Driving in the snow for the first time...

[tonkatojo]

true driver you can drive any weather or condition

Yeah in a drott or cat maybe.

[trix]

i wis planin goin til thurso enite but now am no sure.

iv choost past ma test short ago an its no even ma car am drivin....

oh, i da ken fit til do....

surly 'e main rod will be ok?

[northener]

A few hints for those who haven't driven in snow before or aren't happy about doing so:

Distance: Leave a very large safety margin between yourself and the vehicle in front.
Enough space for you to be able to stop without having to resort to 'Emergency Stop' tactics. Even more so on hills - bear in mind that travelling up hill there is a very real chance of the vehicle in front of you losing traction and actually sliding backwards into you. Scalesburn and Shore Lane in Wick are notorious for this.

If you get tailgated, don't speed up. Pull over where you can (let them go and kill themselves if they want to). If this is not practical - allow more space between yourself and the vehicle in front, so that you have time to slow down really early to allow the muppet behind time to react.

Speed control: Plan well ahead, slow down in plenty of time by using less gas and gears as opposed to brakes where possible.
A good guide is that you should be getting the car to slow down enough for you to stop the car with only a very light touch on the brakes in the last few metres.
If travelling downhill, get into a gear low enough to help you hold the car back, then hold the car back with the brakes. Don't allow the speed to increase otherwise you'll struggle to retain control.


Steering: Gentle, plan your turns to be long sweeping moves where possible, try to avoid sharp turns. Both hands on the wheel! If you lose the steering, having one hand off will increase the chances of you making a sudden movement with the wheel and losing it altogether.
Thumbs on the rim of the steering wheel, not hooked over onto the inside of the wheel. If you hit a hidden pothole or the kerb (or ditch it) there's a chance the steering wheel will whip round and smash/dislocate your thumbs.

Gears: Drive in the highest gear/lowest revs possible to retain full control. Low gear/high revs will increase the chance of wheelspin and loss of control on bends. Consider moving off in 2nd gear to gain more traction.

Braking: Try to avoid last minute braking. It's guaranteed to have you overshooting when trying to stop at junctions, or running into the back of the vehicle in front. Gentle on and gentle off.

Brakes (ABS): Braking too hard on snow and causing the ABS to kick in can increase your stopping distance by a good margin. Remember - ABS is not an anti-skid device, it is to enable you to brake and steer at the same time with more control, nothing more.

Brakes (Non ABS): The advice to 'pump' the brakes if skidding is good. However, this implies quite a harsh 'on-off' style - which could cause you even more problems. I would suggest a better way of describing the action is to lift off the brakes until you feel the wheels turning and then squeeze (as opposed to stamp) back on the pedal. repeat as necessary.

HTH.

[Boozeburglar]

I just drove home from the other side of Inverness, around 8 miles from my friend's house.

It normally takes me 12 minutes.

Took over an hour, albeit added five mins topping up my tank before venturing onto the A9, just in case.

One or two very sticky moments. I had waited so there would be little other traffic on the road, but that also worked against me as it was all fresh coated and hard to see the cleared tracks.

Earlier in the year I drove into London on new Avons and cruised past all the people stuck in the unprecedented 8/9 inches.

Now my tread depth on the front drive wheels is down the thing won't pull through anything, and it is getting stuck on the hills. (MPV)

Best advice is to limit your exposure and avoid any journeys you don't have to make.

(The advice I just ignored because I did not need to go anywhere! I just stupidly thought I am immune to the problems everyone else has..)

What I did note is that on turning onto a steep hill the car behind me (small and light) did not even consider leaving a space between us, even when they saw I was struggling. Not until I shoved my hazards on because I was grinding to a halt; then they overtook me and drifted onto the opposite kerb on the fresh snow! Luckily I got going again so the bus behind me could then get through.

[shazzap]

I passed my test in June, more years ago than I care to mention, but at the first sign of snow my old driving instructor took four of us to Riverside carpark in Wick and let us practice skids and getting back in control in snowy, icy conditions. We were taught when learning to drive that brakes were for stopping only, to slow down use the gearbox. In icy conditions use the highest gear the car will go in at the slowest speed, and over the years you learn from the roadnoise what is under the wheels......of course you need to not have on the boom boom music so the youth (and older headbangers) won`t like that.

Prefer not to be out in inclement weather but if it can`t be avoided I can drive with confidence, but still worry about other less compitent drivers on the road at the same time.

Take care out there.

Best advice yet.

My dad told me about using your gears and getting into the highest gear possible years ago. I still don't like driving in snow though.