Driving Safety for the Winter

Driving Safety for Winter

Kai-Uwe Jochims
Instructor Aud Driving Experience

You might have experience this before, the fear of skidding on icy roads. Well keep calm, panic is a worst codrivee you could have. We would like to show you how to cope with wintry conditions.

This is a position that drivers often adapt, half reclining, they probably think it is sporty, but it is not a safe way to drive a car. Let us adjust the sit correctly, the height first of all, as low as possible but still high enough to get a good view of the road then we set the distance to the pedals so that we never have to stretch our legs. At full stretch, you cannot press hard on the brakes and in the event of the collision, it could lead to a serious injury to the hips or pelvis. And you should not need to stretch your arms either. We can get the right distance to the steering wheel by adjusting the backrest and the steering column. There is a simple test for that. Place your wrist on the wheel at the 12 o’clock position and your shoulder should still be in contact with the backrest. Now I have set the sitting position right for me.

This is the basic position of the hands on the wheel. Every steering movement starts from this position. I can rotate half a turn to the left or the right without taking my hands off the wheel. If I need to turn the wheel further, we start of just the same but the lower hand lets go in good time and returns to just the same position it was in before. Then we let go with the other hand and grasp the wheel again in the right place. That allows us to turn the wheel a complete circle and then we have reached full locks so I do not need to take my hands off the wheel again. A double change is enough. In an emergency, you can quickly put on full opposite lock. In that way I always know whether front wheels are pointing. So now we are done with the groundwork and can get the grips with the actual cornering.

The first tricky situation is under steer, the front wheels do not grip on the car simply pushes ahead. First of all, steering to the corner and if it cause stops to push, take your foot off the accelerator and ease of gently with the steering angle until the wheels gripped again and you can get back on course.

If the car over steers, that is to say the tail brakes away, then it is very important to react quickly and steer into the skid. There goes the tail, quick count to steer. And when it is under control then quickly back in the direction I want to go.

Now let us simulate braking and avoiding an obstacle with an ABS equipped car. That is to say, the available distance is too short to come to a halt, so I have to brake hard and also take avoiding action. As quick reactions are important, too we have included the test of reaction time. We accelerate until a red light comes on. Then we have to stump on the brakes and avoid the obstacle while the light tells us which way with a random element built in.

With these tips in mind, safe driving at wintertime are no longer a contradiction in turns.


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