teabelly wrote:
I am sure the powers that be are missing a trick by not telling people how to drive safely in winter weather.
I've noticed quite a bit that behaviour seems much worse on the first day or two of a cold spell, and especially the first cold spell of winter. Perhaps new and inexperienced drivers need to find out a few things for themselves. Perhaps more experienced drivers forget how to deal with low grip conditions. Either way it's an odd thing.
I'd love to see everyone getting skid pan training, but there are a lot of stories about skid pan training delivering more in the way increased confidence and little in the way of extra ability. In several famous studies skid pan training has been shown to have increased accident rates. Personally I think that's just evidence that the course content is often wrong.
My number one practical winter driving tip is to test the effect of your brakes well before you know you'll need them. So for example if approaching a give way, instead of planning your braking to take account of what you think the grip may be, actually try the brakes about 100 yards too early. In this case if grip turns out to be very low you have more space to sort it out.
Be especially cautious on downhills in icy conditions. It's sometimes possible that you won't be able to slow down at all.
If planning a trip in bad conditions, carry food, blankets, hot drinks and extra clothing.