Winter Driving Tips

Driving a car in the winter season has never been easy. Snow, ice, and lately, the not-so-rare icy rain make the road a real test strip not only for drivers but also for winter tires. Particular attention should undoubtedly be paid to how the car behaves in a turn.

There are two main definitions of "understeer" and "oversteer".

Understeer is when the car literally cannot keep up with the trajectory planned by the driver. Such a situation usually arises due to too rapid entry into a turn or braking when trying to turn. In front-wheel drive cars, understeer can also occur due to excessive acceleration in a turn.

To safely navigate a turn, you need to slow down on the straight before it to adjust your speed. Then align yourself and pass the turn. When you start to straighten the steering wheel when exiting the turn, smoothly accelerate when exiting the turn.

If you find yourself in such a situation, do not increase the steering angle, because the tires have already lost traction with the road, and increasing the turn will only worsen the situation. Do not press the brake, because the front tires are already skidding, and increasing the braking pressure will only aggravate the situation. You should take your foot off the gas and not press the brake. As the car's weight shifts forward, it loads the front tires, improving their grip on the road, while you have the opportunity to smoothly reduce the steering angle. Improved traction and lower speed should allow you to smoothly return to the turn.

Oversteer, as the term suggests, is the opposite of understeer. It's when your car starts to drift into a turn. The reason for this is the loss of traction with the rear tires in the turn.

The cause is the same - exceeding the speed when entering a turn and sharply reducing speed in the turn itself. In this case, the car's weight is maximally transferred to the front axle and reduces the traction of the rear tires. If you find yourself in this situation and the car starts to skid from side to side, you should slightly accelerate to transfer the weight back to the rear wheels. If your car is rear-wheel drive, make sure you don't overcorrect in the skid.

Of course, these recommendations will be more useful for inexperienced drivers, as more experienced ones already do this intuitively, but it's always worth remembering the most important thing: whatever your experience, a winter road is very treacherous, and there's no better solution than high-quality tires with sufficient tread depth.