Skid Cause & Prevention

It’s not just ice and snow that cause skids. Skids occur in a wide variety of road and weather conditions, and have numerous causes, but what they all have in common is that, for the inexperienced driver, they happen quickly and seemingly without warning. And more often than not the resulting incidents are serious.

Drive & Survive runs specialist Skid Cause & Prevention courses, using the highly effective ‘Skid Car’ system. The Skid Car is a conventional saloon car mounted on a hydraulically-adjustable frame, allowing the trainer alongside the driver to vary the amount of grip available to both front and rear wheels at the touch of a button. By doing this the trainer can emulate front wheel, rear wheel and four wheel skids at relatively low speeds and in complete safety.

The focus of the course is prevention rather than cure. Our instructors spend considerable time explaining how and where skids happen, and the techniques for preventing them happening in the first place. Once this aspect is understood, we progress to the special techniques required to defuse the potentially dangerous situation that the skid represents.

The same principles apply to the unique Skid Van (illustrated).