So far, we have not had too much bad weather in terms of snow and ice but that may be set to change with forecasters warning that January could bring wintery weather to much of the UK.

Although you can never prevent all accidents, understanding how your car drives and what to do in the event of a skid or aquaplaning, for example, can often mean you can avoid having a more serious accident.

Firstly, you should always access what the road conditions are like and make a choice as to whether it is safe to drive or not. If you don’t think it is safe to drive but need to get to work then you need to try and think of alternatives or worse case, call up work and explain that you are not happy to drive. If you do drive and find yourself in a situation where you are losing control of the car, you need to remain calm and don’t panic, over reacting can cause more issues. Many people panic and try and turn the wheel the opposite way to compensate and this can make the skid worse. If the car is aquaplaning but you are going in the right direction, then take your foot off the brake pedal and accelerator pedal and let the car slow down gradually, it will often grip the road within a few seconds giving the control back to you. If the car is skidding, then you are advised to steer in the same direction as the skid to get the tyres to grip.