The colder seasons of the year bring about many challenging driving conditions: dark mornings and evenings, ice, snow, and rain. With winter bringing adverse weather, HGV drivers are now having to face difficult road conditions. In this blog, we’ve listed some issues that truck drivers can face and how they can easily be addressed before heading out on the roads.

Wipers

The first essential parts to check before driving in the rain are your windscreen wipers. These are needed for keeping your windscreen clear and free of debris. If the wipers are creating streaks, then you will need to make sure your wiper blade nozzles are working properly. The nozzles are responsible for spraying the washer fluid onto the windscreen to ensure the wipers can keep the screen clear and free of salt caused by gritters or muck, which make an appearance typically during the winter months. Replacement nozzles are available on our site for all truck types and brands.

Mudguards

Driving in the rain means more dirt is likely to flick up onto your vehicle. To avoid this from happening, mudflaps, mudguards, spray suppression, and dirt deflectors can help to limit the dirtying of the vehicle body, side windows, side doors, and side mirrors. Make sure you have all of these in place to prevent dirt from obscuring any mirrors or windows.

Brake pads

Travelling in wet weather means that there is more of a chance for your vehicle to skid. This is why it is important that all components of the braking system are working – especially the brake pads. These are directly pressed against the brake rotor to firmly apply the brakes which can limit the risk of skidding. Make sure the brake pads haven’t worn out by checking how firmly and suddenly the vehicle stops when the brakes are applied. If there is a delay in the vehicle coming to a stop, then you need new brake pads.

Headlights

Rain can cause poor visibility and, paired with the short daylight hours, it could be a risky drive without bright headlights/headlamps or fog lights. Other drivers should be able to see you from afar as well, so make sure your headlights are bright enough. Lights that are faulty, damaged, or dim, should be replaced. Truckspares 365 stocks both headlights and fog lights for all branded and universal trucks.

Tread plates

When stepping back onto your vehicle with wet feet, the last thing you want to happen is to slip and fall. Tread plates on trucks can be an important safety feature, especially in wet weather. They provide extra traction, allowing drivers to maintain safety when getting into the truck and preventing any slipping.

The tread plates are fitted over the top of the steps and have a ridged pattern which creates more friction with the bottom of your footwear to give it more grip to the surface. If the tread plates aren’t fitted on your truck, or the treading has been worn down, it is recommended that you fit a replacement to ensure safety.