A Driver's Guide to Frosty Mornings

As the British winters draws near drivers are already waking up to frost filled mornings. The following guide is a pre-winter checklist for drivers wishing to avoid a frosty morning drive.

First of all it is always best to prepare the vehicle for winter early. As winter approaches give your car a pre-winter once over. Check the anti freeze levels, replace damaged wiper blades, stock-up on de-icer, add a frost inhibitor to the screen wash reservoir and buy a window scraper and two clothes: one to clear condensation and dirt from the inside windows and one to clean lights and exterior windows.

Window wipers and the motors that drive them can be easily damaged. Turning on your wipers whilst they are frozen is one such way to damage them. To avoid accidentally damaging them this way make sure you turn them off when leaving your vehicle parked over night. This will stop the wipers coming on when you start the engine the next morning.

If your windows are frosted over, to clear them use de-icer or start your engine and let the hears don their job. Never poor hot water over them. This can cause cracking especially if your windscreen has a small chip in it.

Don't ignore your lights. Make sure the plastic light covers are also free of ice and frost.

If you vehicle has an external temperature gauge, and most modern cars do, then use it. If the gauge shows a temperature of 3 degrees or below then the road you are driving on is likely to be very slippery. If you don't have a gauge then look for other signs of slippery roads such as ice on parked cars. If you do see ice on parked cars it is likely that there is ice on the carriageway, especially if the road is a side road. With this in mind remember that stopping distance increase substantially when the conditions are frosty. To compensate slow down, look further ahead the you normally would and allow for the extra time needed to stop by increasing the gap between you and the vehicle in front.

Where the road surface is likely to be slippery stay in the highest gear you vehicle has as this will reduce the risk of wheel spin. If possible pull away using second gear, releasing the clutch and accelerating smoothly and progressively. If the front of the vehicle begins to lose grip a front wheel skid will begin. If this happens reduce acceleration, disengage the clutch and steer smoothly. If the vehicle enters a rear wheel skid, remove your foot from the accelerator, disengage the clutch and steer into the skid.

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