With the cold snap continuing deeper into 2026, experts from Adrian Flux Insurance have shared the key manoeuvre drivers should perform if their car starts skidding on icy roads
Skidding on icy roads ranks among many drivers’ worst nightmares when winter weather strikes. And with freezing conditions persisting throughout January, a motoring specialist has offered crucial guidance on handling this scenario.
Adrian Flux Insurance has highlighted one essential move if your car begins sliding on treacherous roads. In an advisory clip posted to TikTok, the specialists warned: “If you have to go out in the car in snow or icy weather, make sure your windows and lights are completely clear, and that you drive slowly and carefully.” The insurance provider then demonstrated the correct technique through a visual example, instructing: “Steer gently into the skid.”
Put simply, if your vehicle’s rear is veering right, you should turn your wheel right. They added: “Do not take your hands off the steering wheel or break hard.”
Whilst it might feel unnatural, there’s solid reasoning behind this approach. For turning into the skid aligns your wheels with your vehicle’s actual trajectory, helping your tyres reclaim traction on the surface.
Moreover, steering against the skid risks overcorrection, potentially sending your motor into a dangerous spin or worsening the fishtailing. Therefore, steering into the skid enables you to steadily realign your vehicle with your intended direction.
What the AA recommends for winter driving
The AA suggests when driving, motorists should accelerate gently and get into a higher gear as soon as possible. As well as this, it’s important to reduce your speed in general.
They stressed: “Keep an eye on the vehicle in front of you as this can give a clue to where patches of black ice are (you may see the vehicle in front skidding slightly).”
The AA also warns: “If snow is falling heavily it will reduce how far ahead you can see, so you should drive much more slowly and give yourself longer to react.
“Secondly, braking distances can be doubled in wet conditions – and increased by at least 10 times on snow or ice.”
They elaborate further: “The stopping distance at 30mph in normal conditions is 23 metres, which equates to 75 feet. In snowy conditions, your stopping distance at 30mph could be as high as 230 metres or 750 feet.”
Reacting to the guidance on TikTok, one motorist admitted: “Thanks for clarification of ‘into the skid’, I thought it meant follow the front of the car which was odd, and would be a disaster!”
A second person reported: “Did my first skid yesterday, it was unnerving but I handled it well, used engine braking to bring the speed down and managed to get the car pointing in the right direction, turned into an icy road and my back end slid out.”
Whilst a third recounted their own experience: “As someone who skidded across several lanes of traffic, in icy, grassy and tarmac and in heavy rain, this really DOES work.
“Me and my son were perfectly fine and my car ONLY had 4 blown tyres. Luckily there wasn’t anyone who we went into/went into us.”
