Driving on Icy Winter Roads
As the latest weather forecasts warn of possible snow here in the UK how ready are you for some real winter weather?
The prolonged period of winter weather in 2009 highlighted how unprepared we are in the U.K. often are for intense winter weather. Perhaps I shouldn’t generalize because people in the north of the British isles tend to fare better than their soft southern counterparts. Scotland tends to be better able to cope with intense wintery conditions as they experience some bad winter weather nearly every year.
One problem that arose early in 2009 was that gritting trucks ran out of road grit. It has been said that this was due to local authorities not having enough funds. But this really comes down to poor resource planning. While the south can experience periods of intensely bad winter weather they tend to be shortlived. The prolonged period of five weeks of icy, snowy conditions meant that there wasn’t enough grit to last.
But how do they cope in Sweden and Norway where snow remains on the ground for most of the winter?
Driving on snow covered, icy roads is treacherous. Not only due to the slippery road surfaces but also as a result of poor visibility. Winter tyres are recommended.
Although they do grit their roads in both Norway and Sweden they often limit this to busy road junctions only. Once you are away from the busy main town and city roads you’ll be driving mainly on compacted snow and ice. When driving on these road surfaces you must always travel slowly and never make any sudden movements.Overaking is not wise when driving in these conditions.
A good set of winter tyres can be enormously beneficial. Winter tyres contain a small amount of silicone which helps them to remain flexible at low winter temperatures. These tyres will also have heavier tread patterns and fine lateral lines that help to increase the surface area of the tyre in contact with the road surface.
Another possible option to improve traction is to use snow chains but these are only really useful in snow and not very useful on ice.Another useful option is studded tyres, which can be helpful on icy road surfaces.
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