The Main Risks To Your Car Windscreen This Winter
According to the Met Office, December 1st marks the start of meteorological winter, as opposed to astronomical winter, which starts at the winter solstice just before Christmas. However, the snowy conditions of mid-November showed that the weather won’t always fit into neat categories.
Nonetheless, the next few months will bring more risks for motorists than any other time of year. There are various reasons for this, but one particular risk is windscreen damage. Indeed, there is no better time to make sure your windscreen is insured than now, because this is the one part of your car that is particularly vulnerable even when it is stationary.
The biggest reason for this is that if some damage is sustained, such as a crack, any water that gets on it and seeps in can freeze on a cold night and expand, prising it open and making it larger.
At this point you will need to get your windscreen replaced, not least as a large crack could impair your vision and you could get stopped by the police, given three points on your licence and fined, while any accident that occurs with your windscreen in such a state could lead to more serious charges.
Various things can cause your windscreen to be damaged in the first place in winter.
In some cases, they could be perils that can cause wider damage to your vehicle; black ice or snowy conditions on the roads could lead to skids and collisions, while mist, fog, snow flurries and the lack of daylight (and gloom even when it is light) increase the chance of an accident that might have been avoided in better visibility.
All of these could lead to more than just your windscreen being damaged, but specific risks include large lumps of concealed grit from gritter lorries, rather in the manner of loose stones after roadworks, being churned up by the wheels of the car in front and hitting your windows.
Another danger comes from storms. The practice of giving storms names is a recent one, with the Met Office joining forces with their Dutch and Irish counterparts in this exercise. The number in any given winter can vary a lot, but there were 11 in the 2023-24 storm season and there have already been three this time - storms Ashley, Bert and Conall.
Storms don’t just bring floods that can damage cars with water inundation, but high winds that can cause broken branches and other debris to fly into or fall on windscreens, causing major damage in some cases.
Finally, there is always the risk of vandalism caused by a few people over-celebrating as Christmas approaches and doing criminal things under the influence of alcohol.
Fortunately, this is at least something that would only happen when you are not in the car and on the road; drink-driving figures have thankfully fallen over recent decades, but December remains the worst time of year for this.
The risk of suffering a damaged windscreen is not confined to winter, but the array of potential threats and the extent of the peril they pose is greater in this season. Christmas may be the “most wonderful time of the year”, but not always when it comes to motoring.