QCOSTARICA — For many families, Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a time to take a vacation to various destinations such as beaches, resorts, mountains, and everything in between.
Whether it is a long trip to tourist areas such as Guanacaste, the Southern Zone, or the Caribbean coast, for example, performing regular maintenance on your vehicle is crucial in minimizing the risk of traffic accidents or having mechanical problems that can ruin your trip and put a dent in your wallet during the holiday season.
Preventive maintenance involves taking ten minutes to inspect your car, top up fluids (please don’t use water in your cooling system), and check lights, brakes, windshield wipers, and other systems, to ensure they are in working order, including ensuring tires are properly inflated (including the spare), and confirm the emergency kit is fully stocked.
While some inconveniences may appear unexpectedly, others can be avoided by following these steps:
- General inspection: Controls steering, lights, tires, brakes, suspension and battery
- Oil level: Check the engine oil level to avoid serious damage
- Tire pressure: Make sure the pressure is appropriate, considering use and conditions
- Visual inspection of the tires: Check that they have no cuts or dents
- Replacing or rotating tires: Make these changes as indicated by the wear indicator.
- Cooling: Check its level and color, but be careful not to open the container if the vehicle is hot. DO NOT ADD WATER TO THE COOLING SYSTEM.
- Complete emergency equipment: Make sure you have everything you need, such as the spare tire, jack, wrench, triangle, and vest.
“Before embarking on a long trip, we recommend doing a general check of the tires that includes checking the inflation pressure is correct, information that can be found on the vehicle door or in the driver’s manual. Tires in poor condition or inadequate pressure are triggers for incidents on the road. Therefore, checking the tires is an essential action for the safety of the vehicle, since they are the ones that maintain grip on the ground,” said José Andrés Acosta, head of the CarClub Firestone.
During this Holy week that began on Sunday, there have been a total of eight significant car accidents in the early hours of Sunday morning. Luckily, only one of these accidents resulted in a fatality, while the others led to serious to critical injuries.
Emergency services have reported that 19 people were transported to a hospital as a result of traffic accidents that occurred from the early hours of Sunday until this morning.
