Will you drive in bad conditions?

Senna

Just wondering what most people do when the roads are anyway icy or have snow lying on them?

Whenever there's snow or ice, usually followed by a severe weather warning, telling people not to drive, the whole area shuts down. (last friday, in Donegal comes to mind) delivery's to my work stopped and taxis stopped at lunch time and never started again till the next day (most taxis).
The roads were bad from 1-3pm, but after that they were fine.

AckwelFoley

Senna, im not bothered by poor conditions.

Ive driven in the US nad in Scandanavia where although better prepared for such weather the conditions are still very bad.

Its rather simple.

Slow down, particular emphasis on breaking and turns. Slower is better

chris85

Senna wrote: »

Just wondering what most people do when the roads are anyway icy or have snow lying on them?

Whenever there's snow or ice, usually followed by a severe weather warning, telling people not to drive, the whole area shuts down. (last friday, in Donegal comes to mind) delivery's to my work stopped and taxis stopped at lunch time and never started again till the next day (most taxis).
The roads were bad from 1-3pm, but after that they were fine.

Not bothered by bad conditions. Just drive as careful as possible and keep slow. The other thing is to be extra obervant to other drivers around you as you dont know if they are used to the conditions.

Do people know if the county council put anything on the ground when its snowy/icy to improve grip, especially on motorways/major roads

Senna

chris85 wrote: »

Do people know if the county council put anything on the ground when its snowy/icy to improve grip, especially on motorways/major roads

The council here do grit the main roads, they'll be out if the forecast say temperatures will drop to freezing or below.
But i believe in the UK, roads are gritted much more often or possibly they use a different type of grit.

(seen this is motoring)
I always been told, if buying a jap import thats been in the UK, make sure the underside has been wax/oiled when imported. A jap car driving around the uk for a couple of winters will be completely rusted and corroded underneath.

pburns

My view is that if the Scandanavian countries can keep going in their FWD Saabs why shouldn't we? Whatever form of Electronic Stability Control you may have fitted is a big boon also. Don't be a wuss and drive with due care - minute movements of steering and pedals required...

Jenson Button is reputedly the best (or one of) driver in F1 in wet conditions because his driving style is so smooth...

blackbox

I live in a rural area and am reasonably experienced in driving in poor conditions, but I recognise the fact that I could get stuck (possibly overnight).

If driving in snowy conditions I keep a pair of Wellingtons, warm hi-vis waterproof coat, hat and gloves in the boot. I keep a torch in the glove box. I make sure the tank is never less than half full - getting stuck is enough hassle without running out of fuel. In most cases you get stuck behind a truck or other vehicle rather than getting bogged down yourself.

I used to carry a coal shovel and small tub of sand in the boot, but maybe this was a bit of an overkill.

One other thing - don't use a BMW - I used to have 3-series and it couldn't get traction on even a small incline if it was icy (even with ESP) - maybe I'd have been OK with snow chains.

omega man

pburns wrote: »

My view is that if the Scandanavian countries can keep going in their FWD Saabs why shouldn't we? Whatever form of Electronic Stability Control you may have fitted is a big boon also. Don't be a wuss and drive with due care - minute movements of steering and pedals required...

Jenson Button is reputedly the best (or one of) driver in F1 in wet conditions because his driving style is so smooth...

Yes but as a previous post mentioned the Scandanavians are very prepared for winter driving ie, they change to special winter tyres and the authorities treat the roads to a very high standard. Its like airports too, we close at the sniff of snow but for many countries its just another day.

L1011

Slow down, and make sure your tyres are in decent nick (which should be an ongoing thing of course). And fog lights only where neccesary...

Driven through extreme fog, 90kph winds, snow, black ice and heavy rain in the past 3 months or so at this stage and only had one "incident", the car sliding somewhat at 5kph on frost on very new tarmac - could have happened any day of the winter almost.

Cookie_Monster

The road conditions here rarely every, if ever get truely bad. As long as you slow down and pay attention there is very little issue in driving in heavy rain or a with a few microns of "snow" on the road

rebel.ranter

Senna wrote: »

...... make sure the underside has been wax/oiled when imported.....

It's actually waxoyled. It's a special type of paint that can resist stone chips & corrosion. Schultz underseal is another version of it.

kilasser

Senna wrote: »

The council here do grit the main roads, they'll be out if the forecast say temperatures will drop to freezing or below.
But i believe in the UK, roads are gritted much more often or possibly they use a different type of grit.

(seen this is motoring)
I always been told, if buying a jap import thats been in the UK, make sure the underside has been wax/oiled when imported. A jap car driving around the uk for a couple of winters will be completely rusted and corroded underneath.

That's because in the uk thy don't use grit its all salt they use. Around where I am nearly every day in the winter roads are salted, they use tons of the stuff.