News

Winter tips for drivers

Winter time can be very hard for drivers. Very heavy snow, roads as slippery as a skating rink, low temperatures remind us about our geographical location. And this is a very special time, when we travel very often – Christmas time, New Year’s eve, winter holidays. Our destination is very frequently mountain location, where driving conditions in winter can be even more demanding. We can make our driving life easier just by remembering about few useful tips:

[+dr.title+]

First of all, you must remember to prepare your car for winter - change to winter tyres, which will ensure greater driving safety. With winter tyres the braking distance on wet roads is reduced by 20%.

Examine carefully your wheels and tyres, looking for cracks, holes or distortion. Check tyre tread condition. Its depth is extremely important for the safety and in no case should be bellow the 1,6mm wear mark, but but recommended tread depth for winter tyres is min. 4 mm to maintain tyres' features.

Make sure the tyre pressure is at the appropriate level, because consequences of driving at too low pressure include rapid wear, increased fuel consumption and risk of serious tyre damage, that could lead to an accident (only 39% of the drivers check the tyre pressure once in a while when refueling, 9% before a long journey, and 5% never do it ).

Before winter season check your vehicle’s liquid refrigerant’s freezing temperature and, if necessary, replace it with a new one.

You need to be sure, that your car’s braking system runs smoothly and that your battery is in good condition.

Replace the window cleaning liquid with the winter one. Also, if necessary, change the wipers. Good visibility is essential for the safe driving.

Check you vehicle’s heating system and appropriate emergency equipment - first aid kit, blanket, shovel blade, flashlight, matches and scraper for windows.

If you are going to the mountains, it can be good to have also snow chains adapted to your wheel size. In case of heavy snowfall, chains can be sometimes the only way to get proper traction. Being equipped with winter tyres or having chains with you is mandatory in France, Italy or Austria. Please note that the speed limit with snow chains fitted on the tyres is up to 50 km/h. You cannot accelerate or decelerate suddenly. Chains must also be properly maintained to be safe. But first of all, they must be properly matched to the tyre size and tightened appropriately, in order to effectively carry the torque on the surface and avoid the so-called ‘slip phenomenon’ or worse in case they would untighten themselves.

Get some good sleep, especially before a long journey. Try to drive during times when you’re normally awake (e.g. during the day instead of at night), have a break every 2 hours, don’t travel alone – active passenger is the best guard for you not to fall asleep, avoid heavy foods as you can get sleepy easily, be careful in terms of medications.

Stay focused. Don’t write SMS, don’t change CD’s. Even a slight inattention can cost you a lot.

If possible, fill-up the fuel tank. You will avoid a situation with water gathering in fuel tank and fusing into the gas.

Never warm up a vehicle in an enclosed area, such as a garage.

Keep a safe distance from the car in front of you, because you need to have enough space in case of sudden braking. It is safe to keep twice the distance between vehicles to avoid it.

Remember that snow often covers a variety of dangerous things, like logs, stones or icy road sections.

Avoid situations, when you have to brake or avoid obstacle at high speed, don’t do sudden movements - both acceleration and deceleration. Try to decelerate by taking your foot off the gas without using the brake.

Source: member companies press materials, etrma.com, ADAC (Cortina. A dynamic simulation test when temperature at 5°C), photo: dreamstime.com