Winter Driving Tips: How to Drive in Snow and Ice, and Get Your Car Ready

Most UK drivers think about winter driving the morning they find their car under a sheet of ice, or the evening they’re sliding gently towards a roundabout they can’t stop for. These winter driving tips are for the bit before that: how to drive in snow and on ice, what to do if you get stuck or break down, and the winter car checks that stop most of it happening in the first place.

This is a UK guide. That means A-roads and motorways, not mountain passes. Council gritters, not snowploughs. The kind of conditions that catch British drivers out every single year, because we assume it won’t happen to us, and then it does. Every one of the winter driving tips below is written for those roads.

It doesn’t take extreme weather. During the Beast from the East in March 2018, around 1,000 vehicles were brought to a standstill on the M80 near Glasgow, some for up to 13 hours. When Storm Arwen hit in November 2021, more than 120 lorries were stuck in snow on the M62 and the motorway had to be closed. And a single overnight freeze on an untreated B-road is enough to strand a car with a flat battery or a puncture for hours, in temperatures well below zero.

Winter Driving Tips for Snow and Ice

The first of our winter driving tips is the one nobody likes: if the Met Office has an amber or red warning out for snow or ice where you’re going, ask whether the journey really needs to happen today. If it does, these are the habits that get you there.

Before You Set Off

• Clear the whole car, not a porthole. Windscreen, every window, mirrors, lights and the roof. Snow left on the roof slides onto the windscreen the first time you brake, and blows off onto the car behind. Driving without a clear view is an offence, and police do stop people for it.
• Check the warnings and the roads. The Met Office app and website carry the weather warnings. National Highways, Traffic Scotland and Traffic Wales show live road conditions and closures. Don’t assume a road has been gritted, especially minor roads and estates.
• Tell someone your route and when you’ll arrive on any longer or rural journey. If you don’t turn up, someone knows where to start looking.
• Keep the fuel above a quarter of a tank. If you end up stuck in a queue for hours, the engine is your heater.
• Charge your phone, and have the What3Words app installed so you can give an exact location on a road you don’t know.

Driving in Snow

Driving in snow is all about being gentle: gentle on the accelerator, gentle on the brake, gentle on the steering. The Highway Code says stopping distances can be up to ten times longer in icy conditions, so leave a far bigger gap to the car in front than feels natural.

• Pull away gently. In a manual car, pull away in second gear with very little throttle to stop the wheels spinning. Many automatics have a snow or winter mode that does a similar job.
• Drive in as high a gear as you sensibly can, so the wheels are less likely to spin.
• Brake early and gently. Slow down well before bends and junctions, not on them.
• Keep moving on hills if you can. Wait at the bottom until the road is clear so you don’t have to stop halfway up.
• Use dipped headlights when visibility drops. Front and rear fog lights are only for when you can’t see more than 100 metres; switch them off again when it clears so you don’t dazzle other drivers.

Driving on Ice and Black Ice

Black ice is a thin, clear layer that looks like a wet road. It forms first on bridges, flyovers, shaded stretches under trees, and dips where water collects. If the tyre noise suddenly goes quiet and the steering feels light, you’re probably on it.

The most important of all winter driving tips applies here: smooth inputs. Don’t brake hard and don’t make sudden steering movements. Ease off the accelerator and keep the wheel steady until you’re through it. If the back of the car starts to slide, take your foot off the accelerator and steer gently in the same direction as the slide to bring it back in line. Stamping on the brake is the instinct, and it’s the thing that makes it worse.

Winter Tyres and All-Season Tyres

Most UK cars run on summer tyres, which harden and lose grip as the temperature drops towards freezing. All-season and winter tyres use a softer compound and deeper tread for cold, wet and snowy roads. Look for the three-peak mountain snowflake symbol on the sidewall, which means the tyre has passed a snow performance test; M+S on its own is a manufacturer’s marking with no test behind it. They’re not a legal requirement in the UK, but if you live somewhere rural or hilly, they’re the single biggest upgrade you can make to how your car copes with winter.

If You Get Stuck in Snow

Most winter driving tips are about avoiding this moment, but driving in snow long enough means it happens to most of us eventually. Don’t keep spinning the wheels. All it does is polish the snow into ice and dig you in deeper. Instead:

• Straighten the front wheels if you can.
• Clear the snow from in front of and around the drive wheels with a shovel.
• Put something under the drive wheels for grip: traction mats, grit, or a bag of cat litter.
• Pull away very gently in second gear. If it won’t go, a little reverse-then-forward rocking can sometimes get you over the lip.

If the car won’t move and the weather’s getting worse, stay with it. Your car is shelter, it’s visible, and walking along a road in snow and darkness is far more dangerous than waiting. Run the engine for short spells to warm up, not continuously, and before you do, check the exhaust pipe isn’t blocked by snow. A blocked exhaust can fill a stationary car with carbon monoxide. Opening a window slightly while the engine runs helps too.

Between those spells, the car gets cold quickly. Layers, a hat, gloves and a proper blanket make the difference between an uncomfortable wait and a miserable one.

If You Break Down in Winter

On a Motorway

Get onto the hard shoulder or into an emergency area if you can, as far to the left as possible, with hazard lights on. Get everyone out through the passenger-side doors, over the barrier and well up the bank, then call your breakdown service. Don’t stand between the car and the traffic, and don’t put out a warning triangle on a motorway. If you’ve stopped in a live lane and can’t get out safely, stay in the car with your seatbelt on and hazard lights on, and call 999. You can also call National Highways on 0300 123 5000.

On Other Roads

Hazard lights on. If it’s safe, put your warning triangle at least 45 metres behind the car. Wear a hi-vis vest if you have to get out at all, especially in the dark. Then get back in the car, wrap up, and call your breakdown service with your exact location, using What3Words if you’re not sure which road you’re on.

A head torch is far better than a handheld torch at the roadside. You need both hands to fit a spare, connect jump leads, or read the small print on your breakdown card, and your phone’s battery is for phone calls, not lighting.

Children and Vulnerable Passengers

A winter breakdown with young children or elderly passengers changes the priority. Staying warm stops being a comfort and becomes the main job. On any longer winter journey with dependants, carry a blanket per person, a change of warm clothes for the children, a flask with a hot drink, and any regular medication they need. Keep them in the car with the doors shut on ordinary roads, and only follow the get-out-behind-the-barrier rule on motorways.

If you’re close to home when it all goes wrong and conditions are safe, having another way to get there helps. A folding bike in the boot is one option.

Winter Car Checks Before the First Freeze

If you’re wondering how to prepare your car for winter, start here. Most winter breakdowns are preventable, and these winter car checks are basic winter car maintenance worth doing every autumn, before the first proper cold snap. Most take twenty minutes on the driveway; a couple need a garage.

Battery

The battery is the most common cause of winter breakdowns. Cold reduces its capacity, so a battery that copes in September can refuse to start on a frosty January morning. If yours is three or more years old, get it tested before winter; many garages and battery centres do it free. Watch for slow cranking, flickering dashboard lights or headlights that dim at idle. A portable jump starter in the car means a flat battery doesn’t have to mean waiting for someone else.

Tyres

Check the tread depth, pressure and condition of all four tyres, plus the spare if you have one. The legal minimum is 1.6mm across the central three-quarters of the tread, but most tyre safety organisations recommend replacing at 3mm for winter. Pressure drops as it gets colder, roughly 1 PSI for every 5 to 6°C, so check them cold and set them to the figures on the door-pillar sticker or in the handbook. Cracks, bulges or uneven wear mean a new tyre now, not after winter.

Windscreen and Wipers

Get chips repaired before the cold arrives, because freezing nights make them spread into cracks. Replace wiper blades that smear rather than clear. Never run the wipers on a frozen screen; you’ll tear the rubber. A windscreen frost cover saves you ten minutes of scraping on frosty mornings and costs very little.

Screenwash

Fill the reservoir with a winter screenwash concentrate rated to at least -15°C, mixed as the bottle says. Plain water freezes in the reservoir and the jets overnight, and washing-up liquid smears and can damage seals. Keep a spare bottle in the car; on a motorway in slush and spray, you can empty a reservoir in a day.

Coolant and Antifreeze

Coolant stops the water in your engine’s cooling system from freezing. Most modern cars use a pre-mixed coolant that’s good to around -35°C, but older cars, or ones that have been topped up with water, may not be. A cheap antifreeze tester from any motor factor checks the freeze point in seconds. If it isn’t protected well below -15°C, get it sorted now.

Lights

Walk round the car and check every light: dipped and full beam, sidelights, brake lights, indicators and fog lights. Winter means far more driving in the dark, and a dead bulb that’s a minor annoyance in June is a real problem at 6am on an unlit road in December.

Brakes, Oil and Diesel

If the brakes squeal, grind, pull to one side or feel longer to stop, have them checked before winter. Check the oil on the dipstick and top it up if needed. Diesel drivers: UK pump diesel is winter-treated, but in a prolonged hard freeze it can still start to wax and block the fuel filter. An anti-gel additive in the tank before a long cold spell is cheap insurance, especially in rural areas.

Breakdown Cover

The last of the winter car maintenance jobs isn’t mechanical at all. Make sure your breakdown cover is current and covers you at home as well as on the road. Write the membership number and phone number on paper and keep it in the glovebox. If your phone dies, that bit of paper is how you get help.

What to Keep in Your Car This Winter

The best winter driving tips in the world don’t help if the kit you need is out of reach. Where you keep things matters as much as what you keep. If the car is half-buried or you’ve slid into a verge, the boot may be the last thing you can safely reach, so the items you need first live in the car itself.

• In the cabin: ice scraper, de-icer, warm waterproof gloves, a hi-vis vest, ice grips for your shoes, a phone charging cable, your breakdown number on paper, and a window breaker and seatbelt cutter.
• In the boot: a folding shovel, jump leads or a jump starter, a head torch, a warning triangle, traction mats, a blanket and warm layers, water and some snacks, and a charged power bank.

A pair of disposable hand warmers in the glovebox earns its place too. There’s nothing to charge, so they’re ready whenever the car isn’t.

The window breaker deserves a mention of its own. It’s a small tool that breaks a side window and cuts a jammed seatbelt if you ever need to get out of the car fast. It belongs within reach of the driver’s seat, not in the boot or the bottom of the glovebox.

Winter Driving Checklists

Here are the winter driving tips and winter car checks from this guide as quick checklists. Work through the first list once in autumn, the second before any journey in bad weather, and keep the third in the car until spring. That’s how to prepare your car for winter without having to remember any of it.

Autumn Winter Car Checks (Once, Before the First Freeze)

• Battery tested, and replaced if it’s borderline or 3+ years old
• All four tyres checked: tread (3mm+ for winter), pressure and condition, plus the spare
• Windscreen chips repaired
• Wiper blades replaced if they smear
• Screenwash filled with -15°C rated concentrate, spare bottle in the car
• Coolant freeze point checked
• All lights working
• Oil checked and topped up
• Brakes checked if anything feels or sounds wrong
• Breakdown cover current, number written down in the glovebox

Before Every Winter Journey

• Whole car cleared: roof, windscreen, all windows, mirrors and lights
• Met Office warnings checked
• Route checked for closures
• Someone knows your route and arrival time
• Phone charged
• Fuel above a quarter of a tank
• What3Words app installed

In the Car All Winter

• Ice scraper and de-icer within reach
• Gloves, hi-vis and ice grips in the cabin
• Shovel, jump leads or jump starter, head torch and warning triangle in the boot
• Blanket, warm layers, water and snacks
• Phone cable and a charged power bank

Frequently Asked Questions