Reading The Road: Step 7 - Weather

1. Advancing Your Driving Skills:
Introduction

2. Reading the road:

1. Introduction
2. Safe Speed
3. Safe Space
4. Location

5. Time
6. Other Road Users
7. All Weather
8. Try Not To Stop!

9. Limit Point
10. Cornering
11. Project

3. Eco Driving:
Overview

4. Sat Nav:
Sat Nav Use

5. Overtaking:
Safe overtaking

6. Dual-Carriageways:
2. Introduction
2. DC v Multi-Lane

7. Motorways:
1. Introduction
2. Smart Motorways
3. Defensive Driving

DRIVING HOME PAGE

Reading the road: All weather driving

Whenever or wherever you drive you are affected by the weather – hot or cold, dry or wet, windy or calm, clear or foggy – each type of weather brings its own hazards.

Many drivers only consider the weather when it becomes extreme but advanced drivers have an eye on the conditions and how they affect safety at all times.

An example might be summer driving. How do you prepare your car for summer driving? What particular hazards might you expect?

If the question above had been about winter driving you would probably have reeled off lots of answers, but summer? Before reading the general info on different weather types below, you might want to take a look at Summer Driving on the SmartDriving web site.

Fog

Fog is caused by droplets of moisture in the air. At its worst you can barely see the bonnet of your car. In these conditions it would be extremely unwise to drive.

Reading the road ahead in fog is particularly difficuly, simply because you will not be able to see much road. Driving defensively in fog requirees an understanding of the risks that might be present and an awareness of how to minimise them.

Always use dipped headlights/front fog lights and high-intensity rear lights when visibility is seriously reduced to help others to see you.

You must remember that rear fog lights should not be used simply because it is dark, raining, or misty. It's illegal to use either front or rear fog lights when visibility is not impaired by poor weather or smoke.

Never follow close to the tail lights of another vehicle in fog as this would reduce your available stopping distance in an emergency. Following too close in fog is a 'double whammy' because the drivers ahead are likely to react late to an emergency situation in poor visibility.

Holding your foot on the brake pedal at junctions in fog will keep the brake lights on and can help drivers approaching from behind to see you sooner.

Opening your window at junctions will enable you to hear other traffic, use your horn and listen for a reply before emerging in really dense fog.

Keep your windows and lights clean and use your windscreen wipers and washers often.

Wind

The wind can cause severe problems for road users. Drivers can often be caught unaware.

On the inside of a warm family saloon we are sheltered from the weather to such a degree that we might fail to notice what's happening on the outside. There are always lots of clues to alert us to the fact that there are strong winds, for example, trees swaying, flags and bunting fluttering.

Watch out for cyclists, motorcyclists and high sided vehicles - these can be blown off course and into your path. Be especially vigilent when you see other vehicles passing gaps on sheltered roads. Even in town a gap in the shelter that is offered by walls or hedges can affect cyclists, that could be blown in front of you. People, especially the elderly, can easily lose their balance in a gust of wind - take special care in pedestrians are near to the edge of a footpath..

Gaps in hills or rows of buildings can affect lorries and vehicles with trailers (for example, caravans). Cars travelling at speed can also be unstable in high wind with sudden 'buffeting'.

Perhaps less obvious is the debris that the wind can leave behind; branches off trees, dustbins, etc. There could be a blown down tree just around the next bend.

The more aware you become of the dangers caused by the wind, the less likelihood there is of being taken by surprise.

Rain

Rain affects what drivers can see, what they can hear and their grip on the road. It's important to spot what others are doing in case they don't see you...

Of course you have the same issues as other drivers in the rain which means that you will often need to slow down in order to read the road effectively.

What you can see

In wet weather your windows are more likely to mist up; avoid this by using the heater fan and air conditioning to keep air circulating.

Windscreen wipers can become overloaded in heavy rain, but leave smears on the screen in light rain; get to know the different windscreen wash and wipe settings for your car to help deal with this.

Other vehicles are harder to see in the rain; by using dipped headlights it will be easier for other drivers to see you.

What you can hear

Other traffic will be harder to hear. This is because of the noise from the rain and from your heater fan; you can make extra visual checks through the side windows and door mirrors to help compensate for this.

Your grip on the road

You can help your tyres (and yourself) by making sure that they comply with the legal tread depth requirements - we suggest 3mm as a minimum tread depth.

The tread allows water to be displaced and lessen the chance of aquaplaning, which occurs when a car is driven at speed through heavy surface water; the tyres skim the surface of the water (like a water ski), leaving the driver with little steering and braking control.

Beware!

A light shower after a long dry spell in the summer can leave the road as slippery as ice. You will expect to come across ice in the winter – you are less likely to expect an ice-like surface in the summer! perhaps more importantly here, other drivers will not be expecting a slippery surface - wath out for drivers who are are going too fast in these conditions.

Another, often unexpected danger is 'cross fall' on hills. This is usually found where the road goes around a bend and water takes the shortest route - straight across the road, effectively forming a shallow river. Although this water might only be a couple of millimetres deep it can often cause severe loss of grip or aquaplaning. In winter when it can form ice sheets across the bend.

Snow

ADI Part Two and other driving tests might be cancelled if the examiner considers the weather to be too severe. A heavy frost can sometimes be enough to cancel an early morning test.

Although, as an advanced driver, you should be able to cope with poor weather conditions, it is could be considered that you would not be able to demonstrate a full range of skills on test – for example, you might not be able to reach high speeds on dual-carriageways or open roads. With this in mind it might be best to avoid the worst winter months for your test.

The basic advice for driving in snow and ice is:

Don't drive at all if you can avoid it
Be fully prepared before setting out
Be gentle with all the controls
Use the highest gears when driving on snow
Slow down earlier than normal
Leave bigger safety gaps all around

Perhaps winter presents us with the most obvious weather hazard of all. Despite this, many people have accidents in winter conditions. It's not unusual to see someone struggle to walk across a car park because it is slippy, and then get into their car and drive off as if it were a summer's day! Steer clear of these drivers.

Read the road well ahead looking for signs of ice.

You can find detailed winter driving advice on the SmartDriving web site.

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