What should drivers pay attention to when driving on icy roads?

Keeping a safe distance, focusing on observation, limiting speeding... are things drivers need to keep in mind when driving on icy, snowy, and foggy roads.

Driving in snowy weather is fun, but it is also very dangerous. Snowy roads are just like rainy roads, slippery, but the level of complexity and danger is much higher.

According to the experience of experienced people, in countries with snowfall such as Russia, Japan, England, etc., cars often have a special type of tire used in winter. This tire is designed with many small grooves that grip the road well, and even has metal studs to break up ice and snow.

As for cars in Vietnam, snowfall is a rare phenomenon, so this type of tire is rarely sold because most use summer tires. Therefore, if traveling with summer tires on icy roads, there will be many risks, drivers need to pay close attention.

Some roads have a thin layer of ice on the road surface, unlike white snow, the ice is clear and blends with the black road surface (black ice) making it difficult to see. This is a real danger for inexperienced drivers.

Driving on icy roads requires caution.

For unfamiliar roads, terrain covered by snow, when driving, you need to be extremely careful to avoid falling into a snow hole. In case of having to overcome a dangerous slope, the driver must absolutely not go alone, but must have a companion, one person following the other so that if an unexpected incident occurs, they can coordinate to rescue each other.

On the road, you should not try to overtake snow plows or repair vehicles, sand and rock spreading vehicles moving on the road because the drivers' visibility is very limited, if you try to overtake, it is easy to cause a collision.

When driving in the rain and snow, the car is often covered with white snow, making it difficult to identify. Therefore, to keep your car's location signal to other cars, you should stick colorful cloth or decals (red, orange, light-catching) on ​​the antenna, roof top, and nose of the car.

When it snows heavily, you can deflate the air in your car tires to increase the contact area between the tire and the road, which has a certain anti-slip effect. Drivers in the snow should pay attention to keeping their hands and feet warm.

In rainy and snowy conditions, the headlights should be in low beam mode (cos) along with the fog lights. In addition, to be more careful, you can add reflective decals to the front, rear and sides of the car.

Turn on fog lights when there is fog and visibility is below 100 meters.

To make sure you don't have to use too much brake, keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front, slightly further than would be normal in normal weather conditions.

On the way, the driver should open a window to avoid the localized air breathing effect in the car, or the cold air suddenly rushing into the car when opening the door. If the car stops, within 1 hour, the engine should be turned on for 10 minutes to avoid the exhaust pipe being blocked by ice.

Currently, some cars are only equipped with low beam lights (white light) which many people still think are fog lights (yellow light). With the white light of low beam lights and headlights, when moving in thick fog, it will be scattered and absorbed, so it cannot help the driver increase visibility. Only cars with yellow fog lights can support the driver in such weather conditions.

However, if car owners have a habit of storing a few pieces of yellow or red plastic (the kind of wrapping paper) in the car, it will sometimes become a "lifesaver" to overcome the fog instead of having to stop along the way. The colored plastic pieces when stuck to the headlights will have the same effect as fog lights.

When moving, you should turn on all types of lights mounted on the vehicle, in which the headlights remain in the low beam position (low beam) and the hazard warning lights (yellow) are in a continuous flashing state, to signal other vehicles on the road. If the vehicle is equipped with fog lights, you should turn off the headlights to increase the effectiveness of the yellow light.

At the same time, minimize acceleration and absolutely avoid driving at high speeds in foggy areas. Make a habit of watching the speedometer to know the speed of the car, turn off the music and occasionally open the window to listen to the sound of traffic on the road and grasp what is happening outside the car.

However, this can cause the inside of the windshield to fog up. In addition, the moisture in the air is also likely to be thick on the windshield, so visibility will decrease very quickly. Therefore, you should use the air conditioning system's defrost function and increase the speed of the wipers if necessary.

When driving in fog, it is beneficial to follow another vehicle. You can use the headlights of the vehicle in front to guide your route, but you must still maintain a safe distance. Avoid sudden braking as much as possible, as there may be someone behind you using your vehicle as a “lead”.

Use the curb, road markings and signs to observe your route. Absolutely avoid stopping in the middle of the road or in crowded places when it is foggy. In case the car stalls or cannot be controlled, try to quickly pull the car to the side of the road, turn off all white lights, turn on the emergency warning lights, take your foot off the brake pedal and leave the car.

Control your speed, keep a safe distance from other vehicles, at least 2 car lengths (follow the 4-5 second rule) so that in case of an emergency, the driver has time to handle the situation, keeping people and vehicles safe. Always get into the habit of looking at the speedometer to know how to adjust the speed accordingly. Absolutely do not tailgate other vehicles, it is very dangerous.

When needing to stop or change direction, the driver must use a signal light from a distance, slow down, slowly stop close to the side of the road or slowly turn, and must not suddenly change speed or direction in this situation. Be careful not to brake suddenly, because if you do so, the car behind cannot control its speed and can rush forward and crash into the car in front, causing an unfortunate accident./.

According to VOV.VN