Are Albertans more prone to windshield cracks?

Windshield cracks and rock chips in Alberta are a real thing and if you don’t get a little rock chip fixed as soon as possible, it can turn into a big crack that takes up your entire windshield. Because it’s so common in Calgary, mobile windshield replacement and rock chip repair is a popular service. The question is – what’s to blame for the rock chips in Alberta?

There are several reasons rock chips and cracks are common in Alberta

1 – Well we are in a pickle now aren’t we?

Pickle is part of the problem, “pickle” are small gravel pebbles that are coated with sand and salt. Gravel is displaced to offer traction on the road because below -5 Celsius, salt doesn’t work so well. Calgary can dump 50,000 – 100,000 tons of pickle on the roads every year.

2 – Construction and landscaping trucks can be a contributing factor…

With the population in Alberta growing as fast as it is, there are a ton of new construction sites for new communities that are being built. This leads to a lot of trucks hauling the elements to and from these communities, including landscaping trucks hauling gravel, stone, and mulch as well as construction equipment.

Construction equipment gets very dirty and as it’s transporting items to and from sites, rocks and gravel can fall to the road as the dry mud loosens on this equipment.

3 – Weather is a culprit

Alberta is known for our unpredictable and fluctuating weather. In the winter, chinooks bring warm weather, which heats the roads in and loosens the gravel. When this happens, there are more rock chips in the winter.

Provinces like Manitoba and Saskatchewan both use pickle and don’t see nearly the same amount of rock chips because they don’t fluctuate in temperature like Alberta but instead, keep frozen for longer periods.

It’s always recommended and important for your safety to make sure you get your rock chips in your windshield repaired on a regular basis. Rock chips and cracks in your windshield could impede your vision of the road and become a safety hazard in that the strength of the integrity of the windshield is compromised. Luckily, these repairs are not that expensive. Always safety first!