Grrrr! Muppet drivers in snow!

[Black Sheep]

Snow socks should be removed if you're on a clear road

they are easier to remove however, you just pull the orange strap that runs across them, roll the car forward and pull off.

i'm getting a set for christmas

 

[rualexander]

You can easily drive a short distance on tarmac with chains on, at least until you find somewhere suitable to stop and take them off.

 

[Black Sheep]

oh yes, you can drive with either on down a clear / partly clear road, but both should be removed as soon as is safe to do so.

 

[Headgardener]

I know that cars are fitted with light and rain sensors these days could the manufacturers not design a fog sensor that would turn the lights on and off only when there is fog?

 

[domd1979]

What's needed is an intelligence detector which would disable the whole car, not just the fog lights, whenever a complete cheese brain gets behind the wheel...

 

[al78]

What do you do when starting off in second, or even third gear fails to prevent wheelspin?

 

[XmisterIS]

less torque to the wheels and less chance of accidentally putting your foot down too much and spinning the wheels. As soon as they start to spin, that's it, they won't get traction back.

 

[Night Train]

What do you do when starting off in second, or even third gear fails to prevent wheelspin?

It is more a case of very delicate application of throttle and slipping the clutch a bit more.
I pull away quite easily in first by letting the clutch up gently and not applying any throttle. The very small amount of torque at tick over is enough to slowly get the car moving without spinning the wheels.

If I am in the gutter or a dip and the wheels just won't bite then I rock the car back and forth slowly building up enough momentum to rock it out of the dip.

Hills are a bit more difficult. The plan is to get moving on the flat and then maintain forward momentum all the way to the top. The problem comes when someone else cause you to have to stop part way up. Then it may be a case of stopping and digging down to tarmac to create two long bare strips to get moving again from.
I generally keep a good distance so if someone pulls out of a side road I can just slow a little to avoid them but keeping moving.

 

[Ticktockmy]

With rear wheel drive with the handbrake working on the rear wheel if you gentlle pull up the hand brake so it just grips, it kids the Dif. that the wheels are gripping so you dont get both wheels spinning.

 

[ColinJ]

Fog lights irritate the hell out of me; I often flash oncoming drivers giving them increasingly urgent flashes as they approach. Mrs Gti shouts at me when I do it but I enjoy annoying the stupid barstewards as much as they annoy me. Bad driving, I  know.

On one of my very infrequent winter night rides a couple of years ago, I was descending Scout Road towards Mytholmroyd through the woods - this steep narrow road...

I was wearing a hi-viz jacket, and had a headtorch and front light switched on. I heard a car coming round the bend below me so I slowed down and suddenly (what turned out to be) a big 4x4 came shooting round the bend with both headlamps on full beam plus two ultra-bright fog lights. (It wasn't foggy!) I was instantly blinded and had to emergency brake to a stop, unable to see where I was on the road. 

The car stopped about 5 metres in front of me, lights still blazing away. I did my usual headtorch-down-flicking gesture which 99% of drivers immediately understand as a request to dip their lights and obey. The idiot driver just sat there burning away what was left of my retinas.

I shielded my eyes from the glare. No response. I pointed at the lights, then my eyes, then the ground. No response. I waited. No response. It became quite evident that we were going nowhere fast so I dismounted and slowly walked my bike down to the car. When I drew alongside I tapped on the side window. It lowered. Before I could say anything, the driver asked me why I'd been standing there in the middle of the road when there was a car coming the other way! 

It's probably better not to repeat what I said in reply...   

 

[Globalti]

The simple answer is for the UK to follow our European neighbours and make winter tyres mandatory between November and March. Anybody who has driven a car fitted with these will understand what a difference it would make to traffic flow in winter and general road safety during the icy months. Winter tyres are amazing in snow, we want to buy a set for Mrs Gti's C1 (which is good on snow anyway because it has narrow tyres so good ground pressure) but can't get any, the 155/65R14 size isn't that common anyway but try getting some in snow compound.... I've spoken with a tyres specialist in Sallanches, which is near where we're going skiing in Feb and he has agreed to reserve a set for us in February so we can collect them, bring them home as hold baggage and at least have them for next winter.

 

[Norm]

Worse, IMO, than fog lights are the twunts who drive on side-lights. Not only is that illegal, the cars all-but disappear under street lights, there's so little difference in the size and intensity between the reflections and the side lights.

 

[al78]

Worse, IMO, than fog lights are the twunts who drive on side-lights. Not only is that illegal, the cars all-but disappear under street lights, there's so little difference in the size and intensity between the reflections and the side lights.

Not illegal on a road that has lit street lighting.

 

[Dan B]

Worse, IMO, than fog lights are the twunts who drive on side-lights. Not only is that illegal, the cars all-but disappear under street lights, there's so little difference in the size and intensity between the reflections and the side lights.

erm



113
You MUST
* ensure all sidelights and rear registration plate lights are lit between sunset and sunrise
* use headlights at night, except on a road which has lit street lighting. These roads are generally restricted to a speed limit of 30 mph (48 km/h) unless otherwise specified
* use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226)


226
You MUST use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced, generally when you cannot see for more than 100 metres (328 feet). You may also use front or rear fog lights but you MUST switch them off when visibility improves (see Rule 236).

 

[asterix]

The simple answer is for the UK to follow our European neighbours and make winter tyres mandatory between November and March. Anybody who has driven a car fitted with these will understand what a difference it would make to traffic flow in winter and general road safety during the icy months. Winter tyres are amazing in snow, we want to buy a set for Mrs Gti's C1 (which is good on snow anyway because it has narrow tyres so good ground pressure) but can't get any, the 155/65R14 size isn't that common anyway but try getting some in snow compound.... I've spoken with a tyres specialist in Sallanches, which is near where we're going skiing in Feb and he has agreed to reserve a set for us in February so we can collect them, bring them home as hold baggage and at least have them for next winter.

Not France, I'd imagine. They don't grit the roads in 'my' bit let alone do winter tyres. What's more 4x4s are rare except for some Lada Nivas, farmers tend to drive light vans or tractors, very ancient tractors often.

When I was in E.Anglia we got very bad winters and I was driving a Renault 4, later a Renault 5. The only thing that could stop those in snow was a drift at which point only farm tractors were moving. The cars were light enough for 2 or 3 people to lift the front out of ruts. They didn't grit the roads there/then either and the big problem was potholes in the ice which could be several inches deep and snow-covered.

Compared to those cars my Honda Civic isn't that great because it is too ready to put a lot of power onto wide tyres and has low ground-clearance. Took me nearly an hour to get going this morning what with digging out the drive and chipping the ice off the car (after last use, snow had fallen, melted on it and frozen).