Snowmegadon UK?

[Janne]

Drivers license?
Bad memories, bad.
Lived in Stockholm then, went to a school in the centre, so I did the driving and all there.
Stockholm drivers, specially Taxi druvers, are the most aggressive I have ever seen.
Took around 20 lessons in a SAAB 99, then ran out of money. When I had saved some I started again, but the company yad changed to Volvo 240’
Took me another 15+ lessons.

 

[Paul_B]

I don't think a test guarantees safe driving at all. It's human to make mistakes and besides you're not in test mode all the time behind the wheel. It's a guide to ability but let's face it test driving and day to day driving is not the same. People don't treat it the same and you're not as alert as you are during a test. Nerves lead to adrenaline which leads to more awareness. If you're being tested every three years you will learn to cope with the nerves but the adrenaline will still be there to help.

Of course I do believe there's a benefit in some form of driving test every so many years Perhaps just a hazard awareness type of test could be enough but actual driving better.

Also, I believe the basic driving test should include testing for handling in a skid situation. I thing that after the hazard awareness training the skid training helped me a lot. When you know how to handle a skid and know what it feels like just before losing it to a skid then you'll learn how to prevent it too.

There's a lot to safe driving that's never taught. That's why reduction in insurance premiums for further instruction and testing is a very good idea. I did it at 17 but they brought out pass plus later on. A lad in our canoe club took it at 17 right after his test because of the 1/3rd off the premium. He said the real benefit was the improvement to his driving.

Driving is about the whole system, from the conditions, through the vehicle to the driver. So much opportunity for weak links. Always good to work on the weaknesses of your system. Right now tyres are a quick fix until we change vehicle. Until tyre change and after it I reckon a better tracking of the weather where we're going. I checked the local weather but not the mountain weather for the lakes. So we got caught out a bit. That was a weakness in the system.

BTW looking like we're going on the van life in future. Converting a transit custom. I wonder what they're like to drive in winter? You often see such vans being driven like the snow wasn't really there. Does vehicle weight make a big difference?

 

[Paul_B]

https://bushcraftuk.com/community/index.php?threads/winter-driving.51300/

For driving worth looking at this excellent post.

 

[Broch]

As a kid I used to take my Mum's car out as soon as it snowed and practice skids, full spins, handbrake induced turns - just generally messing about. My mum often got telephone calls from worried neighbours but I never crashed or hit anyone. If I saw a kid doing it now I'd be seeing red but, to be honest, it was the best type of driving lesson I could have.

I have just finished three days of teaching 'bad weather driving' - it includes difficult terrain, deep water, and snow/ice. Interestingly, the syllabus only touches on skidding; the aim is to teach people not to get there!

 

[Paul_B]

I used to do that around the industrial estate I used to work in. Good experience on just how far you can push your car in a relatively safe place to do it.

However I must point out that back then I only did that when everywhere was quiet and there was no ice. It was about loss of grip and effects of mass of the car on the wheels. By this I mean turning at speed affects the weight distribution and add a result the friction of the tyre on the ground.

Perhaps there could be some training along these lines in controlled and safe way.

 

[Janne]

I did that on the Advance driving courses in Sweden. Done on race tracks and Volvo’s own track.
Yes we did go off, but as the courses were done with Volvo’s development vehicles it did not matter for them.

One thing I learned: at speed, if you get a skid on rear wheels on a normally wide road, you will go off it.
If it is icy, a front wheel skid is unretrievable.

Maybe if you are The Stig.