Robert Kubica was a highly-rated F1 driver and winner before a crash, now he’s a world rally car driver. Look how slowly he crashes while driving on ice…

IF ROBERT IN HIS rally car – all set up for ice, too – can crash at this speed, you can too.

Once you’re sliding on ice you are a passenger. All you can do is lock the brakes and hope.

To avoid that situation, slow down in wintry conditions. Cold tyres don’t grip as well as warm ones, and in Australia we don’t run winter tyres which grip much better in cooler temperatures. Owners of high-performance vehicles need to be especially careful.

Also look for black ice, which is a thin, transparent sheet of ice over the road (hence ‘black’). Usually this is formed at low points in the road.

Take note of areas of shade, because the sun won’t have dried out the road yet and that means less traction.

We have more winter driving tips here.