Skids most often happen on a slippery surface, such as a road that is wet, icy or covered with snow, gravel or some other loose material. Most skids result from driving too fast for road conditions. Hard braking and overly aggressive turning or accelerating can cause your vehicle to skid and possibly go out of control.
Increasing tire forces, such as by braking or accelerating while steering may push tires even closer to a skid condition. If your vehicle begins to skid, try not to panic - it is possible to maintain control of your vehicle, even in a skid.
Ease off on the accelerator or brake and on a very slippery surface slip the transmission into neutral if you can. Continue to steer in the direction you wish to go.
Be careful not to oversteer. Once you regain control, you can brake as needed, but very gently and smoothly. If your vehicle is equipped with anti-lock brakes, practise emergency braking to understand how your vehicle will react. It is a good idea to practise doing this under controlled conditions with a qualified driving instructor.
ABS is designed to sense the speed of the wheels on a vehicle during braking. An abnormal drop in wheel speed, which indicates potential wheel lock, causes the brake force to be reduced to that wheel. This is how ABS prevents tire skid and the accompanying loss of steering control.
This improves vehicle safety during heavy brake use or when braking with poor traction. Although anti-lock braking systems help to prevent wheel lock, you should not expect the stopping distance for your vehicle to be shortened. Drivers unfamiliar with anti-lock braking may be surprised by the pulsations that they may feel in the brake pedal when they brake hard.
Make sure you know what to expect so you will not be distracted by the pulsation or tempted to release the pedal during emergency braking manoeuvres.
Threshold braking should bring you to a reasonably quick controlled stop in your own lane, even in slippery conditions. This technique is generally practised in a vehicle that is not equipped with ABS. Brake as hard as you can until a wheel begins to lock up, then release pressure on the pedal slightly to release the wheel. Press down on the brake pedal, applying as much braking force as possible without inducing a skid. If you feel any of the wheels begin to lock up, release the brake pressure slightly and re-apply.
Don't pump the brakes. Continue braking this way until you have slowed the vehicle to the desired speed. Vehicles equipped with ABS should provide controlled braking on slippery surfaces automatically. Press the brake pedal hard and allow the system to control wheel lock-up. Snow may be hard-packed and slippery as ice; rutted, full of hard tracks and gullies; or smooth and soft. Look ahead and anticipate what you must do based on the conditions. Slow down on rutted, snowy roads. Avoid sudden steering, braking or accelerating that could cause a skid.
Do not use cruise control during times of snow and other inclement weather. Blowing snow may create whiteouts where snow completely blocks your view of the road. When blowing snow is forecast, drive only if necessary and with extreme caution. Before you drive - and during your trip - check weather forecasts and road reports.
If there is a weather warning, or reports of poor visibility and driving conditions, delay your trip until conditions improve, if possible. If you get caught driving in blowing snow or a whiteout, follow these safe driving tips:.
As temperatures drop below freezing, wet roads become icy. Sections of road in shaded areas or on bridges and overpasses freeze first. It is important to look ahead, slow down and anticipate ice. If the road ahead looks like black and shiny asphalt, be suspicious. It may be covered by a thin layer of ice known as black ice. Generally, asphalt in the winter should look gray-white in colour. If you think there may be black ice ahead, slow down and be careful. Snow-removal vehicles on public roadways are equipped with flashing blue lights that can be seen from metres.
Flashing blue lights warn you of wide and slow-moving vehicles: some snow plows have a wing that extends as far as three metres to the right of the vehicle. On freeways, several snow plows may be staggered across the road, clearing all lanes at the same time by passing a ridge of snow from plow to plow.
Do not try to pass between them. This is extremely dangerous because there is not enough room to pass safely, and the ridge of wet snow can throw your vehicle out of control. The Ministry of Transportation strives to be a world leader in moving people and goods safely, efficiently and sustainably to support a globally competitive economy and a high quality of life.
Skip to main content. Driving at night and in bad weather. Overdriving your headlights You are overdriving your headlights when you go so fast that your stopping distance is farther than you can see with your headlights. Diagram Glare Glare is dazzling light that makes it hard for you to see and be aware what others around you are doing.
Fog Fog is a thin layer of cloud resting on the ground. The question is, can this advice be used as a scientific guideline in the investigation of a specific collision? It might seem a bit counter-intuitive, but the answer is: absolutely not. Reducing speed during conditions of lower visibility can be one aspect of the investigation, but often it is not the scientifically decisive factor.
A simple thought experiment can put the problem into a scientific context. Imagine driving down an unlit highway on a clear night. The only thing illuminating the road ahead of you is your headlights, and they are working fine.
Perhaps feet. Probably well over feet. Or what about a person crouched by the side of his car changing the tire, wearing dark blue jeans and a black sweatshirt? And then imagine that same person wearing khaki pants and a white t-shirt. When we are analyzing a specific nighttime visibility case, it is critical to understand that the distance at which an object is visible is dependent on the object itself.
Something dark, small, and stationary will be much harder to notice than something large, bright, and moving across our field of view. Some of the major factors that influence nighttime visibility distance, as demonstrated in numerous research papers are:. Brightness contrast — how much brighter or darker is the object than its background?
Bigger differences are easier to detect. Size — bigger objects are usually easier to detect than smaller ones. Lateral motion — objects moving across our field of view are easier to detect than stationary ones. Biological motion — our visual system is innately programmed to detect the motion of other animals. It was once described as pleasing itself with its dramatic entry through the harp strings of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Unfortunately, despite the picturesque nature of the fog, it can pose a fatal risk for drivers in the Bay area. Many drivers fail to obey the speed limit even when conditions are perfect, daylight hours, no fog, and dry pavement.
Some of these drivers will speed even when conditions call for driving at below the posted speed limit. It is often called 'overdriving your headlights' when a driver's visibility is limited due to fog or darkness, but the driver still drives at a speed which does not allow them the ability to stop in time to avoid obstacles in the road.
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