Due to snow and slippery conditions, code orange has been in effect in our province since eight o’clock on Wednesday morning. Five to ten centimeters of snow is expected. The advice is therefore to work from home if possible. Anyone who has to go on the road would do well to be extra careful, or better yet: know what to do if there is a risk of skidding. One of our reporters previously took a skidding course and learned what you should and should not do in such circumstances.
Slamming on the brakes, consciously skidding and doing all kinds of things that you would normally want to avoid on the road: a skidding course can be quite exciting. But once you get over that fear, you will learn the easiest way to get out of a slip so that you can put this into practice. Something that could come in handy this Wednesday.
Getting out of a slip is not that easy
Even if you can drive quite well, a skid course is not that easy. For example, the first ‘slip’ does not go so smoothly for our reporter. “I did a lot wrong, didn’t I?”, Paul asks the instructor. “No, you did indeed do a lot of things wrong,” says the instructor at the Leeuw traffic center in Eindhoven. His advice? “Keep looking in your direction of travel and steer in that direction like a world champion.”
It turns out to be a fantastic tip, because Paul’s second attempt is going much better. “By doing this, you are intuitively doing the right thing,” he says.
Listen to what our reporter learned during the skid course in the excerpt below:
Not just for beginners
A skidding course is certainly useful not only for novice drivers, but also for experienced drivers. Being able to drive well does not mean that you can never end up in a dangerous situation due to slippery conditions.
In any case, our reporter is confident after the course. “I learned something from it. If I slip again, I do one thing and that is keep looking in the direction of travel and then I hope that everything will turn out fine.”
Tips and tricks
Even without a skid course, you can do a lot yourself to continue driving safely in winter conditions, such as this Wednesday. Driving slowly is the most important principle. The ANWB uses a clear rule of thumb: “halve your speed and double the distance to the vehicle in front.” That extra space gives you more time to respond to unexpected situations and reduces the risk of accidents in slippery conditions, the ANWB says.
The ANWB has a whole page with tips about braking. The organization emphasizes that you must also remain alert with winter tires: they provide extra grip, but do not prevent you from skidding on a slippery road. It therefore remains important to adjust your speed and be extra careful.
This article is an update of a message that Omroep Brabant previously published in January 2019.