Driving with snow on your car – it’s snow joke

Waiting to collect my daughter from school on Friday, I was disturbed to see a procession of cars leaving the school almost completely covered in up to 10cm of snow. Not one had bothered to clear the snow off the side windows of their cars. The best had just stuck the front wipers on and the worst had only cleared off the driver’s side of the front screen.

Not only was this a rubbish example to be setting for the pupils, it was also downright dangerous – they would struggle to see other vehicles and the children walking home near them. The AA this week also criticised drivers who haven’t cleared their cars of snow and ice, or what it calls the ‘igloo mentality’.

Of course, it’s also illegal. The Road Vehicles (Construction & Use) Regulations 1986 state that it’s illegal to drive a vehicle where the driver’s vision through the windscreen is impaired.

Clearing your car of snow and ice

So why didn’t they at least clear all their car windows so they had all-round visibility? And surely they’d want other road users to see them, so wouldn’t they think to wipe the snow off their cars’ lights and indicators?

To be honest, they really should have gone further, as I learned from a motorbike-riding colleague. He told me he’d almost been knocked off his bike by a roof-load of snow that suddenly flew off a car.

At least some of the drivers I saw had made a small effort to clear their cars’ screens, unlike one motorway driver who’d only scraped a narrow slit in the screen of their Audi A4. I’m not one for reporting other motorists for bad behaviour, but I’d definitely have informed the police about this one.

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