10.2 Adverse Weather, Journey Planning & Postponing a Service

10.2 Adverse Weather, Journey Planning & Postponing a Service

Objective 1.3.a requires drivers to be aware of and adapt to different road, traffic and weather conditions, to understand how to prepare and plan a journey during abnormal weather conditions, to be familiar with the use of related safety equipment, and — critically — to understand when a journey has to be postponed or cancelled due to extreme weather conditions. That last clause is the part case studies love, because it forces a candidate to choose between the timetable and the decision to stop.

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Before the Journey: Planning for the Forecast

A coach setting out on a winter tour, or a bus starting an early rural duty, has planning duties that begin in the depot.

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Adapting the Drive: Condition by Condition

Rain and Standing Water

• Stopping distances are at least doubled on a wet road.
• Spray from and to other large vehicles destroys visibility for several seconds at a time; increase the gap rather than sitting in it.
• Aquaplaning occurs when the tyre cannot clear water fast enough and rides on a film of water. Steering and braking become ineffective. The response is to ease off the accelerator and hold the steering straight until the tyres regain contact — not to brake.
• Deep standing water can stall an engine, damage the driveline, and hide a collapsed road surface. If the depth cannot be judged, do not enter it.

Ice and Snow

• Stopping distances can be up to ten times those on a dry road.
• Everything must be gentler: acceleration, steering, braking. Use the highest practicable gear to reduce driven-wheel torque.
• Black ice forms on bridges, shaded cuttings and exposed sections first. A quiet steering feel and a sudden drop in tyre noise are the warning signs.
• Traction control and ABS help, but neither creates grip (see section 9.2).
• Clear all snow from the roof, windows, mirrors, lights and destination displays before departure. Snow sliding from a bus roof onto a following vehicle's windscreen is a genuine hazard.

Fog

• Use dipped headlights. Rear fog lights must only be used when visibility is seriously reduced, generally when you cannot see more than 100 metres, and must be switched off when visibility improves because they dazzle following drivers and mask brake lights.
• Do not use main beam in fog; it reflects back.
• Slow to a speed at which you can stop within the distance you can see to be clear.

High Wind

• A high-sided bus or coach, especially an empty double-decker, is extremely exposed to crosswinds.
• Gaps between buildings, bridge parapets, cuttings and the lee of overtaking HGVs produce sudden gusts.
• Several major estuarial crossings impose wind restrictions on high-sided vehicles; check before routing over them.
• Reduce speed and expect to hold a steering correction; a laden vehicle is more stable than an empty one.

Low Sun

• A common and underestimated urban hazard, particularly at school finishing times in autumn and winter.
• Keep the windscreen clean inside and out — smears turn low sun into total glare.
• Slow down. If you genuinely cannot see, that is the same decision as fog.

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The Decision to Stop, Postpone or Cancel

This is the hardest professional judgement in the syllabus, and case studies deliberately load it with commercial pressure: a paid charter, a wedding party, a football crowd, a controller saying the road is fine.

[ WEATHER DECISION LADDER ]

 1. CAN I SEE AND STOP SAFELY AT A REDUCED SPEED?   → Continue, slower.
 2. IS THE ROAD PASSABLE BUT DETERIORATING?          → Continue to the next
                                                        SAFE stopping place,
                                                        then reassess with control.
 3. IS THERE A RED WEATHER WARNING, A CLOSED ROAD,
    OR A ROUTE I CANNOT SAFELY COMPLETE?             → DO NOT START / DO NOT
                                                        CONTINUE. Stop somewhere
                                                        safe with the passengers.
 4. AM I ALREADY COMMITTED AND UNABLE TO STOP
    SAFELY WHERE I AM?                               → Drive at reduced speed only
                                                        as far as the first suitable
                                                        stopping place. See Art. 12.

Key Professional Principles

1. The driver has the final say on whether it is safe to drive. An operator who instructs a driver to proceed does not transfer the legal responsibility for driving without due care and attention, and a driver who proceeds against their own judgement is the one at the wheel.
2. Stopping with passengers aboard is safer than continuing, but only in a safe place. A coach full of people on a hard shoulder in a blizzard is not safe. Service areas, coach parks, and lit laybys off the running lane are.
3. Passengers must be kept informed. Uncertainty causes far more passenger conflict than delay does (see section 12.4).
4. Use Article 12 if hours are exceeded reaching safety. If severe weather forces a driver past a drivers' hours limit to reach a suitable stopping place, the Article 12 derogation applies — but the driver must make a printout and record the reason at the latest on arrival at the stopping place (see section 6.3).
5. Never stop in a live running lane unless the vehicle physically cannot be moved. If you must, follow the motorway breakdown procedure in section 8.1.

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Worked Scenario: The Amber Warning Charter

A coach is booked to take 48 passengers from Manchester to Glasgow for an evening event. At 13:00 the Met Office upgrades the forecast to an amber warning for snow across the M6 at Shap and the M74, effective from 16:00. The charter customer is insistent.

The professional sequence:

1. Raise it before departure. Contact the operator with the specific warning, the timing, and the route exposure. This is now a planning decision, not an emergency.
2. Consider a departure time change or a route change, which may remove the exposure entirely.
3. If the journey goes ahead, carry winter provision, brief the passengers honestly about the possibility of delay, and identify service areas along the route as decision points.
4. At each decision point, reassess. If conditions at Tebay mean the crossing cannot be completed safely, stop there and inform control and the passengers — before committing to the exposed section.
5. Record everything. The tachograph, the printout and the call log are what demonstrate that the decision was a professional judgement rather than a failure.