Do you adjust your motorway driving in cold weather?

flazio

When temperatures approach freezing, do you make any adjustment to your speed or braking distances or do you feel that gritted roads should provide the same level of grip as a damp road in warmer conditions and treat the road as such?

Eric Cartman

normally just stay a little under the speed limit, if its late at night or early in the morning add more caution as the road hasn't been used a lot.

Grolschevik

I constantly adjust my driving, on any road, depending on the conditions and context. Don't most people?

Toyotafanboi

I try to make sure there is a car 100m or so ahead of me at all times, if they are ok, I should be too. If they go pear shaped, I have a few seconds to react. I don't like to be "in the lead" on icey mornings, selfish, but foolproof. If I do have to take the lead, I take it very handy.

Big Nasty

Grolschevik wrote: »

I constantly adjust my driving, on any road, depending on the conditions and context. Don't most people?

This

neris

Grolschevik wrote: »

I constantly adjust my driving, on any road, depending on the conditions and context. Don't most people?

er no, going by what Ive seen on busy roads and the M50 when its bucketing down some people still think the sun is splitting the stones and visibility is clear at 10 miles, so Id imagine these are the same idiots who still do the speed limit and more when its -5 and hazy

polan

I really, really do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygBP7MtT3Ac

Del2005

Grolschevik wrote: »

I constantly adjust my driving, on any road, depending on the conditions and context. Don't most people?

Most people drive at a constant 80 regardless of the road or conditions.

Mintoe

flazio wrote: »

When temperatures approach freezing, do you make any adjustment to your speed or braking distances or do you feel that gritted roads should provide the same level of grip as a damp road in warmer conditions and treat the road as such?

REALLY!!!!.......Surely common sense can tell you the answer..... and the answer applies to all roads not just motorways.....

jca

Del2005 wrote: »

Most people drive at a constant 80 regardless of the road or conditions.

The same people who call the speed vans a money making racket when they get caught doing 80 in the 60 zone... Sister in law is one of those drivers, actually I should say, was, she gave up driving when her insurance company gave her a renewal quote that looked like it was in Lira instead of euros, 10 points didn't help I suppose.

Special Circumstances

I love leading questions as thread titles, don't you?

Vicxas

While i'm all for taking it easy on icy mornings, doing 30km/h in a 100 zone is also asking for trouble. Far too many people are too nervous or dont know what to do on icy mornings.

Special Circumstances

Vicxas wrote: »

While i'm all for taking it easy on icy mornings, doing 30km/h in a 100 zone is also asking for trouble. Far too many people are too nervous or dont know what to do on icy mornings.

40 kph between killarney and farranfore yesterday. Dry road. Light mist, very very light. Good road mostly.

I was actually worried at the erratic nature of the speed on one hill that 2nd gear wouldn't do.

Mini bus with no company name on it. That driver was a disgrace to professional drivers.

bpmurray

Special Circumstances wrote: »

40 kph between killarney and farranfore yesterday. Dry road. Light mist, very very light. Good road mostly.

I was actually worried at the erratic nature of the speed on one hill that 2nd gear wouldn't do.

Mini bus with no company name on it. That driver was a disgrace to professional drivers.

It's the muppets doing 40 on the right lane of the motorway that drive me nuts.

Steve F

Two cars seen on their roofs going to work this morning.Does that provide an answer?

biko

Because a lot of people still have summer tyres on I really hope they take extra care and attention when driving on icy roads.

CiniO

flazio wrote: »

When temperatures approach freezing, do you make any adjustment to your speed or braking distances or do you feel that gritted roads should provide the same level of grip as a damp road in warmer conditions and treat the road as such?

If the road is gritted then I drive the same as if it was just wet at higher temperatures.

If I expect ice to be on the road in some places, I would slow down a lot on those places.

Cabaal

biko wrote: »

Because a lot of people still have summer tyres on I really hope they take extra care and attention when driving on icy roads.

People in Ireland change to winter tyres?
since when?

The Backwards Man

biko wrote: »

Because a lot of people still have summer tyres on I really hope they take extra care and attention when driving on icy roads.

Winter tyres won't do much for you on black ice at motorway speeds though.

You can have all the grip in the world, but if you are oblivious to road conditions, frightened by road conditions, or even over confident that you can handle the road conditions, the road will catch you out

Skatedude

I adjust my driving as conditions change of course , only an idiot wouldn't .

flazio

CiniO wrote: »

If the road is gritted then I drive the same as if it was just wet at higher temperatures.

If I expect ice to be on the road in some places, I would slow down a lot on those places.

This is the kind of thing I wanted to hear about. CinO appears confident that on a motorway, a bit of salt is enough to keep the roads in a condition that 120km/h + is still OK and yet another poster reports two cars on their roofs. (or maybe has faith in their Quattro system). Drivers of RWD cars (one brand in particular) also seem confident that nothing can hamper driving conditions on a motorway.
In answer to other posts, yes I take it as a given that drivers should and mostly do adjust their driving style on national and local single carriage roads. However on motorways it seems the percentage of drivers adjusting to the conditions lowers as they seem to trust the Road infrastructure provider (TII, M6, M50 companies etc) to do everything possible to keep the motorway ice free, which in my opinion is not always going to be possible.

beertons

More so when the clocks change and the mornings and evenings are darker. Trying to spot people sauntering along with no lights, they could come from any direction. I'm like a jack Russell in heat looking out over the wheel for the cvnts.

Cheensbo

Not motorway driving -

My morning commute today consisted of about a mile and a half of limiter bashing sidewaysness, didn't need to clear the windscreen at all, just wound down the windows

So yeah.. slight adjustment...

Del2005

Steve F wrote: »

Two cars seen on their roofs going to work this morning.Does that provide an answer?

I've seen cars on their roofs in perfect conditions on a motorway. So cold or warm cars in Ireland end up on their roofs, that's my answer.

KOR101

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I try to make sure there is a car 100m or so ahead of me at all times, if they are ok, I should be too. If they go pear shaped, I have a few seconds to react. I don't like to be "in the lead" on icey mornings, selfish, but foolproof. If I do have to take the lead, I take it very handy.

I'm trying to imagine the M50 with every car 100m apart.:rolleyes:

creedp

beertons wrote: »

More so when the clocks change and the mornings and evenings are darker. Trying to spot people sauntering along with no lights, they could come from any direction. I'm like a jack Russell in heat looking out over the wheel for the cvnts.

In my book the most noticeable trait of a lot of drivers on the M1 since the hour went back is crawling along for miles doing between 30 to 40 mph. Such a bloody pain. I always hate to see overhead signs telling people to slow down due to 'standing water' on wet evenings. Guarantee drivers will take this to heart and slow to a snails pace even if the road surface is bloody dry. All I can think is that a lot if drivers are so clueless of what is going on outside their cars that they cant actually work out how they should be driving for the prevailing conditions.