Driving Safely in Slippery Winter Road Conditions

Women-Drivers.com

While it is important to ensure that you drive safely and that your vehicle is road worthy at any time of the year, this can be a particularly significant issue during the winter months, when the weather is at its worst. The weather conditions Britain often face during winter, including rain, snow and ice can make the road surfaces extremely slippery and this is a major cause of traffic accidents. Therefore it is vital to know how to drive safely on slippery winter roads, and then take the necessary action to ensure that you do not put yourself, or other motorists, in danger. If you have had a head injury due to an accident and would like to find out if you are eligible to have brain injury compensation contact www.theheadinjurysite.com.

The single most important area of your car that you need to look after during the winter months is the tyres, as these are the parts of the vehicle that will actually be coming into contact with difficult slippery surfaces. You need to ensure that your tyres have sufficient tread â?? meaning the indentations on the outer surface that provide traction on the road â?? to guarantee that your car will be able to cope with potentially very slippery roads. Ideally, at the very least you should seek to make sure that your tyres have 3mm tread to be able to cope with winter road conditions â?? but it is vital that the tread is not less than 2mm, as this would be getting into dangerous territory if the roads are treacherous.

While some drivers opt to attempt to improve the grip of the tyres by reducing the pressure this is not advisable as it is not effective in achieving this aim and actually makes the tyres less stable. If you are unsure about the suitability of your normal tyres in the wake of slippery winter roads, another option is to consider purchasing winter tyre. These are car tyres specifically designed to cope with the kinds of weather conditions that made road surfaces slippery, thanks to higher levels of silica in the tread which stop the tyres from going hard in cold weather.

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/seasonal/winter_motoring.html