Earlier, we commented about how in Sweden, life goes on in winter and the Swedes wondered why we’re so bad at managing in the snow. Well on the UK’s ITV Tonight programme, there’s a whole half hour devoted to why, but sadly, they miss the point.
It’s not about councils, gritters and closing businesses and schools. It’s about two really simple things. The right tyres and the right driver training. In Sweden, skid control is a compulsory part of everyone’s training before passing their test. In our view, it beggars belief that in the UK, it’s possible to pass your driving test without driving on a motorway or undertaking any skid control training.
The second big thing is tyres. It’s all we can manage to just get the average driver to check his tyre pressures, never mind consider changing tyres. Yet in Sweden, winter tyres are compulsory and everyone has a set. The difference in grip level is, quite literally, like night and day.
We’re not saying that everyone should go and buy a set of studded tyres and form a queue at Ice Driver HQ, but if only people had better grip and more confidence to drive faster than 10 mph, then we’d all get by. So next time it snows, don’t complain about the council and snow clearance, get yourself some advanced driver training somewhere this summer, so that next time, you’re ready to help yourself.
And one final thing. If you come to Ice Driver this winter, you’ll see more 4×4’s in the car park at Heathrow than you will in your time with us.
