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With the right attitude
The dry, jam-free roads of summer are gone: autumn is here! Keen walkers might love the beautiful colours of this particular season, but drivers and other road users have a lot of hazards to negotiate on the roads: fog, wild animals, the first early-morning frosts, reduced visibility… ACL gets you safely through autumn with a few important reminders.
Clean your windscreen regularly
Driving in autumn has its own dangers. Poor visibility is a major problem: the sun is low over the horizon, it’s dark sooner, and the bad weather conditions are often made worse by mud and dirty windows, etc. This seriously affects driver capability, bringing on signs of fatigue, especially on a long journey. So you need to clean the windscreen regularly inside and out and replace damaged/broken wipers. See and be seen: a really important rule for autumn. Drivers can do their bit to improve road safety by checking all of their lights.
Watch out for wildlife!
Drivers need to be aware that wildlife might be crossing the road at any time of day or night. Drivers need to be particularly careful in wooded areas and at the edge of forests. Animals like wild boars won’t usually back off, even if they are frightened. So it’s vital to pay attention to “wildlife crossing” signs and slow down ready for touching the brakes. If you hit a wild animal, you must report it at the police station. And you need to secure the area: turn on the hazard lights, put on your high-vis vest and place your warning triangle a hundred or so metres from your vehicle.
Winter tyres
As the cold weather approaches, remember to put on the winter tyres early enough. There are no rules in the Highway Code for when you have to put on/remove the winter tyres. But in winter conditions i.e. black ice, packed snow, melting snow, sheet ice or frost, you need to have four winter tyres fitted to the car for driving on the public roads in the Grand Duchy. Tyres need to be marked with
M&S or a mountain and snowflake pictogram to be road legal.
They are the best way to stay safe on the road in winter. Their superiority over summer and even all-season tyres is evident as soon as temperatures fall below 7° C, as the rubber on summer tyres hardens at low temperature, reducing adherence. And lots of thin strips on a winter tyre tread increase contact between tyre and road surface. The legal minimum for tread is 1.6 mm, but for safety reasons ACL recommends not going below 4 mm.
To stay safe in winter, ACL advises drivers to adapt their speed to the road conditions and adopt a preventive driving style to keep full control of the vehicle at all times.
For further information, call ACL on +352 450045-1 send an email to acl@acl.lu.