With car hire being an important and popular aspect of traveling, even more so in winter when driving can often be treacherous and frightening, we thought it important to put ten of our tips to help you drive safely.
Wintry conditions such as low sun, heavy rainfall, frozen roads, fog and snow severely reduce visibility and stopping distances and this gives cause for careful driving. Peoples’ fear of winter driving is not without reason. Of the 154,414 road accidents that occurred during 2010, 10,928 fatalities occurred on snowy or icy roads, and 38,844 fatalities occurred during wet or flooded road conditions. Driving safely at all times is imperative, but it’s good practice to take extra care during winter. So, without further ado, here are some top tips from the MD of Economy Car Hire, Rory Sexton, to increase your confidence in your winter driving:
- Make sure that before you set off, you’re fully de-misted, de-iced and good to go. Don’t just clear a small hole in your windshield and drive off – you want to have clear visibility at all times. Use your heaters, de-icer and an ice scraper, and wake up 15 minutes earlier so you have time to fully defrost your car.
- Make sure your mobile is fully charged before setting off on a long journey, and if the weather has been very poor recently, make sure you only make unavoidable journeys.
- If you’re living in an area where some roads may not have been gritted, try to plan your route so you will be driving on busier roads that may have been cleared.
- If you find your route blocked by heavy snowfall or fallen trees, try to let your local traffic radio station know so others can avoid the route until it’s cleared.
- If you want to get traffic alerts on your Twitter account, you should follow @BBCTravelAlert and @UK_Traffic_News, or check out the Highways Agency site for localised feeds.
- Make sure your car insurance is up to date and you’re registered with a reputable breakdown company. In case you do break down and you’re stuck on the side of the road for hours in the cold, make sure you’ve got blankets, bottled water and some snacks in the car to tide you over.
- If you do find yourself stranded and you have to sleep in the car, make sure you slightly open one of your windows to ensure air flow.
- Manoeuvre gently in icy conditions; stopping distances are up to ten times longer when driving on snow and ice. If you do find yourself skidding, try to avoid braking sharply. Instead, try and drive into the direction of the skid so you can gradually gain control of the car.
- Automatic drivers should drive in ‘2’, as opposed to ‘D’. This means that you’ll rely less upon your brakes less, and also limits the gear changes that your car will make.
Finally, if you do get stuck in snow, don’t panic, rev your engine and lodge your wheels even deeper. Just clear your wheels, and straighten up your steering. Place cat mats or rugs under the front of your wheels to give you some grip. Once you start moving again, don’t stop until you’re on less snowy ground
