As the nights draw in quicker, the rain, snow, and ice start to appear, many more accidents happen. Auto Express in 2021 revealed that the most dangerous days to drive in the UK are in November, December and January.
Our blog has all the tips you need on how to keep yourself safe during the winter and change in driving conditions.
Check your vehicle
Before you set off on any journeys, make sure your car is functioning as it should be. Many drivers forget to check their vehicles when the weather changes. Being unprepared for certain weather conditions can be very dangerous.
Check that your windscreen wipers work. Wiper blades should be replaced every 12 months to ensure they’re doing their job properly.
Check your tyres! You must check your tires have the correct mount of tread to be driving safely, especially in wet and cold weather conditions. A tyre that’s not got enough tread on it can be highly dangerous for many reasons, especially when driving at speed.
Keeping your vehicle serviced when needed and checked regularly is very important to make sure that you’re having safe journeys.
Allow extra time for your journey
Allowing more time for your journey is essential in winter weather conditions.
Allow more time before you start your journey to de-mist your windscreen and de-ice the car. Driving with poor visibility is extremely dangerous. Waking up 10 minutes earlier, allows you the time to correctly de-ice and de-mist your vehicle to ensure 100% visibility when you start your journey.
As you may know, journey times can be longer in the winter. This can be down to many reasons, for example: less people cycling due to the colder and wetter weather, poor visibility when driving therefore slower speed limits on roads – especially motorways. It doesn’t hurt to start your journey a little bit sooner than you usually would to get you to where you need to be safely.
Use your lights
During winter months it’s more likely to rain or be foggy than it would any other time of the year. Before you set off on your journey, make sure all your lights work. Replace any lights that do not work, as driving around with one headlight missing or a break light missing is very dangerous and illegal.
In wet and rainy conditions, use your dipped headlights. As visibility is poor in the rain, be sure to turn on your dipped headlights to make sure you’re visible to other drivers and road users.
In misty and foggy conditions, fog lights must be switched on to ensure that other road users can see you and that your visibility is increased.
Having working lights all year round should be standard, but in winter many people may not realise that their lights aren’t working until it’s too late.
Reduce your speed
Driving in winter weather conditions can reduce visibility and stopping distances are doubled.
You may have noticed that when driving on the motorway in the rain, the gantries lower the speed limit. This is due to stopping distances and visibility being impaired. This should be applied when driving on every other rod too, if your vision is impaired due to rain or fog, slow down to a safe but constant speed.
Winter driving can be one of the most dangerous times for driving, and the highest percentage of car accidents happen in winter months. Be safe when driving in the winter by following AutoLyne’s winter driving tips.
