For those who drive, how dangerous was last winter?

CorkMan

It is obvious the danger for pedestrians, I fell twice last winter.

I assume it would be safer while driving but I could be wrong. But did anyone who drove almost crash?

brianthebard

I slid into the back of a car (on my bicycle).

Tabnabs

Better off asked in the motors forum. But yes, plenty crashed and it was extremely dicey at times.

Run_to_da_hills

I had to abandon my car twice at the bottom of a hill during the ice spell, I wouldn't take chances.

biko

After Hours -> Drivers forum
I didn't crash or hit anyone but had a few scary moments.

ottostreet

Dangerous if ya had a RWD anyway. I very much enjoyed the challenge of driving a BMW with no traction control in the snow properly.

syklops

A farmer friend of mine put her Pajero jeep onto the roof turning a corner.

I think the number of accidents was quite low, the reason for which IMO, being most people avoided venturing out.

seamus

In terms of bodily injuries, I'd say it's safer to drive alright - everyone was moving very slowly, most crashes were knocks and scrapes when people couldn't stop.

In terms of cost, a bruised arse and a grazed elbow are cheaper than new body panels and wheels - the amount of cars who mounted kerbs was unreal.

Only scary moment for me was sliding backwards 30m down a hill when I didn't quite make it up on the first go.

cantdecide

Cork defo got away with murder last Winter. I personally only saw one proper snowfall. The ice in the shade was brutal though. IMO, if you are car inclined, driving isn't as dangerous as you'd think. If you don't have 'feel' (or brains for that matter) fender benders are a definite risk. Bodily harm in cars from icey conditions probably didn't feature greatly.

unkel

During the worst few days I took it easy. I was out every day, but only on local trips and I avoided any hills. Had no accident, no near-misses, no skids and lost traction only a handful of times but only for a fraction of a second. That was in a FWD saloon. I would not have driven the RWD saloon...

And I have experience driving in the snow (not in this country). Anyone not knowing what they're at should not have been driving at all imho.

ShatterProof

going fairly slowly I hit a ditch.......€3,000 damage ...... on the first day of new insurance policy with new company

corktina

last winter was the worst for decades and was seriously dangerous,mitigated only by many people staying off the road. If we ever have another like that or anywhere near as bad, staying home is the best advice (if you can)

dak

One really bad experience with ice and slush and snow on Blanchardstown dual carriage way. Traffic was very heavy and hardly moving but it was still just one big slide . I had an automatic at the time which is not as good as a manual in freezing conditions.. was glad to get home in one piece without a dent!

Glenza69

My car skidded into a lampost and completely wrote off. Damn black ice!! My fault for not driving too slow. If it's going to be anything like last winter, be safe, drive slow!!

Zubeneschamali

I stayed home for a few days, but then had to venture out. Did Dublin-Athlone a couple of times, was slow but OK as long as there was enough traffic, but after the M4-M6 split, when traffic was much lighter, things got dangerous for a few miles.

One BMW coupe driver booted past a whole line of traffic, and we passed him a couple of miles later, standing making a call while looking at the nose of his car poking up a bank out of a drift. Obviously spun out and went off and over the edge ass-first, on a straight stretch of Motorway. Idiot.

Anan1

Apparently on a lot of motorways they gritted the left lane but not the right one.

KamiKazi

Last winter was lots of fun on the bike

cantdecide

KamiKazi wrote: »

Last winter was lots of fun on the bike

At one stage, I was tracking along some tyre tracks on the GSX after a bad freeze. I kicked my leg out to confirm that the hump alongside me was slush. When my leg thunked onto the 'slush', I realised it wasn't slush :eek:

Mozoltov!

Anan1 wrote: »

Apparently on a lot of motorways they gritted the left lane but not the right one.

'Twas the opposite on the M1. I remember when I was going to and from Beaumont to see my brother the left lane and hard shoulder were coated over and the right lane was gritted.

dr.fuzzenstein

ottostreet wrote: »

Dangerous if ya had a RWD anyway. I very much enjoyed the challenge of driving a BMW with no traction control in the snow properly.

I drove a BMW (1986 318i so not a rocket) in the snow once and I nearly regretted not having put nappies on before setting off.
OP:
We had first snow, then ice, then rain and subsequently ice covered in water going uphill.
I don't know how but my ancient Focus estate diesel never got stuck except when I veered left to let a 4x4 past and my left wheel got stuck in the ditch.
The 4x4 driver (a neighbour) kindly pulled me out there and then.
On one or two occasions drove up to junction, black ice, applied brake and kept on going at completely the same speed, brakes had no effect.
So, take care approaching junctions, if there's ice you could slide right into the main road and that's not a good thing.

Mozoltov!

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

I drove a BMW (1986 318i so not a rocket) in the snow once and I nearly regretted not having put nappies on before setting off.
OP:
We had first snow, then ice, then rain and subsequently ice covered in water going uphill.
I don't know how but my ancient Focus estate diesel never got stuck except when I veered left to let a 4x4 past and my left wheel got stuck in the ditch.
The 4x4 driver (a neighbour) kindly pulled me out there and then.
On one or two occasions drove up to junction, black ice, applied brake and kept on going at completely the same speed, brakes had no effect.
So, take care approaching junctions, if there's ice you could slide right into the main road and that's not a good thing.

Not advised but when I had my 1st car (a little Pug) I was in a car park and hit black ice with my left wheels and was sliding in to a wall 'cause it was a slightly sloped carpark.

The car didn't have ABS so I held the foot break to stop the wheels and put it in to reverse and floored it. Feckin' worked aswell!

Cat Melodeon

I was driving a Micra last winter and it was more like snowboarding than driving - managed to get up hills but coming down them was nuts. Needless to say I stayed off the roads as much as possible, only ventured out once I knew the gritter had been.

bullpost

Went into a 180 degree spin on a roundabout. It was quiet at the time so no danger.
Missus skidded on ice and got a puncture after hitting kerb.

Minstrel27

It was awful. I almost skid into a roundabout (one with a wall built on it :mad:) on one occasion. When driving to work another day I almost lost control of the car and another morning I had to turn around and go home.

Driving in January sucked lots of balls.

RedXIV

Only started driving this year (april) and got my license in Oct, any tips I should know about for driving in snow or ice? Only had 5 lessons so instructor didn't get into the snow stuff

Mozoltov!

RedXIV wrote: »

Only started driving this year (april) and got my license in Oct, any tips I should know about for driving in snow or ice? Only had 5 lessons so instructor didn't get into the snow stuff

Double your trip times, double stopping distance (maybe even triple in some cases), easy on accelerating and braking, drive at about half or less of the speed limit, increase your circle of awareness, don't use fogs unless there is fog.

Zubeneschamali

RedXIV wrote: »

any tips I should know about for driving in snow or ice?

Imagine there's an egg between your right foot and the pedals.

Don't break the egg!

furtzy

Engine brake as much as possible to slow down instead of the brakes and drive in as high a gear as possible e.g 3rd instead of 2nd etc to avoid wheel spin. Once you get the hang of it its quite easy....pity about the other idiots who just continue as normal despite the conditions

cul-2008

I drove from Co. Limerick to the arsehole of Leitrim in early January of this year to collect my girlfriend and it was one of the hairiest drives I ever went on. Snow, black ice, the odd shower or two of sleet just to make the roads extra slippery..I nearly spun out twice on roundabouts going about 10mph and almost rear ended a rav 4 at a roundabout too, nothing worse than seeing something like that happen in slow motion!


It was a challenge, but I'm glad I did it...see myself as a more capable driver after it and I still have a girlfriend!

El Guapo!

Took it as handy as I could last year. Had a couple of scary moments though. I drive an automatic bmw so the RWD combined with the auto box = a nightmare on the ice! Not looking forward to this year!

legallyblonde86

even though i drove slowly i slid around bends. i didn't crash bur had a lot of near misses.

Wasn't safe at all!!!

Realtine

I took the 'safe' option and got taxies a couple of times to and from work, far too expensive, but thought rather his car than mine, one taxi driver was eastern european and had winter tyres on his car and he bombed along, scared the bejesus out of me, overtaking the few buses that were out and about, said he was well used to that type of weather, I clung on for dear life I can tell you, still he seemed to know what he was doing.

On another note, a work colleague wrote off her car skidding down a hill into the back of a line of cars that were stopped because of an accident - I'm dreading the fact that we might have some of the same snow again,

thinking about the winter tyres for the car, but while that might help me, it won't stop someone from crashing into me of course.

Diapason

Didn't crash, but that's because my RWD spent most of its time in the driveway for the worst of it.

Atomic Pineapple

I drove from Dun Loaghaire to Ardee on what was the worst weekend of it, Took the M50 - M1 - Ardee Link Road all of which were fine, the back roads however to my house were impassable, hills were simply slides!

cullen5998

Very dangerous. Decided not to drive unless I really had to. Road to my house in Limerick city was up a hill and was so icy the car would start to go backwards when about half way up! Not good:eek:

Then there were the floods. Going around a bend to find a lake on the road!

The potholes mixed in to all this didnt help either. I thought i had broken my suspension when driving through a puddle to find that it had a pothole about half a foot deep in the middle of it. Some bang as i drove through it.

On a scale of 1-10 it was a ten

CiniO

Reading answers in that thread, as well, as what I observed last winter, it looks like Irish people just don't know how to drive on snow and ice.
Worst thing is that barely anyone wants to learns.
First thing is to be able to control skids.
Usually, when skid occurs, it's over and car crashes. If only people learnt to control skids, driving in winter wouldn't be a problem.

Stinicker

Had no problems last winter even with an Automatic RWD. Had some fun in empty carparks though. I had ice and snow on the ground for 4 weeks roughly but by going on the side of caution I got away with it. My biggest problem was swerving trying to avoid other idiots from hitting me.

shogunpower

my advice is if you have a BMW, lock it up and don't even try to move it. mines wouldn't move 2 inches anyway with the useless all season tires, which is why i bought an old shogun so if i hit that what odds its worth nothing anyway.

djimi

Last winter was the first time in 10 years of driving that I was genuinely terrified behind the wheel of a car. I drove home from Clontarf to Naas on new years eve/morning when the snow fell, and sitting on the hill approaching the lights in Palmerstown with another hundred or so drivers all stuck on the ice watching a cement lorry start to slide back down the hill at me is a nightmare that will live with me for a long long time.

There are very few situations that will make me venture out in weather like that again. The slightest hint of snow this year and my car is staying firmly parked in the driveway!

Chriscl1

I only had to travel between rathmines and inchicore during the freeze and I loved going out on the empty roads, especially over the weekend to and from work doing controlled slides and generally getting in some good experience in such conditions. It's a pity more people don't get out and try it instead of waiting until they have no choice and then get it all very wrong.

djimi

CiniO wrote: »

Reading answers in that thread, as well, as what I observed last winter, it looks like Irish people just don't know how to drive on snow and ice.
Worst thing is that barely anyone wants to learns.
First thing is to be able to control skids.
Usually, when skid occurs, it's over and car crashes. If only people learnt to control skids, driving in winter wouldn't be a problem.

Of course we dont know how to drive on snow and ice; bar a few days here and there we almost never get weather as extreme as last winter. I can only think of one other winter in the last 20 years that the roads were as bad as they were last year. Naturally most people were caught out by conditions that they rarely if ever face.

CiniO

djimi wrote: »

Of course we dont know how to drive on snow and ice; bar a few days here and there we almost never get weather as extreme as last winter. I can only think of one other winter in the last 20 years that the roads were as bad as they were last year. Naturally most people were caught out by conditions that they rarely if ever face.

That's true.
We don't get such a conditions in Ireland usually, so it's obvious people don't really have a chance to learn.
But if someone wants to, one will.

Here's an example by Stinicker:

Had no problems last winter even with an Automatic RWD. Had some fun in empty carparks though. I had ice and snow on the ground for 4 weeks roughly but by going on the side of caution I got away with it. My biggest problem was swerving trying to avoid other idiots from hitting me.

He trained a bit as he said (by having fun) and after training he could better feel the car, and be able to control it on slippery surface.
It's a pity that barely anyone does it.
It's a pity that there isn't really any advanced driving schools which would offer driving on slippery surface lessons.

Do-more

CorkMan wrote: »

It is obvious the danger for pedestrians, I fell twice last winter.

Get yourself a pair of these this winter, they are the dog's gonads



http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/YAKTRAX-WALKER-Ice-Grips-Ice-Cleats-Crampons-/110598951532?pt=Men_s_Accessories_UK&var=&hash=item5f769b546a#ht_778wt_905

eurokev

I slid all the way down high street hill going onto the junction with capwell in cork city. About 300 or 400ft. Managed not to hit any car on the side of the road somehow despite going down half the hill sideways and was only stopped by the island at the end. Totally buckled my wheel but somehow got away with only having to pay 200 to get it fixed:D and:(

johnos1984

I drove into the side of my sisters house.

God I felt stupid but later found out her kids had made a 'slide' from the ice. I was breaking and trying to steer the car for 100 yards before I slid into it. It was just an ice sheet. When I got out of the car I fell and banged my head

eurokev

johnos1984 wrote: »

When I got out of the car I fell and banged my head

lol

bmw535d

lol double epic fail!

Gary ITR

I was still working in Field Sales last year, I was out driving every day for hours every day, tbh if you're careful and pay extra care it wasn't very dangerous at all. Very very easy to have a small tip and bend a panel yes but putting your life in danger or anything? Not if you're as careful as you should be.

My advice also, if you don't feel confident driving or don't know how todrive in cold or icy conditions then don't drive

cjmcork

I drove from Dublin to Cork on the Thursday that it was really bad and it was the most terrifying 4.5 hours of driving in my entire life - particularly fun was the M7 when the artics were kicking back dirt and the windscreen washer yokes were frozen and I had to pull into the ungritted hard shoulder..........and try to pull out again into traffic while trying to control wheelspin.............think I bit 7 of my 9 lives that day

(also broke to stop at a junction traffic lights and sailed straight through.....just poxed there was no one coming from any direction............)

certainly won't be attempting anything like it this year - got my snow socks for my tyres the other day, so I'll be able to get to the shops and to work, but won't be doing cross country.........

Captain Slow IRL

I drove 70 miles each day to work with no mis-haps, luckily enough - one particularly hairy moment on black ice though:(