Suddenly the tires leave the road and the car slides out of the bend at high speed.
Instinct says “put on the brakes”. The traffic teacher says otherwise.
January has been a smooth month, for both walking and driving. The police are constantly warning motorists about very bad and slippery roads.
– We are experiencing complete chaos, confirms Arne Voll, communications manager at Gjensidige.
We are doing this wrong
– First of all, people are far too bad at adapting their speed to the driver.
Traffic teacher Jørgen Bjelland lightly presses down on the gas pedal on the way into the bend. The rear of the car immediately loses its grip on the road and sails into the opposite lane.
These are the two most common mistakes motorists make on smooth roads:
1. Violent rattling
– A very common mistake is to enter the bend too quickly, so that the car slips, explains Bjelland.
– Many people then start steering somewhat violently, so that the driver support system ESP is switched on. It pulls the car out of the bend and not into your own lane as desired.
2. Hard braking and steering
But according to the traffic teacher, hard braking in combination with steering is the biggest mistake people make.
– When the car leaves the road, people panic. The panic makes people do things they wouldn’t otherwise do, such as braking and turning hard in a corner. Then the car disappears even faster out of the road, says Bjelland.
You do this
If the accident happens first, it is important to know what you should do to get back safely.
– The best thing is to try and get back in your own lane, but in a way that means you don’t lose even more control, says Bjelland.
He emphasizes that it is safer to collide with the nose first than to be hit from the side.
BIGGEST MISTAKE: Traffic teacher Jørgen Bjelland says the biggest mistake people make is not checking road grip and speeding too fast. Photo: Mathias Kleiveland / TV 2
– If you slip on a bend and the car’s rear wheel slips, try to counter – i.e. turn in the opposite direction of the way you really want to go. It can fix the car, says Bjelland.
If the car slides out to the left, continue to turn left.
– The support system will also help the car to slow down as long as you don’t use the brakes, says the traffic teacher.
Electric cars that brake themselves
But there is a group of road users who should be a little extra careful on the slippery roads this winter.
If you have recently become the owner of an electric car, the new car purchase can also bring new challenges.
Electric cars can brake by themselves, because they use the braking effect to charge the battery.
WARNING ELECTRIC CAR OWNERS: Many electric cars charge the braking effect. Electric cars have no gear changes, so the engine takes hold immediately. Then the car can quickly spin on smooth surfaces. Photo: Mathias Kleiveland / TV 2
– In other words, the regeneration can cause cars to slide off the road on smooth roads, because the car brakes on its own when you release the gas pedal, says Bjelland.
He emphasizes that this is most dangerous at high speed, where you suddenly let off the gas.
– The trick is to adjust the level of the regeneration, or turn off the braking effect.
TIRES: The insurance industry’s best advice is to adapt your speed to the driving situation and have good, new winter tyres. Photo: Mathias Kleiveland / TV 2
Take a test ride
On average, insurance companies receive more than a thousand damage reports on cars every single day.
– On busy days in winter, this increases by 50 per cent, says Voll in Gjensidige.
He also sees that a group of motorists are standing out on the road.
– We see that many new electric motorists struggle with precisely this and especially maneuvering down long steep slopes. In many ways, you have to learn to drive again with an automatic electric car, says Voll.
His best advice is to head to one of the practice tracks and try to brake hard.
– This applies regardless of whether you have had the certificate for 10, 20, 30 or 50 years. Electric cars behave a little differently, and it is often too late to find out when going down a steep, slippery hill.
