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Get a grip this winter

Philip Shoulder heads down to Mercedes Benz World, Weybridge,
where he learns the techniques of safe winter driving.

You’re on a routine journey approaching a roundabout that you’re all too familiar with. It’s business as usual as you cruise around on autopilot expecting the car to obediently navigate the curve of the road – just as it always does.

The difference being that today the road surface is covered in black ice.

Suddenly your car loses grip and begins to slide. What you do now could be the difference between life and death.

“Ideally you never want to get to that point” says Nigel Day, a qualified driving instructor and senior Driving Academy coach. “The Winter Driving Skills course is part of the ‘Driving For Life’ series of courses that we run. We teach drivers to anticipate dangerous conditions and take preventative action. However, with the best will in the world sometimes things still go wrong and in those situations it’s necessary to know the appropriate action to take”.

The skills learnt on the Winter Driving course can be carried across into your everyday driving. Alongside hazard awareness, motorists learn how a car will react when it loses grip in slippery conditions and to detect when this is likely to occur.

After asking me about my previous driving experience and whether I have any concerns, we drive on to one of the handling circuits. Nigel gives me the chance to get comfortable with the car – a manual Mercedes 250 CDI – and during my warm-up laps we talk about the basics of car handling theory and how it’s ideally best to brake before a corner rather than during a corner – especially when conditions are slippery.“Under braking, the majority of the car’s grip goes to the front wheels and during a corner all this grip goes to the outside wheels. If you’re braking and cornering that means the car is relying on only one wheel for grip – hardly ideal for maximum control”.

With acclimatisation over, we then drive to part of the track which has special low-grip surfaces that simulate snowy or icy conditions. I’m put through my paces with a number of different road simulated scenarios requiring evasive action.

The first exercise is an emergency stop which rehearses the scenario of a child running out in front of us. “I just want to you stamp on the brakes” says Nigel. I do just that and the car stops very quickly, taking just under 1.5 car lengths. On the second run we repeat the exercise on the wet strip using the same technique: a hard aggressive stop. The results are shocking – the car glides over the slippery surface and takes four times the distance to come to a hault. The final attempt is a controlled stop and I’m encouraged to be much more gentle and progressive with the brake pedal, which results in a reduction in braking distance down to 2.5 car lengths – a sobering difference.

My biggest surprise was that the car stopped more quickly when the anti-lock braking (ABS) wasn’t activated. Nigels explains: “A common misconception is that ABS improves stopping distances. As you’ve seen this isn’t the case. The purpose of ABS is to allow the driver to maintain steering control under emergency braking in order to steer around a hazard.”

Next up is the T-Junction Emerge. Here the car is at right angles to the wet strip and Nigel gets me to pull out of the imaginary junction and react as if we were on a blind hill and suddenly realise that a lorry is bearing down on us. I attempt to accelerate away quickly – which is the logical response given the situation. I floor the throttle, but instead of moving forward, the car violently spins out of control and is left positioned side-on to the imaginary approaching lorry. If this was a real-life road situation, the consequences could be very serious indeed.

The final part of the course involves driving around a water-soaked circular track. After a few tentative laps, I begin to get a sense and feel of when the grip is about to go.  I’m then instructed to provoke the car – a sudden prod on the accelerator pedal results in the rear of the Mercedes fish-tailing to the left. Initial heavy-handed attempts at recovery are futile: I yank the wheel in the direction of the skid and floor the throttle even more, but before I know it the car snaps around in an uncontrollable pirouette and we’re facing the wrong direction. “Don’t worry” jokes Nigel; “have another go. This time when you feel the rear of the car slipping away, take your foot off the throttle and using much smaller movements, gently steer in the direction of the skid while looking where you want to go.” I try just that and am amazed at the difference it makes. It’s not immediately easy and the car was still sliding, but after some practice I get to the point where I am able to bring the car back from the skid. I ask Nigel if the techniques for skid control are different for front and four-wheel drive cars. “The skills we teach are applicable to all cars. Everything about using small and smooth steering movements is the same. However front and four wheel drive cars have handling characteristics that are easier to control. They don’t fishtail like rear wheel drive does.”

So if I can handle a skid in this Mercedes I shouldn’t have any problem with my front-wheel drive Vauxhall Astra then? “You’ve got it”.

What these exercises highlight is the necessity to adjust driving technique in wintery conditions. “It begins with awareness. If you can see the road is slippery, you’re going to know that braking distances will be significantly longer; therefore you will reduce your speed accordingly.”
Nigel adds: “Rather than just telling students what to do, we use coaching techniques to get them to think through the problem for themselves. Research has proven that this way people retain far more of what they’ve learned.”

Although it will take more practice to completely master skid control, I am confident that I have come away from the course a more aware and ultimately safer driver.

The Driving Academy one hour Winter Driving course is open to all motorists regardless of experience level and costs £99. Contact 0845 123 0055 or visit www.mbdrivingacademy.com

Winter driving Top Tips:

Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy’s advice on safe driving this winter:

• Beware of hazards – Black ice, inconsistent grip, snow concealing road markings, increased stopping distance and pedestrians slipping over are just some of the extra hazards you face when driving in cold conditions
• Keep in control – Get a feel for the road conditions, anticipate slippery areas and break well in advance because stopping distance is 10 x longer than in normal conditions
• Check your tyres – Ensure your tyres have at least 3mm tread and consider switching to specialist Cold Weather tyres which are engineered to deliver superior traction and improved stopping distance in rain, ice and snow
• Plan your journey– Consider your route, major roads are more likely to have been gritted so avoid shortcuts in the cold weather
• Be prepared – Make sure your car is stocked with essential equipment in case of difficulty, such as a spade, blankets, tow ropes, food and drink and a mobile phone charger