Road Traffic Crashes And Winter Weather

Given the recent spell of bad weather and treacherous road conditions, we thought it might be useful to highlight some common misconceptions about what would be deemed to be negligent behaviour on the roads and what is simply an unavoidable, weather-related accident.

Snow and ice are slippery. That may be obvious but why are they slippery and, more specifically, why do they cause cars to slide? The friction between the rubber of your tyre and the surface of the ice or snow causes a thin layer of water to form. This thin layer of water is highly viscous. It acts as a perfect lubricant between the two surfaces which causes the tyre to slip. The more force that is added, the more friction is created and the more the tyre slips.