With winter upon us, we can expect to be driving in some poor weather conditions. It always pays to remind ourselves of the best advice when it comes to conditions like fog, heavy rain and freezing temperatures.
Heavy rain – this can be very hazardous and damp conditions can cause problems with engines and electrical systems. In cases of flooding, it isn’t hard to flood your engine in water that might not even appear too deep. If the journey is not essential, it might be better to wet until the worst has subsided. If you do need to travel then avoid areas more likely to flood. Check your wipers, fill up with fuel and carry a mobile phone. Make sure your tyres have the legal amount of tread on them as you will need a safe level of grip on the road in very wet conditions. Don’t ever try to drive through flood water as your car could become buoyant and begin to float away. Don’t drive too fast when there is a lot of standing water as you could find yourself aquaplaning. If this does happen, ease off the accelerator but don’t brake and let your speed reduce until you can feel control of the steering again.
In the unlikely event of a White Christmas, knowing how to deal with snow will be handy. Before travelling give yourself plenty of time to reach your destination, plan your journey, check wipers, tyres and screenwash levels. Make sure you have a blanket, torch, food and drink, ice scraper, de-icer and a phone charger. It is important to accelerate gently while using low revs and as high a gear as possible. Move off in second gear and keep 10 times the normal gap between vehicles. If you do encounter a skid, then gently steer into it and ease off the accelerator but don’t brake
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Fog is another condition that we are likely to experience during the winter months. Fog can be dangerous due to it’s impact on visibility. Before entering fog, check your mirrors and slow down, keeping a greater distance than normal between you and the car in front. If the fog is heavy then turn on your fog lights but not on full beam as fog reflects light back so this can make visibility even worse. If it’s so bad that you can’t see then consider stopping until it is safe to proceed. As it is illegal to use fog lights in any other condition then as soon as the fog has lifted you must remember to turn off your fog lights.
High winds can come hand in hand with other wintery weather and like the other conditions, it is advisable to plan ahead and only travel if necessary. Drive slowly to cope with gusts and be aware that open areas will mean gusts suddenly hitting your car. Hold the steering wheel firmly and give buses, lorries and cyclists more room than you would normally.
What you might end up doing is trying to plan how long you can keep your car at home safe in the garage until the weather is better which might not work over christmas but it’s worth a try. Here are a few steps to follow to prepare for this. Clear out your garage, buy a windscreen cover, get your Garage Door Repair done on sites such as garagedoorsrus.co.uk/garage-door-repairs/
