Driving in Different Types of Weather Conditions

When learning to drive its always a good idea to have some driving lessons in different types of weather conditions. Driving in heavy rain will feel a lot different to driving in sunny and dry conditions. It will feel a lot harder and possibly scarier the first few times when driving in heavy rain as it will be a lot harder to see, the car will be noisier plus a lot of pedestrians may take this opportunity to run across the road as they do not want to get too wet. Also, in heavy rainy conditions, car windows tend to steam up a lot more which makes it more difficult to see out of the windows. Here you can open the windows to help clear the windows but inevitably this will allow rain to enter the car so probably the best thing to do in this situation would be to put the air con on and face it to the windows. This usually helps demist the car faster than anything else.

Driving in snow is one of the most difficult situations to drive in as you will need to drive a lot slower than normal and brake a lot earlier and gentler in order to avoid any potential accidents. Whenever you move off from a snowy or icy surface its always best to be in the highest gear possible as this will help prevent skidding. For example, second gear would be better than first gear as the higher the gears the slower the wheels spin so less friction will be lost. if you are moving off in a higher gear than normal try giving more gas than usual as cars tend to struggle moving off in higher gears and will need extra power to help it on its way.

If you try to move off in first gear in very icy conditions your wheels will spin so fast that all friction may be lost and in the end you could end up stuck.

Be aware when you are driving in foggy conditions as your view will be substantially reduced and you will struggle to see road users and pedestrians. Try to have at least your dipped headlights on and if visibility is reduced to 100 metres or less then you should have your main beam on as long as it is not affecting other road users. You may also choose to have your rear fog lights on too to help road users behind you to spot you easier.