Winter Driving

Winter driving in the BENELUX countries (Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg) as well as Germany can be quite hazardous; for several reasons.

1. High speed driving.  In Germany there are roads with unlimited speed and even in less than perfect weather people will drive at speeds in excess of 140 kph (87 mph). In The Netherlands the top speed is supposed to be 120 kph (74.5 mph) but I am very often passed when I am driving at that speed.  In Belgium the national speed limit is 130 kph (80.7 mph).

2. Fog. The Netherlands is as far north as Quebec, Canada.  So why isn't it as cold and snowy as Canada?  Mostly because of the Gulf Stream that brings warm water from the area of Florida, up the east coast of the US, and then crossing the Atlantic to northern Europe. This warm water puts a lot of moisture in the air as well as moderating the air temperature. The second reason for the fog is all the water in The Netherlands. Water retains heat longer than air.  All the water in the canals, lakes, ponds, drainage ditches, and rivers in this area stay warmer than the surrounding air. In the winter then, when night time temperatures drop to the 30's, the moist air coming off the water cools and hits the dew point.  At this point the air cannot hold the moisture any longer and it forms fog and dew. Typically fog flows into low lying areas.  With the shorter days in winter, due to being so far north, the sun cannot "burn off" the fog as easily.

3. Shorter Days. Because we are so far north we enjoy very long days in the summer and correspondingly short days in winter. The Winter Solstice, 22 December this year, is the shortest day of the year. In December daylight lasts for less than eight hours.  It is dark when everyone is driving to work and it is dark when everyone is driving home from work. On the chart above you can clearly see this. Also notice how long the days are in summer.  You might find it difficult to put your younger children to bed when it is still light outside, we did, but with a 19 hour day in June that happens.

4. Ice and Snow. It rarely gets very cold in The Netherlands, at least compared to our Northern States. But because you rarely have many hours of sun in the winter any snow or ice that forms can last a long time.  Moisture will accumulate on low spots of a road and freeze over night.  We also get the weird "black ice" that you so often hear about in Germany.  This is nearly invisible ice that forms on roads and sidewalks. Because we see very little sunshine in the deep winter you cannot rely on the sun to melt off snow and ice.  Usually it is rain that eventually melts the snow but that causes its own winter driving problems.

    If it is cold enough and we get a dry snow, snow drifts across roads are a big hazard.  Why are there so many windmills in The Netherlands?  Well, one reason is because it is nearly always windy here.  Last winter I saw snow drifts across the road I take to work that were two meters (a little over six feet) high.

    Another problem with snow here is that the Dutch do not routinely plow their roads, especially in the towns.  The major highways will eventually be cleared but most of the local roads are not touched. The funny thing is, they will clear the bike trails that run along the roads before the roads themselves in most cases.  Often this is done by local organizations using farm equipment.

5. Bikes, scooters, mobility chairs, and pedestrians. Even though there is snow and ice on the roads that doesn't keep bikes, scooters, and electric wheelchairs off the street.  As narrow as the roads are in this area they are even narrower in the winter when snow is on the ground.  Non-vehicle road users will move out into the more open roadway since the sides of the roads are covered in snow.  Believe it or not they sell snow tires for mopeds, scooters, and bikes here for the winter.  People that rely on their bikes for transportation, especially school children, will be out on the street peddling away. Because they are cold they often are not as careful and ruts in the snow can move them out into you lane quickly and unexpectedly.  Drive extra slow when passing bikes in the snow. Older people in their electric wheelchairs still need to shop and get to appointments so if the sidewalks are blocked they will just drive out onto the street.

The Dutch are not as accustomed to driving in the snow as Americans from the northern states.  I saw cars down in the roadside drainage ditches constantly last yesr when driving to work.

6. Drainage ditches and canals. The Dutch do not routinely emplace guardrails along the drainage ditches and canals that run beside the roads.  This is mostly because of the costs and also because they have to clean out and maintain the canals and ditches and that would be too hard to do if there were guardrails. Last year, we had a lot of snow here and it stuck around for several weeks.  There are several places on my way to work where the road makes a big sweeping turn and because the snow covered everything people drove straight ahead thinking they were still on the road and they ended up in the middle of a farmer's field or down in a ditch.

Roadside emergencies in winter. Toward the end of October I always pack my winter emergency kit and put it in my back seat.  In this bag is water, snack bars, a large candle and matches, blankets, wool hat and gloves, a thermal shirt, a wind-breaker type jacket, and a reflector belt. If you breakdown or drive off the road in the winter you need to be prepared to spend the night in your car or walk for help.

There is one AAA type business in The Netherlands that I know of; The Royal Dutch Touring Club ANWB. (Disclaimer: This blog is not an endorsement of this organization and I am not a member.) You can see if you are interested in their services by going to the English page of their web-site at:

http://www.anwb.nl/over-anwb/vereniging-en-bedrijf,/unieke-vereniging/English-pages.html

There is another emergency service company called "Bosch".  Bosch is a world-wide automotive company but they apparently have an emergency service.  Go to the following website to see what they offer (this is in Dutch only so get some help if you need it):
Bosch Car Service 

As with anything else we do it always pays to be prepared.  Keep your vehicle in good running order, check your tires for servicable tread, change over to snow tires in the winter or have good all-season tires with good tread.  Slow down in winter, especially once it starts to dip below freezing at night.  Black ice cannot be seen. Stay home if the roads are too bad to drive.  This is The Netherlands, not the front line. Nobody dies if you don't get to work first thing in the morning.