Driving on snow

[gothatway]

This evening I had to drive home from Bristol on the A38 south. This was after storm Emma had started to do her stuff, so there was plenty of snow on the road, and not a lot of traffic. It is however quite a hilly road and in several places cars and lorries were stuck. At one point a car had stopped right beside a keep left island on an uphill stretch, the only way round being to go right of the sign. Do you or don't you? What about using my 4wd capabilities to use the wrong side of the road to get past a queue of several stuck vehicles?

[Bear-n]

https://rochdaleherald.co.uk/2018/03/01/cant-skid-...

[Caymanwhite]

Love the link above - very amusing!

To the OP, there is no such thing as the right or wrong side of the road.
If it is safe to do, use it!

With my cynical head on I say youv've paid your VED (Commonly but wrongly referred to as Road Tax) use whatever side of the road you want.

[Caymanwhite]

Love the link above - very amusing!

To the OP, there is no such thing as the right or wrong side of the road.
If it is safe to do, use it!

With my cynical head on I say youv've paid your VED (Commonly but wrongly referred to as Road Tax) use whatever side of the road you want.

[7db]

It's a keep left sign. There's a wrong side of that.

[gothatway]

7db said:

It's a keep left sign. There's a wrong side of that.

So you'd come to a halt, on an icy uphill road behind someone who wasn't going anywhere ?

[Caymanwhite]

With respect 7db it makes no difference.
Go to the right of it.
Specifically in the situation as stated by the OP

Don't take this the wrong way either of you please.
Try an IAM or RoSPA Advanced Driving course and you will be surprised at what is expected of you once you you have some knowledge and practical experience behind you.

[gothatway]

Caymanwhite said:

With respect 7db it makes no difference.
Go to the right of it.
Specifically in the situation as stated by the OP

Don't take this the wrong way either of you please.
Try an IAM or RoSPA Advanced Driving course and you will be surprised at what is expected of you once you you have some knowledge and practical experience behind you.

Done that - specifically remember being told to make progress.

[AnotherGareth]

Caymanwhite said:

With respect 7db it makes no difference.
Go to the right of it.

What about the legal obligation to keep left?

[akirk]

AnotherGareth said:

Caymanwhite said:

With respect 7db it makes no difference.
Go to the right of it.

What about the legal obligation to keep left?

Is there not a common sense approach also that says if the road is otherwise blocked, you don't sit there further blocking the road, saying I can't go ahead because the sign tells me not to - instead, move on and clear the road of yourself, (and ideally carry a tow rope and clear it of the car as well!)

I suspect that when I was towing out lorries / vans / cars out of the snow the other day my RR may well have at some points stopped on a yellow line / driven on the 'wrong' side of the road / contravened many other traffic rules (other than speeding), but pragmatism says that clearing the road was a good idea!

[anonymous-user]

I drove my 4x4 with snow tyres round traffic islands twice on the Saturday when the snow had thawed just enough for lots of people in 2wd cars with road tyres to give it a go and immediately get stuck on the gentlest of inclines.

The road ahead on the other side was totally empty, I could easily switch back, and chose this over getting repeatedly stuck behind stuck cars that should not have been out on the roads. Never felt like I was breaking the law. Better to keep the roads clear.