The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation urges motorists to drive safely, with tips to bolster safety throughout Winter Driving Awareness Week.

Winter Driving Awareness Week, which runs through Saturday, encourages drivers to check fluid levels, lights, defrosters, windshield wiper blades, tire air pressure and tire tread depth. PennDOT recommends seeing auto care professionals, if needed.

PennDOT also recommends maintaining emergency kits, which could include food, water, first-aid supplies, warm clothes, a blanket, a cellphone charger, a small snow shovel, baby supplies, extra medication, pet supplies or children’s games.

Per state law, drivers must remove ice and snow that accumulates on vehicles within 24 hours of a storm event or else face fines of $50, with penalties of up to $1,500 if snow or ice dislodged from a vehicle causes serious injury.

If motorists must drive during poor weather, PennDOT advises using low beams during snowfalls, maintaining half a tank of gas, reducing speed, increasing following distance and exercising extra caution on bridges and ramps, where ice often forms.

Motorists who encounter plow trucks should grant six car lengths of distance behind these vehicles and keep their lights on to alert them to their presence. They should never try to pass a “plow train” of several plow trucks driving side by side.

Drivers can visit www.511PA.com for information about winter travel and road conditions.