Having survived the Snow-maggedon in Seattle this week (yes, they really did call it that on TV), I was teaching my partner how to drive in snow/ice and thought maybe it would be possible to assemble a set of rules that could be used to adjust driving habits to the snow. So I put forward:
The ones everyone knows:
0. Pump your brakes if you don’t have ABS
If your tail slides out, turn your wheels toward the rear wheels (i.e. keep your front ahead of your back)
And then the artful ones:
2. Never stop (never ever stop!- time intersections and lights such that you are always rolling)
3. Accelerate well before the bottom of any hill (over the speed limit if possible) and plan on losing most of your speed by the time you hit the top
4. Drive one gear lower than usual for that speed
5. Take corners as wide as possible (this goes along with rule #2)
6. Intentionally spin your wheels and lock up your brakes (only momentarily) when safely away from other objects so that you understand what you are driving on and how your car reacts.
7. Avoid going downhill if possible- go 5 miles out of the way to avoid a hill. Start the top of the hill at a near crawl with your engine braking the car.
8. Know where you are going to try to aim the car if you start to slide- which curb, ditch, patch of deeper and unpacked snow.
Any other rules/hints for mastering winter driving?
Try not to have a death grip on the wheel. Light touch, gentle moves in all things. Don’t jerk the wheel, don’t stomp the brake or accelerator, make everything very slow and deliberate. (Except going up hills, then you do need power and just keep going.
Remember that 4wd will not help with slippery stuff, only deep stuff (and even then there’s no guarantee!)
DO NOT use cruise control!
Avoid the brake as much as possible, just take your foot off the gas if you feel a bit of a skid.
Let’s say that you get into a skid where the tail moves to the right and the nose moves to the left (anti-clockwise as viewed from above). Turn the wheel to the right. That is, the tail is skidding to the right, so turn to the right – ‘into the skid’.
EDIT: If you turn left in the above case, you will be increasing the skid. You want to counteract it.
If your front end is sliding towards your right, turn the wheel right rather then doing what your instincts tell you, which is to turn away from your skid (left). What this does is gets your tires going on the same direction of the skid (and the rest of your vehicle), allowing them to get grip on the snow/ice. Then you can steer out of it.
Because it straightens the car out? I bet that wasn’t the answer you were hoping for. I drove in Calgary this week where the roads were crap and I know I skidded (as I do every winter, along with everyone else) but now I can’t remember how I steered out of it - I just do it automatically at this point.
I think the number one rule for winter drive has got to be SLOW THE F DOWN!!! You cannot stop/steer/control your car the same way as sans-snow. Slow down. A lot. Yes, you in the 4X4s as well, please.
ETA - Actually I just thought about it and I do what EmAnJ does as well. FWIW, I’ve been driving in snow/ice every year for the past 22 years and never had an accident due to weather conditions so I’m pretty confident that what she suggests, works.
Although if drivers are doing what [sup]*[/sup]JohnnyLA suggests that could explain all the cars in the ditch around here.
*JohnnyLa’s method IS what you would do in a rear wheel car.
Tip: If you have engine braking, use it.
My Prius transmission selector has four positions: Reverse, Neutral, Drive, and Brake. In Drive, letting off the accelerator allows the car to coast. In Brake, the car is slowed with engine compression. The Prius is not a stellar performer in icy conditions, which I found out one day sliding into an intersection. Engine braking helps.
Tip: Let the car slow down by itself.
Related to the above, lay off the brakes. Leave enough room in front of you that you can let off the gas and allow the car to slow without using the brakes. Unlike the Prius, most cars will slow on engine compression without having to select the mode.
Tip: Watch where you’re going.
If you have a choice between driving on sheet ice and driving on packed snow, drive on the snow. Look at the road ahead of you so that you can see if the road where the tire tracks are is dry, icy, or snowy and plan your strategy as long before you get there as possible.
I agree with the OP’s point 6, about testing the road conditions. When flying fixed-wing, I always tested the brakes immediately upon moving from the parking space. Better to know they’re working when you just start to roll, than when you’re trying to make the first turn-off. Same thing in a car in the snow. Know what you’re in for before you drive on it.
Along with the tip about driving on snow vs. ice, if coming to a stop at a light and it’s an uphill, try and stop on the snow rather then in the tracks (unless it’s bare). It’s easier to start up again on the snow as opposed to the ice.
I have front wheel skidded a number of times while cornering in the winter. Scared the crap out of me once last winter because there was a pedestrian right in front of me, and it was really counter-intuitive to steer right at her. But it worked.
That’s a great one that more people should follow. Employers know that little work gets done on snow days, so if there is a day to miss, that has to be a well-received one to take off.
The best rule for driving on solid ice is don’t. Seriously. IMO this is a situation that raises the “is driving necessary” bar up very very high.
The alternative is to buy some tire chains that fit your car, and learn to put them on before it gets icy. A good set of tire chains is around $85.00. They will turn an impossible situation into a manageable one.
I’ve got a thread that tangentially hits this subject already, and in it I observed that out of hundreds of cars stuck with me in the ice, I was the only driver who had chains. Apologies for the slight hijack (the OP said “snow”).
On edit: I see that E Thorp has already beaten me to part of my submission.
Ha, I wish. We had a bad snow storm a couple of weeks ago, and I stayed home because of it. I emailed my boss (he works in a different city) to let him know. This past Tuesday, he was in town, and I got in shit for it. He said “Unless it’s a matter of life and death, you need to find a way to get in to the office, even if you’re hours late.” I’m pissed off (yes, I’m looking for another job), but have decided if they really want me to go out in that weather, I won’t drive, I’ll take a taxi, and they can pay for it.
I drove in Calgary this week where the roads were crap and I know I skidded (as I do every winter, along with everyone else) but now I can’t remember how I steered out of it - I just do it automatically at this point.