Driving Safety in Severe Weather

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Most of us have been in this situation. On average there are more than five million vehicle crashes each year. Twenty percent of these crashes are weather-related. Most of them related to wet pavement. Rainfall can cause the conditions of the roadway to deteriorate quickly. There are a few steps to take before and during severe weather events with driving.

“Of course you want to make sure your windshield wipers are working. and of course Alabama Law requires that if your windshield wipers are in operation the lights should be on as well. Just staying a good proper safe speed and that your vehicle has a safe stopping distance between the next vehicle in front of you or behind you. “

If you are traveling in a severe weather event and find yourself sliding on the road, here are some things you can do to recover. Jeff Purner from the Porsche Sport Driving School demonstrates some of these techniques.

“Under steer. as weight transfer to the rear of the car then the front beings to push, people instinctively add more steer.”

 Adding more steering doesn’t do much good until you let off the gas pedal. This transfers the weight back to the nose of the car. Which allows you to gain control.

“Trust you eyesight, continue to look through that turn. Your eyes have already told your hands how much steering you need to get through that particular turn or radius”

One thing you want to avoid is over steering.

“Over steer. Lose traction in the rear of the car. Spin those rear tires, causing a loss of traction and very quickly spinning all the way around.”

You always want to have a plan B. You want to get on the brake as fast as possible once you start sliding to essentially catching the car.

“There are three part to a skid, Correction pause recovery, back end slides out, turn into the skid. Where the back end of the car is sliding  that is the direction i steer. “There is no such thing as powering through a skid. The hands have to move very fast.”

And while not every skid is the same remember correction, pause, recovery, have a plan B and most importantly,

 “Slow way down.”