How much can stopping distances increase on ice under the Northern Ireland Highway Code?

On ice, stopping distances can be many times greater than on a dry road; the Highway Code warns they may be up to ten times longer.

The practical effect is that normal following gaps and braking points become completely inadequate.

For “How much can stopping distances increase on ice under the Northern Ireland Highway Code?”, the wider Northern Ireland context is this: Northern Ireland winter driving is especially sensitive to changing road-surface temperature, rain, ice, flooding and exposed routes. Official advice is to drive for the conditions actually in front of you, not for the posted speed limit or the fact that a road was treated earlier. TrafficWatchNI and current weather warnings are the right live sources when conditions are deteriorating.

For this exact question — “How much can stopping distances increase on ice under the Northern Ireland Highway Code?” — the practical point is: Drive at very low speed, use gentle controls and leave a much larger gap than you would even in ordinary wet weather. The answer should be applied to the actual signs, conditions, licence wording or parking rules in force at the time, because temporary restrictions and individual DVA decisions can change the ordinary position.

This Northern Ireland-specific page on “How much can stopping distances increase on ice under the Northern Ireland Highway Code?” was checked against the attached official sources before publication, with nidirect/DVA and the Northern Ireland Highway Code used ahead of generic UK motoring articles. If the rule, road layout or personal licence condition changes, those primary sources are the ones to re-check.