So, you folks may remember that I moved to Youngstown, OH back in September. Remember, though, that I’m a Southerner born, despite four years of college in Maine. I didn’t have a car when I was in college. Most recently before this, I lived in Knoxville, TN, one of those cities that essentially shuts down with snow.
So, yesterday it started snowing, and I woke up this morning to what most would likely call a dusting or a trace - which was fine, except my apartment parking lot was icy at the point that I needed to leave for work. That almost got me on the bus instead of in the car.
I took a deep breath and started the car, cleaned it off, and looked at the cars moving on the road that runs in front of my complex. They were moving fine and I told myself that I could do this. I took it really slow out of the parking lot - I’m not kidding when I say it was really slick. Then I got out on the road and it was fine. I still went slower than I probably had to, but I kept to the right lane on the street that takes me to work, went over both bridges and just kept myself calm.
I made it home too - no problems until I turned back into my complex, where it was still wicked slick. Haven’t they heard of salt for the lot? I know they have barrels of it around.
Anyway, I know it wasn’t a major snow, and I know those are coming - but each small one I deal with will give me a little more confidence when the big ones do come in. And once I got home, I walked over to the grocery (it’s right behind the complex, so I normally walk) and the woman in front of me in line was saying that it was icier than just a regular snowfall, so it was a little worse than normal. That made me feel better.
the first one is often the worst. People forget how to drive in it. Ice & freezing rain is worse than snow usually, assuming there’s no ice under the snow.
Not that you asked for it, but some things i’ve learned…Don’t let the guy tailgating you make you drive faster than you want, f#$% him, drive at YOUR speed. Leave earlier than usual. don’t tailgate. Bridges can be nasty because the air will go both over and under the bridge and it will get real slick.
I find it hard to drive in over 4 inches of snow, but i have just an automatic honda civic, more than that is hard so just wait for it to be plowed. Make sure your windows are clean and defrosted as best you can. Relax…
and the best advice is if you feel you’re going too fast, just take your foot off the gas, don’t break. You’ll soon feel your car bite into the snow and you’ll be back under control.
sometimes it’s fun to go out in snow when there’s no one around and go a little too fast around a corner.
It’s not so much that you need to slow down (though that’s not a bad idea) as it is that you need to give yourself more reaction time. Leaving more space between you and the car ahead of you is more important than going slower. And if someone cuts into the space you’re leaving, just back off again. And again, and again, if need be.
If for some reason you have to drive through deep snow (at times it is unavoidable, let’s say you need cold medicine and they haven’t plowed the lot at the grocery store) snow will build up on the inside of your tires. As it builds up, it will unbalance your tires. You might not notice it until the next time you go over 40 mph, at which point you’ll be thinking “wtf is my steering wheel shaking?”
Simple fix: go to one of those car wash places and spray out the inside of your tires. WARNING: When you get back in the car, idle forward and hit your brakes HARD a couple of times. The water might have formed ice on the brake pads. This will clear them.
One of the more difficult areas is in the spots where snow conditions change under your tires. I once spun my car 180 – at 10 mph, mind you – when my front tires caught traction on fresh snow, while my back tires slid off the road pack. Be extra cautious anyplace conditions are changing: bridges, large roads onto small roads, roads onto parking lots (guess you already noticed that one!), pavement onto dirt, etc.
Stick with a familiar route. It will offer familiar conditions from day to day and storm to storm. Resist the urge to go “the back way.” It might not be plowed, it might be icy, etc. Go with the devil you know.
Put your car key on a brightly colored key chain. This will help you find it when you drop it in the snow next to your car. I guarantee you will do this at least once per winter.
And when you see the jerk that was tailgating you in the SUV roar past your compact in the unplowed center lane, then spin out and land in the ditch, you’re allowed to say to yourself “4 wheel drive ain’t a Get-Out-of-the-Laws-of-Physics-Free card, dickhead.” (As long as no one’s hurt, of course.)
Ha! I live about 10 minutes from Youngstown. I didn’t know that anyone else lived that close to me!
Anyway, just be thankful that most roads in the Youngstown/Boardman/Canfield/Austintown get salted. Out in New Middletown and Poland, it is mostly back roads and those never get salted. I live at the bottom of two hills, and last winter it rained all day, then froze at night. The roads were fine until I got to the hills. It seems that the water had frozen as it went down the hills, and off into the ditch I went. I was able to push my car out, and drive home, but that was still my first bad snow" driving experience.
Yeah, ok. I can’t buy regular tires for my car in the right size anymore. Chances of finding snow tires in the right size?
And Mudshark, I’m actually in Boardman, and yes, I was quite happy that the roads get salted. I’m just thinking that my next job is going to be somewhere south of here.
You’re braver than I. The thought of driving in the snow is one of the reasons I don’t have a car. Trust me, no one in the greater Chicagoland area wants me freaking out when it starts flurrying.
I grew up in Pittsburgh and learned to drive in the March of my 16th year. My driving instructor took me up and down barely plowed hills to teach me how to gear down and how to steer into the skid. I never wrecked the car so he must have done something right.
Since you’re living up north now you may want to get yourself the Winter Driving Kit for your trunk: 30 lbs clay kitty litter, coffee can, candle, matches, and stadium blanket.
If you’ve seen the episode of That 70’s Show and wondered what the hell the kitty litter was for, here’s the deal: The litter is for weight to help your traction. If you do get stuck in the snow, pour the litter under the driving tires to get you back out. The coffee can & candle keep you from freezing to death/burning down your car. Light the candle with the matches, put it in the can and use it for heat. That way you don’t use all your gas idling the car while waiting for Mr. Towtruck.
Good luck, have fun…and one more thing!
Don’t drive too close to the salt truck unless you really hate your paintjob and your windshield!
Davmi
Another one checking in from the land of no ice and snow. I live in south GA and it just don’t happen here. However, I grew up in north GA and when we got the inevitable two or three ice/snow storms we just chilled a couple days and it went away.
Now for my story of how proud I was of me driving in ice and snow. I had to go to a little town in southern Indiana at the end of January for work. I was supposed to fly into Louisville, KY and drive about 60 miles mostly on an Interstate highway, so I wasn’t too worried if there was snow or stuff. However, Louisville airport got iced in so my flight was rerouted to Cincinnati (actually northern KY) airport. From there I had a 70 mile drive in ice and snow to my destination. I rented the car, got my directions out and headed west in a snow storm to my destination. It took me three hours but I did it! Over mostly state highways too! Plus I had to make several turns! I was so proud of me that when I got there, I went to Pizza Hut (the only thing opened) and got me a beer and some pizza then checked in to my hotel room and proceeded to call everybody I knew in south GA to tell em I drove in ice and snow for 70 miles. Heck, I called up the emergency contact person for the place I was supposed to be working to say that I was there and she was really surprised. They just knew we’d be rescheduling. HAH! Not me! I am ever so dedicated. Course, I don’t think I have ever needed to pee as bad as I did when I got to that Pizza Hut.
Checking in from Bedford, Ohio (about 25 miles southeast of Cleveland) Born and raised here my first drove in the snow was in November and I had just gotten my license as my B-Day is November 24th. I will never forget that first drive. My parents were following me and we came to a large hill where all the cars were stopping far from the bottom and letting each car get up speed and take its turn up the hill. I got up speed, kept it up and made it up the hill without to much difficulty. My parents on the other hand could not get up the hill. They kept sliding backwards. I was driving a 1973 Ford Maverick and they were driving a 1980 Chevy Suburban. Go figure.
We had a lot of snow last night. I think about 10 inches. Last night it took me 45 minutes to get from Twinsburg to home. It is usually a 10 to 15 minute trip. I am so glad I bought a 4x4 truck last spring. My driveway is long and consists of mostly dirt/mud/ruts/holes and I think 4 pieces of gravel so without the 4x4 I never would have gotten out of my driveway.
If you don’t have much experience driving in snow, find yourself an empty parking lot or other vacant space and practice skid recovery, learning your stopping distance, etc.
Listen to the sound the tires make on the road. If it sounds splashy, the road is wet, and you should treat it like it’s wet. If it sounds crunchy, you’re on snow and should slow down appropriately so that your car does not ride up on top of the snow, your tires bite through the snow.
If it has almost no sound at all, it’s icy and you should take your foot off the gas and allow the car to slow down. Braking too hard (and sometimes even at all) on ice causes you to do nothing but slide, which is bad. The coefficient of sliding friction on ice is much lower than the coefficient of rolling friction.
If you should happen to skid and you feel the back of the car coming around, turn the wheel carefully in whatever direction the back end of the car is going. If the back end is going right, turn the wheel right. You may have to correct again when the back end of the car starts to go left, but this method will help you to keep the front of the car in the front. It is also known as ‘turn into the skid’.
Definitely tailgating is bad, because you need more stopping distance on snow and ice than you do on dry or wet roads. I also keep some kitty litter in the trunk, just in case I need to pour something on the ground near the tires to get some purchase when pulling out of a parking spot somewheres.
If the car goes off the road, tying a rope to the tow points and to a very sturdy tree then pulling perpendicular to the rope somewhere near the middle makes it easier to get out than trying to push it. Neutral helps for going down big hills because you can still steer and brake, but the tires won’t be propelling you forward against your braking.
Also, if you get a chance during a snow, go to a parking lot that is very large and empty. Practice driving there. Learn what it feels like to be skidding and to correct. Learn what will happen if you stomp the gas from a dead stop in very slick conditions. Do this far away from things you might hit like cars and light poles, and you’ll have a better feel for what could happen on the road. It’ll help you not panic when it does happen on the road - and if you drive in snow long enough, it will.
Definitely combine these two practices; you want to be sure that you know how to execute these maneuvers when the time comes. Turning into the skid takes a measured approach, so as long as you don’t panic, you’ll be fine. The first time you have to do it, though, you are likely to overcorrect on the first turn, and go snapping back in the opposite direction. This leads to an uncontrolled oscillation and eventually you sliding off the road sideways. Measured corrections (don’t whip the wheel, just bring it around strongly but slowly until the car reacts) are the trick. Also, as soon as the car reacts, bring the wheel back to the neutral position with the aim of getting to the neutral position just as the car is pointed where you want it to go.
If you’ve got a Yankee friend who drives well in snow, ask them to show you how it’s done (in their car!) and then take them out in your car to the empty lot and practice, asking them for tips.
~sob~ It’s December in Minnesota and we haven’t ANY snow! It’s just wrong!
Anyways. I agree with the driving tricks all have noted. The only one I can add is when you’re on a road that hasn’t been plowed and your driving guide is the ruts made by other drivers, drive a tad to the right of the ruts. If it’s warmish out, the heat from other drivers’ tires will melt the snow, but then refreeze, leaving a nice ice run. If you stay to the right in the snow, you’ll have better traction.
And to add to your winter survival kit as noted by davmilasav some energy bars, GORP, or even some Snickers bars. I also have a small radio (and pack of extra batteries), a flashlight, wool socks, one of those thin super blankets, and a collapsing shovel.
Also, after spending a few hours in a snowbank last year, your cellphone is your friend. If you don’t have one, see if anyone has a spare. You can call 911 on most cell phones that are not active.
Practice makes perfect, including skid contol practice. The problem is, you might get in trouble for where you practice. Best to check with a driving school and the police before you start skidding about in a parking lot.
Wrong! Do not use clay, when you put clay under your tires and you spin those tires the clay gets wet! what kind of traction does wet clay give you? ZERO!
Use a 30lb. bag of sand instead. Toys-R-Us sells it and it will give you more traction than you could ever want.
I’ve been there and learned the hard way, putting kitty litter on top of semi-frozen wet mud and spinning ruts deeper and deeper was the only time I cursed my mom’s advice.
The kitty litter I use is a sand-based litter. It’s worked really well. I also keep a blanket, some road flares, a flashlight, a bit of food, extra windshield washer fluid, ice scraper/snow brush, and other winter items in the car.
I carry a shovel, traction mats and chains as part of my winter kit, along with a winter sleeping bag in case the shovel, traction mats and chains don’t work.
