Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
Driving in strom

On Thin Ice! Perilous Driving Condtions And How To Overcome Them

Driving in treacherous weather is always difficult. Regardless of your skill as a driver you will always encounter conditions that test your ability to drive under pressure. Wherever you are in the world, there is more freak weather with every passing year. So here are the more dangerous condtions and what to do to get by in that scenario.

Driving in strom

Snow Storm

While lovely to look at, it brings so many risks to drivers that are not prepared to deal with it.

The first thing to say is, if the snow is so terrible and conditions are so dangerous that it affects your abilty to see out your windscreen, then if you don’t need to drive in it, don’t! Don’t put family and friends at risk if you can help it.

If you are driving in the snow, the best thing to do is to slow your speed down by about 10 miles per hour. If you feel that the conditions are still questionable, reduce your speed by another 5 miles per hour or until you feel that you are comfortable enough.

When you enter a turn, don’t apply the brake. This can cause the car to spin out. Before you get to the bend, start to tap the brake lightly in order to slow the vehicle to a speed that is more managable. As the curve bends, turn the wheel to coast round it, without pressing the accelerator or brake.

Another issue in the snow is skidding. To remedy this you need to turn the wheel of the car towards the direction of the skid. If you are skidding to the left, then turn the wheel to the left. This cancels out the skid. And finally, keep your distance behind cars in front to give you a good amount of reaction time. Just in case they need to brake the car suddenly.

Foggy Conditions

The first step is to turn on the fog lights or put the low beam on. The yellow lights will shine through fog better than the white lamps. Before entering a fog bank, you need to pump the brakes. The brake light shining will alert drivers behind you to stay a safe distance. If you have to brake suddenly, you will have a safe distance between vehicles so that Vauxhall Astra won’t go careering into the back of you!

Before you drive over a hill, you need to slow the vehicle down. If you are driving over a hill, driving slowly will keep you more alert in case there is another car stopped on the other side of the hill.

Icy Conditions

When it comes to ice, you need to avoid driving on it completely! The skidding factor and the fact that the car can easily spin out will very likely cause a major accident. Black ice is a common issue that you cannot prepare for for the most part. But you can spot it when your headlamps reflect off the road during the night. Black ice usually forms on bridges, at intersections and also in the shadows of buildings that are tall. If you are driving in freezing condtions then those types of areas are where you need to be cautious.