Driving in winter can be challenging to even very experienced drivers. Our premier, award winning Thinking Driver Winter Driving course is new for 2020 and includes everything experienced and inexperienced employees need to know to drive safely and incident free in winter.

This comprehensive course covers all the basics of winter driving found in other courses as well as advanced skid recovery techniques for oversteer, understeer and straight-line skids. This is critical information for employees driving your vehicles in winter!

Correct steering, acceleration and braking techniques to optimize traction are addressed in detail. The course is media rich with live action demonstrations of general driving techniques and skid recovery as well as interactive learning activities throughout. From north America’s leader in corporate driver training, Thinking Driver.

The 6 Conditions of Winter Driving

There are six main driving conditions that affect driving during winter months. Being mentally aware of these conditions and developing habits and skills to safely negotiate them will dramatically reduce risk and the chance of an incident or crash during periods of extreme driving conditions.

• Weather Conditions

  • The most challenging and unpredictable element

• Vehicle Condition

  • Vehicle preparation and winter safety

  • Vehicle winter emergency kits

• Road Conditions

  • Bare roads

  • Snow covered roads

  • Ice covered roads

• Traffic Conditions

  • Dealing with other drivers under winter conditions

• Lighting Conditions

  • Glare reflection from snow

  • Blowing snow and impaired vision

  • Reduced daylight hours and the necessity to drive during darkness more often

• Driver Condition

  • Mental state and preparedness

  • Impairment

  • Fatigue

Distracted Driving and Winter Conditions

• Steps to avoid distracted driving in winter conditions

Traction & Control

Maintaining control of a vehicle requires traction with the roadway. The principle winter challenge is to find and maintain this crucial commodity. In this module, employees learn that it is possible to find and maintain traction by expert control of the vehicle. Specific video demonstrations are shown detailing advanced control techniques of acceleration, braking and steering.

• Vehicle balance and traction

• Tire types and application; the importance of winter tires and how they work

• Total control steering technique explained and demonstrated in detail

  • Why total control steering is superior to other methods, specially in winter

• Squeeze/ease acceleration and braking technique detailed and demonstrated

• The relationship between speed and traction and control

• All wheel drive, four-wheel drive vehicles

• Traction control

• Electronic vehicle stability control

Skid Recovery

Most winter incidents and crashes begin or at least involve a skid. Understanding why vehicles skid and how to both avoid skids in the first place and recover or “drive out’ of one is a core skill to drive safely in winter. But this skill is rarely if ever taught to new drivers!

• What is a Skid?

• Types of skids

  • Understeer

  • Oversteer

  • Straight line lockup under braking

• Skid Recovery

• Antilock brakes

  • How antilock brakes work

  • How to drive out of problems using antilock brakes

  • Hazards associated with antilock brakes