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MARQUETTE COUNTY -- It had been snowing now for the better portion of 24 hours, and if you were out of the house Wednesday, you know the road conditions weren't spectacular.

I hopped in a cop car Wednesday afternoon and rode along with the Marquette County Sheriff's Department to get some safe driving tips for the winter ahead.  During our trip, we came across Reino Laitinen, busy with his plow, clearing snow along Midway Drive in Negaunee Township.  He blames the treacherous conditions just as much on blowing snow as on falling snow.

"Soon as you get it moved from one place, the wind starts up and it's drifting back again.  It's just terrible out here," said Laitinen.

While riding along, we came across a stranded car on Forge Road in Negaunee.  It belongs to area hockey player Dave Johnson.  He's used to the ice at the rink, but today's conditions were too much to handle.

"I'm a Marquette Ranger, and I was trying to get to hockey and decided to take the wrong road.  And the snow's just too deep for my tiny car, and I got stuck," explained Johnson.

Sheriff's Deputy Dean Rushford says that's pretty common.  Low-profile vehicles just don't have enough height to make it over some snow mounds.  In fact, the same thing happened to a low-profile car trying to make a right turn onto the highway in Negaunee Township.

"The road is very, very slick, and from the appearance, she was coming down this hill to slow down, and she slid right into the snow bank and got high-centered.  Again, with low-profile vehicles, this type of conditions, they're just not adequate," said Deputy Rushford.

If you do have to travel the roads, and you do get stuck, call 911.  They'll be able to pinpoint exactly where you are, alert the proper police force and tell any snow plows that are in the area to be on the lookout for a stranded vehicle, so there's no threat of a collision.  But the big advice that the deputy can't stress enough:

"With the conditions that we have, we are definitely encouraging people to stay off the roads."