Skip to main content

Racing Legend Offers Top 10 Winter Driving Tips

The winter season often brings along the most dangerous driving conditions.

Top Fuel drag racing legend Doug Herbert lost his two young sons in a tragic car crash in 2008 and has since transformed his grief into something positive by creating the non-profit, teen-focused defensive driving program Be Responsible and Keep Everyone Safe (B.R.A.K.E.S.). Herbert and his team of highly trained instructors travel throughout the U.S. with their fleet of new vehicles donated by Kia, offering teens and their parents free, hands-on driving exercises like panic braking, drop wheel (off-road) recovery, skid control and distracted driving awareness.

Herbert has released a top 10 list of winter driving tips to help you and your loved ones be prepared and stay safe during the season.

10. Rain Water Can Cause Slick Roadways

The first rainfall of each year can create oil slicks on roadways, which reduces traction. Most people tend to drive too fast and experience a loss of traction, increasing the risk of a crash. In other low-lying areas, small puddles of water can cause tires to hydroplane. In most situations, accidents can be avoided by simply slowing down in rainy conditions.

9. Be Aware of Windy Conditions

Along with rain, windy conditions can result in several hazards for drivers. High winds can blow snow, dirt or sand across the roadway, reducing visibility and traction. In addition, loose objects can blow across the path of travel, surprising drivers and causing panic steering and braking inputs. In some cases, it’s better to park in a safe location and wait until the high winds subside.

8. Understand How Your Vehicle Behaves in Low-Traction Conditions

One of the most important factors of winter driving is understanding how your vehicle performs in low-traction conditions. Front-wheel-drive vehicles can offer better traction and car control in corners, while rear-wheel-drive vehicles may not respond to steering inputs or experience loss of traction, causing the vehicle to spin. But even with all-wheel drive, speeds must be reduced when traction is limited by snow, ice or sand.

7. Avoid Distracted Driving

Needless to say, you should avoid using your cellphone while driving under any conditions. But if you must use your phone for navigation, it’s best to use a phone mount or pair your phone to your vehicle’s infotainment system. To also help reduce distracted driving in winter, you should set your defroster to run automatically and turn on your headlights before you leave, even if it’s daylight outside. Also, it’s best to create a playlist before you leave so you’re not fumbling around looking for music. Herbert also recommends minimizing your radio’s volume so you can focus on driving.

6. Pack a Small Emergency Bag

It may seem trivial, but you never know when you’ll need it. A small emergency bag with two or more blankets, jumper cables, extra clothing, extra phone charger or battery, boots, a flashlight and extra batteries, ice scraper, umbrella, water, high-calorie non-perishable snacks and a bright piece of cloth. No, you aren’t preparing for the zombie apocalypse, but winter conditions are unpredictable and all those things could come in handy.

5. Check Your Battery

Always check your battery’s condition before heading out on a long road trip. Most automotive batteries last about three years and extreme cold requires more energy to start your car. At zero degrees Fahrenheit, a car’s battery loses about 60 percent of its strength, and at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, it loses 35 percent.

4. Inspect the Tread on Your Tires

No matter what the conditions may be, you should check and make sure you have enough tread on your tires before hitting the road. Also, make sure you’re using the correct type of tire (winter vs. all season) as it could make a major difference when driving. All-season tires can harden in low temperatures, creating less traction between the road and your tires.

3. Slow Down for Icy Conditions

Sometimes it’s the things you can’t see that are the most dangerous. Bridges and overpasses typically are the first place for icy conditions to develop. So expect traction to be diminished when approaching those areas and always slow down for icy conditions.

2. Be Familiar With Your Vehicle’s Braking System

Even in today’s most advanced vehicles, you should be familiar with the braking system in your particular car. If you have ABS, be sure you know how to activate it and that you know what it feels like when ABS is activated. It’s recommended to test your ABS system in an empty, dry parking lot before you have to experience using it in an emergency. If ABS does activate, stay on the brakes, look and steer the car in the direction you want to go.

1. Never Use Cruise Control With Slick Road Conditions

Even though it’s designed to make long drives more comfortable, it is never a good idea to use cruise control with slick road conditions. That’s because the system does not have a feel for loose road conditions and could add more power at the wrong time, resulting in the loss of control. It’s best when driving in challenging conditions to have full control of your accelerator, brakes and steering wheel.

This article first appeared on Auto Guide

The post Racing Legend Offers Top 10 Winter Driving Tips appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/2lwsY9K
via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Watch: The Stig Drives (nearly) Seven Generations of Golf GTI

With Volkswagen announcing “major” updates to the Golf, it seems an appropriate time to look back on what we’ve had so far. And who better to guide us through the rich history of the most popular European car ever made than Ben Collins, the former Stig? Some say he’s never met a GTI he doesn’t love, and that he can’t grow any of his own facial hair. All we know is … Ben Collins is actually a pretty solid presenter. Working his way through seven generations of the GTI (skipping over the Mk6) Collins tells us a little bit about each one and matches each mark to its corresponding facial hair craze. The Mk1 GTI for instance, is light and quick, but can lose traction under hard acceleration (in heavy rain). Despite that, Collins calls the Mk1 a “pure gem.” The Mk4, meanwhile, is a powerful return to form after the perhaps too sensible Mk3. Collins ends in the only way he could, with the Mk7, which accelerates faster than a Lamborghini Countach and is all kinds of wonderful. Watch, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Watch: The Story of the Ads that Made VW Big in America

The ads for the original Beetle are almost as famous and well-loved as the Beetle itself. Looking back now it’s easy to forget, though, just how easily things could have wrong. A new short from Dial M Films tracks the history of those early Volkswagen ads that sold America on the people’s car. The story, of course, begins with the visionary agency that made the ads: Doyle Dane Bernach (DDB). As a popular agency for Jewish products, no agency was more aware of the implications of Volkswagen, and no one, it seems, was more skeptical of the brand than DDB. “Remember Those Great Volkswagen Ads?” from Dial M Films on Vimeo . William Bernbach, though, was adament that the firm take the client, probably as a way of attracting other lucrative automotive clients. Saddled with a client that he didn’t want, art director Helmut Krone says in the film that he originally came up with ads that were all wrong. Krone tried to do what other manufacturers did and was intent on selling the Beetle ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Watch: The Zerouno Cruis’n USA

ItalDesign is drumming up excitement for its new supercar based around the same 5.2-liter Audi V10 that powers the R8. Naturally, it hit the road for a cruise around California last week to celebrate Monterey Car Week. There isn’t much in the way of V10 noise—which is a real shame given the sound it makes—but you do at least get a good look at the car inside and out in this video. With a body made entirely of carbon fiber and designed to be as aerodynamic and light as possible, ItalDesign figures that it will be good for a 0-60 time of just 3.2 seconds. “We put it our best skills into the production of the first car,” said Massimo Bovi, head of pre-series production, when the Zerouno was first unveiled in Geneva earlier this year. “Using some of the finest productions methods and engaging our high-skilled workers.” The car features clever aero tricks gleaned from single-seat racing, like a y-duct up front to improve downforce and turn-in. Available in a number of trim levels, the...
Post a Comment
Read more