-help-calls\/","title":{"rendered":"Storm led to many roadside help calls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>VW indepenent staff\/submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>AAA emergency roadside service has been very busy since last weekend\u2019s powerful winter storm swept across the state, grinding travel to a halt and stranding motorists. It was followed by frigid conditions, including highs in the single digits and sub-zero lows and wind chills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur roadside calls helped us track the different stages of this storm,\u201d said Morgan Dean, public affairs manager for AAA Club Alliance in Ohio. \u201cOn Saturday, with the cold weather moving in ahead of the snow, battery calls surged with 43 percent of our calls that day being for battery issues. By Sunday, with the snow still coming down and blanketing the state, nearly half of our calls were requests to help pull stranded drivers out of the snow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"350\" height=\"174\" src=\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AAA-roadside-2026.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-202076\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Many motorists needed assistance after Sunday&#8217;s winter storm. <em>AAA photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>On Monday, battery issues and tows made up two-thirds of all calls in the AAA Club Alliance territory in Ohio. By Tuesday, as many more drivers were starting to dig out, batteries and tows made up&nbsp;75 percent of all roadside calls for the day. 1,857 battery calls were made that day, along with 1,817 calls for a tow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Batteries are struggling to keep a charge in this week\u2019s bone-chilling temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;\u201cAt 32 degrees, a battery loses about 35 percent of its power, while needing 1.5 times as much power to start a vehicle,\u201d Dean said.&nbsp;\u201cAt zero degrees, it\u2019s lost 60 percent of its power but needs two times as much power to get a car started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Problems Causing Vehicle Breakdowns<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to AAA, the most common reasons for emergency roadside service calls during this storm have been:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Extractions, e.g. pulling vehicles from a ditch or shoulder after a slide off<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Dead batteries, jump starts and battery replacements<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>General engine problems and non-starts requiring a tow<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Flat tires and other tire problems<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMany of the vehicle problems seen during this arctic blast are a good reminder of the importance of regular vehicle maintenance, especially prior to extreme weather like we see in winter,\u201d Dean said. \u201cOld or weak batteries will have a difficult time starting a vehicle in freezing or sub-zero temperatures; have your battery charge tested. Tires gradually lose air pressure in cold temperatures and don\u2019t offer good traction if the tread is low.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFluids such as fresh oil, antifreeze and winter blend wiper fluid are also important to check and refresh in winter,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>VW indepenent staff\/submitted information AAA emergency roadside service has been very busy since last weekend\u2019s powerful winter storm swept across the state, grinding travel to a halt and stranding motorists. It was followed by frigid conditions, including highs in the single digits and sub-zero lows and wind chills. \u201cOur roadside calls helped us track the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-202074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-16 03:59:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202074"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202077,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202074\/revisions\/202077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}