Driving in high winds

[MrFoolish]

A second driving question from me.

When driving in high winds, especially on a high bridge, you can get that twitchy feeling where it seems the car is lurching sideways. I hate this feeling and I always slow down. But what would happen if I sped up a bit - would anything dramatic happen? I'm not going to do this, just curious. How much sideways movement are you actually getting? There's always people speeding past me, though they probably have a better car and tyres.

[bungeejumper]

A racing car might hunker down and hold the road better if it speeded up. But unless that's what you're driving, slowing down is a better response, if only because it gives you more time to react. Well, that's the way I see it anyway.

And of course, some vehicles are just more sail-sided than others.

BJ

[tacpot12]

Going faster means you have more momentum, which means you can ride through gusts better. The downside is that if you are blown to the side, anything you hit, you are going to hit it harder.

In very high winds, I have driven with all the windows down in the car to minimise the effect.

[Redmires]

Don't speed up as you'll only catch up with a high sided vehicle, which you definitely don't want to pass.

[GrahamPlatt]

Depends on wind direction. If it’s behind you, you can take a wedge whereas you’d normally have taken an eight iron. If coming from in front, you’ll need a longer iron. From the side, then club down to avoid any directional errors being exaggerated.

[Mike4]

Going faster means you have more momentum, which means you can ride through gusts better.

I'm inclined to disagree.

A bullet fired from a gun falls at 9.81m/s/s, just the same as if it were dropped from a hand, if my memory of skoolboy physics is correct. Forward velocity makes no difference to the effect of a perpendicular force.

In fact reductio absurdum, were you to stop, all the wind would do is rock the car on its springs.

[MrFoolish]

Going faster means you have more momentum, which means you can ride through gusts better.

I'm inclined to disagree.

A bullet fired from a gun falls at 9.81m/s/s, just the same as if it were dropped from a hand, if my memory of skoolboy physics is correct. Forward velocity makes no difference to the effect of a perpendicular force.

In fact reductio absurdum, were you to stop, all the wind would do is rock the car on its springs.

But the force might not be perpendicular. If the wind exerts a turning force on your car, I'd suggest you don't want to be going too quickly.