Tudor Hughes wrote:


Ability to control or avoid a skid may be of use to racing
drivers but is pretty pointless for the average motorist. The reason
the roads jam up in snow is due mostly to the fact that in many
places they are at nearly full capacity anyway. The traffic just
about keeps going under normal conditions but anything that slows the
flow will soon cause long delays. For example a steep hill may become
unusable due to lack of adhesion and the traffic has to be diverted,
adding to the congestion. No amount of skill will increase the
coefficient of friction between tyres and ice, snow or slush. Ability
to drive in snow may have enabled you to get through when there was
hardly a car on the road (say, 1930's) but nowadays the problems are
entirely different.

Not all roads are nose-to-tail traffic, even now. You don't have to be
driving fast to get yourself into a skid. Some causes may be driver-related
or mechanical, such as having poor tyres. I found this out when I bought a
new car that came fitted with Michelin XZX tyres. If I'd known the trouble
they'd be I'd have asked them to swap them for something else - anything
else - straightaway. They never gave me any confidence that they'd stay on
the road. On one occasion, a slightly dewy morning, I lost all grip at the
front on a bend at less than 10 mph. I got rid of the tyres when there was
still more than 3mm tread left - three times the then legal minimum.

--
Graham P Davis
Bracknell, Berks., UK
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