Skids often cause accidents on the road in wet weather. In order to get the bottom of the fact as why accidents do happen, especially when the roads are wet, you need to understand the science of the vehicle tires. As we all know that tires are basically of two types- dry weather tires and wet weather tires! Most people opt for dry weather tires for their vehicles, because dry weather tires allow their vehicles to be maneuvered easily. Moreover, these tires help drivers to drive fast.

Skids can be defined as the loss of traction between the a vehicle’s tires and the road, owing to the forces acting on the vehicle. These are basically caused by driver’s error. Skids can also occur in dry weather conditions, apart from wet, and icy weather conditions. However, the chances of occurring skids, losing control, and then having an accident increase by 50 percent in wet weather condition.

Here are a few main causes of skidding:

• aggressive and abrupt acceleration.
• Excessive sudden braking.
• Sudden and unsteady steering movements.

All the above mentioned movements are enhanced by speed. When these effects combine with bad weather conditions, as well as unfavorable road conditions, create severe problems for drivers.

The most common types of skid that drivers may encounter on the road fall into the following three categories:

• The front wheel skid
• The rear wheel skid
• The four wheel skid

Following are a few measures that could be followed in order to prevent skids from occurring:

• Drivers should try to avoid harsh acceleration. Instead accelerate in a gentle manner in a straight line, if possible!
• Same as acceleration, treat all braking operations in gentle manner.
• When road as well as weather conditions are adverse, delicate use of foot controls and gentle shallow movements of the steering wheel are recommended.
• Always make sure that the vehicle’s position, speed and gear are correct.
• Always maintain the optimum speed while driving, especially in bad weather conditions.
• Make sure the vehicle’s tire pressure is correct and tires are in good condition.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 at 10:14 am and is filed under Maintenance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.