AMA business gets boost from cold weather
The cold snap continues — and the work won't stop for the Alberta Motor Association.
AMA dispatch manager Ryan LeMont said Saturday, as the daytime temperature hovered around –26 C with the wind chill, that the phones have been ringing off the hooks.
"Everything from tows to boosts to tire changes; it's been all hand on deck. Everyone is in helping out," LeMont said.
He said the number of Edmontonians in need of assistance lately is more than twice what it usually is during the winter.
"Typically, we do about 1,300 calls a day," LeMont said. "Since we got this cold weather we've been doing almost three thousand calls a day."
He said the number of requests for a tow truck has doubled and the number of requests related to dead batteries has quadrupled.
Brad Kelly has been working as service-vehicle operator for almost 10 years.
Right now, he's spending full shifts going from call to call.
"As many as you can get through," Kelly said. "In a 10 hour shift we can probably get to about 20 calls."
He has some tips for getting through the winter: allow extra travel time, keep an emergency kit in the car, replace the battery if it's old — and plug in the car.
"Anything colder than –15 C, you should plug your car in," Kelly said.
"It's very important. It's extremely hard on a car trying to start it when it's frozen solid. There's no oil moving around in the engine."
