Stopping distances in snow may be up to ten times that of normal stopping distances.

I guess it had to happen one day.
This morning, Anna was having her first lesson since her test was cancelled, five weeks ago. The driving conditions were dreadful, with horizontal snow to start with. Although Anna had been ready for her test, I was slightly concerned about her not having driven at all for five weeks (and, she admitted, so was she). We need not have worried. She coped exceptionally well with all aspects of her driving and I barely had to give any instruction. Her rescheduled test is supposed to be this Thursday, but there is no way that will go ahead with the current and forecasted weather.
We were nearing the end of the lesson and heading over to Lhanbryde for a quick refresher on 'meeting traffic' (where, because of parked cars, roadworks, other obstacles or just narrow roads, the road is sometimes too narrow for two cars to pass). We had our first instance of this as soon as we entered the village. Our side of the road was clear, but there were many parked cars on the opposite side. Usually there is still just enough room for two cars to pass, but, with the snow, oncoming cars were having to keep further out on to our side than usual. Anna anticipated the situation and, with an oncoming car coming through a long way over to our side, she slowed right down to walking speed (she had previously only been driving at approx' 20mph due to the snow).
WHAM! We were hit from behind. The car following us had obviously been far too close (especially considering the conditions), had not anticipated the situation and, in leaving his braking too late had skidded into the back of my car. First things first; I made sure Anna was ok. I got out the car to take the other driver's details.
"Why did you stop?" He asked.
"We didn't stop. We had to slow down because there was a car coming through on our side of the road."
It was not in my interest, and certainly not in Anna's interest, for me to give the man the benefit of my knowledge of driving in the snow - he would not have appreciated it and I'm sure he would not have paid me for it. We exchanged details and, with a bus now waiting to get through, we drove away. Although it felt like quite a hefty whack, I was pleased to see only very minor damage to my car.

Pupils sometimes ask me if any of my pupils have ever crashed the car. I have now had two pupils who have hit the curb hard enough to burst the tyre, but that has been it. After all, the dual-controls are there for me to try and prevent anything potentially dangerous from happening, but there was not a lot I could do about today. And I made sure I reassured Anna that she did nothing wrong. In fact, she approached an icy, potentially dangerous situation with forward planning, appropriate speed and complete control.
Unfortunately, as my dad used to tell me when he taught me to drive, it does not matter how good a driver you are, always treat other drivers as though they are idiots. He was proved correct this morning.