winter driving

Fuinseog

I am looking for a few tips regarding winter driving.

not sure if this is right.

if you hit an icy patch and skid you take your foot off the accelerator and turn in the the direction of the skid?

drive slower and in a low gear for better control.

keep a longer distance from the car in front of you?

oil the car door lock so it does not freeze.

newspaper on the window screen to stop it freezing.

Fuinseog

Fuinseog wrote: »

drive slower and in a low gear for better control.

No, drive in a higher gear
improves traction

Jimmy Garlic

Fuinseog wrote: »

newspaper on the screen to stop it freezing.

Don't use newspaper, it will freeze onto the windscreen if it gets wet. Get some de-icer.

ilovemarmite

One gear higher than normal for speed.

Keep de icer spray, scraper, blanket, bottle water and some chocolate in car just in case.

Check your tyre pressure to make sure correct and check tread on tyre to make sure you don't need new tyres.

If it is snowy/icy etc keep extra distance from car in front, at least 4 seconds instead of 2 which is in normal dry conditions.

Check your bulbs are all working including fog light and all brake lights (remember if it snows heavily you may need hazards to warn drivers if sudden standstill)

If you haven't had your car serviced in last year or so might be good idea to do that before weather starts to get colder/snow/ice etc.

Be sensible if it snows or is very icy and if you do not need to go out urgently don't drive, you might drive fine and be excellent in the weather, it is the drivers who still drive like idiots and take risks in snow/ice that can make your journey hazardous too!

daveharnett

Fuinseog wrote: »

I am looking for a few tips regarding winter driving.

The best general tip when grip is suspect - imagine there's a cup of coffee on the dashboard. Everything you do needs to be smooth.

As to what happens when you do lose grip, the theory is pretty worthless while that kerb is coming toward you, it takes practice. The first chance you get, find an empty, obstacle-free car park covered in ice or packed snow and take the car skating.

little big planet 2

is it true that if you hit a ice patch or lose control that you put your foot down and hold the wheel straight while driving in a straight line

paulmclaughlin

little big planet 2 wrote: »

is it true that if you hit a ice patch or lose control that you put your foot down and hold the wheel straight while driving in a straight line

Take your foot off the pedals and turn into the slide.

little big planet 2

but will that not just spin the car

ADIDriving

Turning into the skid, means that if the back end of your car is slipping to the left you should steer to the left. This will have you going 'straight' but in less a uncontroled manner.

There is a variety of specific situations where you can be losing control of the car in bad weather. The answers are not easily and simply written.

The suggestion of intentionally 'losing control' in a controlled situation ( a vast, empty, flat, space ) is an interesting one. Every winter, I will frequently let a good students experience bad conditions and let them ( in a controled situation ) do a small skid and a small wheel spin.

The best advice is to not go out driving in bad conditions. But if you must drive very slow, get even slower even earlier before turns and stops etc.

rab!dmonkey

Having your car break traction at two or more wheels is more complicated than identifying yourself as being 'in a skid' and applying a one size fits all solution. The correct reaction depends on which wheels have lost traction, the road surface and the drivetrain of the car, amongst other things. Of course the ideal situation is to simply drive more carefully - less acceleration than normal in any direction - and not have any wheels brake traction.

You could do worse than to have a go on Gran Turismo or some other reasonably realistic racing game and see what happens as you lose traction under different scenarios and cars with different weight distributions and drivetrains.

DriversEd

i dont think playing video games is a real learning tool for winter driving. do you really, monkey?
on the distance to be kept between vehicles mentioned in one of the early posts of extending it from 2 second gap to 4 seconds. this should actually be 10 seconds in ice and snow. maybe more depending on the vehicle characteristics, ie loaded or not, rear wheel drive hotrods etc.:)
drive smooth as you can, look well ahead AND behind as what is coming at you from behind is worth avoiding as much as what you're heading for! also, be aware of other drivers who might be in trouble or need extra space or a run at something, eg, trucks need to keep moving if at all possible. i know people often complain of trucks flying up an outside lane in snow, (where grip is not that bad actually), but forget that a truck that has no momentum, and then you block it, even on a small gradient, can become a major hazard, and a hell of a delay for all involved. remember, you wont push an artic up a hill or out of the way!!

if you want any specific advice OP, just let me know, i'll do my best to point you in the right direction.


Ed

Barzini

DriversEd wrote: »

i dont think playing video games is a real learning tool for winter driving. do you really, monkey?

It's a driving simulator;)

DriversEd

a driving simulator, come on barzini, lets at least start to call a spade a spade in this country. its a video game, and although all experience can help to teach someone a new skill. that doesn't make this a driving simulator. with all the inputs to the brain from a real experience, its really the only way to learn winter driving, unfortunately!!

doing is learning!!!

Ed

rab!dmonkey

Have you played Gran Turismo with a steering wheel? Realistically simulating driving is amongst the prime aims of the developers. It's a long way from some arcade-style adrenaline rush, which is what most people think when they hear 'racing game'.

I never suggested that having a go at GT would be all the guidance one would need before taking to treacherous winter roads. I was merely suggesting that it could be a useful tool in examining various circumstances under which you might find that you've exceeded the available traction from your car. For (an extreme) example, the control inputs that kept this car on the road would obviously have had a different effect in a rear wheel drive car.