Last week, I awoke to the first day of the year with a real winter feel. As the temperature fell, the view into the garden was gripped by frost. Stirring my tea, thoughts began swirling to memories of previous too early winters.
As a child, I was never really fond of ice skating, having no grip has never been something that’s much appealed. Being in control behind the steering wheel is probably the closest I’ll ever come to being a control freak. However, the prospect of being unable to steer due to ice is an inevitable consequence of winter motoring. It makes no difference which vehicle you drive, if your wheels can’t grip, then you can’t steer which means you’ll simply spin, your brakes will be of no use resulting in a skid and bang!-yes it’s still November.
Front wheel or rear wheel drive, the result is the same. Did you know in winter, over 45% or road accidents are the result of skidding? The voice of the late Clive Dunn aka ‘Corporal Jones’ comes into my head ‘don’t panic’ .
There are however a few things you can do to help. If you go into a skid, try pointing the front wheels in the direction you’re heading and try not to touch the brake (difficult but important) put the car into neutral until you’ve slowed sufficiently to regain control of the vehicle. If your vehicle is rear wheel drive, think about putting something heavy in the boot, that extra bit of weight can really help.
Due to front wheel drive vehicles having the engine over the wheels, a neat trick when trying to climb a hill, is reversing up the incline, (however, do so with caution).
Another option is to change your tyres during winter. Winter tyres are chunkier, with wider water channels and softer rubber providing much better grip. I did try to avoid any cliches with bangs during November, but hey!… there you go. I wish you all safe and happy motoring.
Elliott Ramsey
Service Manager
