Even if you absolutely love the winter months, there’s one thing that no one can honestly say that they enjoy doing when the weather turns cold: driving. A cold, wet, icy day can turn even the simplest, most pleasant drive into a seriously stressful experience! It’s tough on you and on your car, and it’s hardly surprising that the number of accidents and collisions go up during this period and sometimes it’s enough to make you want to forget the whole thing and just stay in the house all winter. Of course, that’s hardly an option for most of us. Very few bosses would accept “I don’t want to drive in this weather” as a decent excuse! Fortunately, there are plenty of ways that you can make driving in the winter a much easier and less stressful experience.
Winter wiper blades
One of the biggest issues when you’re driving in the winter is visibility. Whether it’s rain, snow or fog, there doesn’t seem to be any limit to the ways that the weather can make it near impossible to see while driving. It’s seriously important that you get a decent pair of winter blades for your windscreen wipers. These sturdy wipers are designed to stand up to a lot more punishment and won’t buckle under snow or ice. They’re also a lot tougher and can scrape through thicker snow or rain than their standard counterparts.
De-icer
Perhaps this doesn’t count as essential, but anyone who’s had to sit for what felt like hours as their car warmed up and the frost on the windscreen melted will tell you that your wiper fluid should definitely include some de-icer.
Snow tyres
Unless you’re in the mood from some automotive ice skating, then you’re probably not going to want tyres that will leave you skidding around every time you apply the brakes. To solve this problem you need to make sure that you change to snow tyres. With a deeper tread and a pattern specifically designed to grip the road in tough conditions, these tyres are the best possible way to keep decent levels of traction, even on the most dangerous roads. Make sure you check various tyre reviews to find the right ones for your needs.
Go slow
Does that sound obvious? Good, because it should be! Which makes it that much more ridiculous that so many drivers forget this simple fact. If you’re driving somewhere where the roads are wet or icy, then you need to make sure to drop your speed. Your stopping distance practically doubles on wet roads, and that gets even worse when there’s ice involved. You can make all the changes to your car that you want, but unless you adjust your own driving habits to work around the road conditions, then it’s not going to do any good. The best thing that you can do is to be constantly aware of the way that you’re driving and whether or not it’s right for the conditions of the road.
