Driving in Difficult Conditions

A bad weather driving course teaches you how to drive safely when the weather or the road makes driving harder. DT Training's Driving in Difficult Conditions course is an online course of this kind. It covers snow and ice, heavy rain, flooding, fog and smoke, high winds, sun strike and low light.

These conditions require different driving techniques than on a dry road. Some also require you to prepare the vehicle first. Drivers learn what to do before they meet these conditions on the road.

The Driving in Difficult Conditions course helps drivers avoid crashes, injuries and vehicle damage in bad weather. Most people learn to drive in fair conditions. Few have practised on ice, in floodwater or in a strong crosswind before they meet them at work.

A crash in bad weather can mean an injured worker and a vehicle off the road while it is repaired. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, a vehicle used for work is a workplace. So, bad-weather driving is part of an employer's health and safety duties.

The Driving in Difficult Conditions course is for anyone who drives a car, ute or truck for work. It suits drivers in remote areas or in poor weather most. This includes:

• Sales reps, technicians, tradespeople, rural vets and doctors, and tour guides
• Courier, delivery and bus drivers
• Drivers who tow light trailers and caravans
• Driving instructors, trainers and in-house driver assessors
• Supervisors and dispatchers who plan drivers' trips
• Learner drivers and their parents

The Driving in Difficult Conditions course teaches how bad weather affects your vehicle and how to change the way you drive. Topics include:

• How grip, weight transfer and momentum change on slippery roads, including understeer and oversteer
• Braking, accelerating, cornering and following distances in poor conditions
• Driving on ice and snow, in heavy rain and floods, in fog and smoke, in strong winds, and in sun strike and low light
• Reading road signs and the road ahead for hazards
• Vehicle checks and what to carry in an emergency kit
• Planning a route using weather forecasts and road reports
• What to do after a crash, or if you are stranded in snow

Yes. The Driving in Difficult Conditions course covers cars, utes and heavy vehicles. Truck-specific modules cover heavy vehicles in winter conditions, including how to prevent a jackknife, load distribution and diff locks, and driving trucks in high winds. Both are optional, so you can turn them off for car and ute drivers.

Yes. The Driving in Difficult Conditions course suits learner drivers, and you don't need a driver licence to take it. It covers situations that are hard or dangerous to practise in a real vehicle, such as ice, floods and skids. New drivers learn what to do before they face these conditions.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, a vehicle used for work is a workplace (section 20). The business must manage the risks of that work, so far as is reasonably practicable. This includes giving workers the information, training and supervision they need to work safely (section 36).

While no law specifically mandates bad weather driver training, if your drivers often face snow, ice, floods or high winds, the Driving in Difficult Conditions course is one way to meet the duty of care. Each driver gets a certificate of achievement, which you can keep as a training record.

There is no set refresh period for bad weather driving training in New Zealand. DT Training recommends that drivers repeat the Driving in Difficult Conditions course every 3 years. New drivers, and drivers moving to a region with harsher weather, should do it before they start.

No. The Driving in Difficult Conditions course has seven optional modules that you can turn off to suit your drivers. Turning off the snow and ice modules removes driving in icy conditions, driving in snowy conditions and stranded in snow.

The optional modules are:

• Heavy vehicles
• Emergency kit
• Clothing
• Stranded in snow
• Driving in icy conditions
• Driving in snowy conditions
• Driving trucks in high winds

Turning them all off cuts about 30 minutes of video.

Yes. Buy one course licence for each driver, then invite them to the Driving in Difficult Conditions course. Managers can track each driver's progress, download reports and turn optional modules on or off. You can add more managers at no extra cost. Each driver gets a certificate of achievement when they finish.

The Driving in Difficult Conditions course has 24 online video modules covering a wide range of bad weather and challenging road conditions. A certificate of achievement is issued when the trainee finishes. No practical assessment is required. Managers get progress tracking and reports, and can download certificates. Drivers can repeat any module as often as they like while they have access.

Fleet Driver Skills and Light 4WD Off-road Training are frequently purchased with the Driving in Difficult Conditions course. Fleet Driver Skills covers defensive driving, driver health and safety and the Road Code for car and heavy vehicle drivers. Light 4WD Off-road Training covers the complete range of off-road driving, including mud, sand, rocks and steep slopes.

• You will need one course licence per driver taking the course – you can't use one licence for multiple drivers
• You will need a computer, smartphone or tablet with internet access to take the training
• There are no prerequisites. Anyone can take the course, with or without a driver licence

• Video subtitles: available in 25 languages. Choose the language in the video.
• Questions: can be viewed in 76 languages – check the language option at the top of the page (note that written answers must be in English).
• Question audio: every question has an audio recording in English
• Documents: English
• Some captions are AI-generated and, as such, may have occasional errors.

"Being able to start the course and come back to it over a few months is a great advantage, as they have been able to pop it aside when it gets busy and then pick it up again."