High winds can be really tricky to drive in! Driving through wide open spaces like the motorway, bridges or in tunnels is particularly dangerous in high wind conditions.
We’ve compiled 10 tips below to help you adapt you’re driving on a day of strong winds:
- Stop and decide if your trip is really necessary. If it is, plan your journey carefully and give yourself plenty of time.
- Reduce your speed and be alert, expect the unexpected.
- Keep both hands firmly on your steering wheel. Be particularly careful if you’re on a motorbike.
- Keep a safe distance from the vehicles in front of you.
- Turn your lights on, even when bright. Turning on your lights can help you to see more clearly of what lies ahead.
- Always be conscious of fallen trees, even after strong winds have died down, there might be damage to trees that could uproot days later.
- Be careful around larger vehicles like trucks, vans or cars carrying trailers. These are more inclined to lose control in the event of high winds.
- Be extremely cautious near pedestrians or cyclists. Make sure to give them a wider berth than usual because their paths can easily be affected.
- Winds can blow branches from trees, or large items of rubbish, onto the roads and onto your vehicle watch out for these and for any other debris on the roads.
- High winds and falling trees can cause overhead power lines to break and fall which can interrupt the electricity supply to large areas. It’s so important to keep away from any electricity wires, fallen wires are never safe to touch or handle.
- If the weather conditions get too extreme, pull over until you’re ready to continue.
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The information contained in this article is from https://www.aviva.ie/insurance/car-articles/driving-in-high-winds/. Source, Aviva September 2019. Cornmarket cannot be held responsible for content contained on external websites.