Early in the season, if you can, go to a big empty parking lot when there’s a fresh snowfall, and practice doing skids and donuts for a while (assuming there’s room to do all that safely). It will hone those winter reflexes that might otherwise take several storms to sharpen up.
Metarule: don’t do anything sudden. Don’t get into a position of having to do something sudden.
And Seattle drivers are insane. I happened to be in Seattle all week. I was driving up a fairly steep hill (166th in Redmond) when a clown coming out of a side street decided to cut me off suddenly. The hill made it easy to slow down, which I did, but then he proceeded to inch his wa up the hill, forcing me to crawl too. You should be trying to go a bit faster up a hill. Then he turned onto 95th, where I was going and sped up the hill, only to stop at a stop sign near the top of that hill. Full stop. Fortunately, the road was snowy, not icy and he was able to get going. What an asshole!
#1 Rule
Despite what the salesman told you when he sold you that vehicle, it IS POSSIBLE to skid even though you have four wheel drive
Four wheel drive may mean you can start fast in snow/ice, but it doesn’t mean you can brake fast in snow/ice.
Avoid “The Old Man In The Hat In The Stationwagon” and his wife “The Old Woman with Dear Abby Hair in the Beige Buick”.
Legend has it that when the moon is full, after a freshly fallen snow, these two take to the streets with expired insurance cards and licenses 20 years out of date looking to ram you harder than your kid brother in bumper-cars in 3rd grade.
“You still don’t get it, do you? They’ll find you! That’s what they do! It’s ALL they do! You can’t stop them! They’ll wade through you! They’ll reach down your glove box and tear your f-ckin’ deductable out!”
That’s absolutely right. You won’t know how much trouble you’re in until you start trying to stop - and don’t. That’s why slow and careful with plenty of stopping cushion is so important (and still, unfortunately, rare).
I don’t really think about what I do in a skid any longer, either - just take my foot off the gas and let engine braking slow me down, then keep on driving. I don’t actually think I steer at all, come to think of it.
Take corners and off-ramps SLOWLY. Moving in a straight line might be fine, but once you start trying to move in a tangent, that’s when things often go pear-shaped. The main road might be perfectly dry, but the off-ramps are likely to be icier/snowier.
I had to run a bunch of red lights/stop signs last week, but if you stop on glare ice and try to turn or go up even a slight hill, you’re toast - go into the turn or stop sign extremely slowly, make sure it’s safe (and no cops are watching) and proceed as if the law was smart enough to recognize that sometimes you just can’t stop.
I second the idea of driving slightly off the beaten tracks at intersections - all the tires ice up the snow, so if you can get over a bit to where the snow isn’t beaten down yet, you might have better traction.
Add weight to the back of your vehicle. With bricks or sandbags, something.
Especially pick-up trucks. Those suckers skid like nobody’s business with a light rear-end.
Rules 1-10
Don’t drive on bad roads if your vehicle, or you are not able to do so.
A very experienced ice and snow driver here from Canada from the snow belt of southern Ontario to the west coast hills of Vancouver Island…
I’ve never understood what it means to turn into a skid. I just let the wheel spin in my hands until there is no sideways motion. (foot off the gas first) and then proceed in the direction I want to go
Stopping distance is a huge consideration. Slow down well in advance of the stop, while pumping brakes if neccessary. Do not attempt braking on curves unless for very short periods with wheels straight.
Yesterday, a 20 year old driver on our icy and snowy Vancouver Island Highway was clocked doing 120 miles per hour for about 25 miles.
Driver and vehicle are okay.
Something I was reminded of, three times, this morning:
Like saje said, if you hit an icy spot, the proper response it to remove your foot from the gas. DO NOT BRAKE. You want to brake, but don’t. Bad things like skids happen if you obey the lil voice that panics and tells you to brake.
Of course, this doesn’t solve the problem of hitting an icy spot when you’re already braking because you’re about to make a turn/stop at a light or stop sign…any hints for this situation?
Any elevated roadway (overpass, bridge, etc.) is going to be different, surface-wise, than the other roads. Because it’s more exposed, it will freeze before other roads do, or with a different quality of ice or packed snow than the other roads have.
Expect that EVERY OTHER VEHICLE YOU SEE is driven by a snow-ignorant asshole who is about to behave dangerously. Go out of your way to avoid them as much as you can. Leave waaaay more space between you and them than you think you could possibly need. Don’t let the asshole tailgating you intimidate you into going faster just to get out of his way, though.
Drive wearing shoes and outerwear you could walk all the way home in from wherever you’re going. Carry emergency supplies inside your car, especially including a shovel and a spare pair of dry boots if you possibly can. (Inside the car is better than in the trunk in case you end up with the trunk smashed shut against a telephone pole or stuck in an icy snow-plow berm in the ditch.) Stuff like a blanket and emergency water is good too, but realistically a city driver is more likely to need to try to get a car unstuck, or walk away from it, rather than stay in it (unless you’re driving out in the country that day).
If there’s ice at all, treat all roads as if there’s black ice everywhere.
I’m in Calgary, originally from Northern BC. Steering in to the skid is something I was taught in defensive winter driving as a teen.
I’m not sure if I’ll explain it right but…
First thing is DON’T PANIC. Too many people do. I’ll never forget the time this happened for my poor mom. She’d hit a patch of ice at the same time she was braking at a light, and just started skidding straight at the car ahead of us. I had enough time to glance to the parking lot of a business to our right. “Mom! Let off the brake, steer right, steer right!”. She was completely frozen, “I can’t! I can’t”!
BLAM! 
Luckily it was a wee little fender bender, no harm no foul, both vehicles were pretty much big ole’ Alaskan trucks with already ugly bumpers.
Like so many others have said, first thing, take your foot OFF the gas. At the same time do a very quick look to either side of yourself and in your mirrors. You’re looking for an escape route. It might be into the ditch (much cheaper and safer than hitting another vehicle). Or there might even be someplace safe to head for.
As others have mentioned, do some “test slides” before you head out of your neighborhood. And if your region snows enough, find a school or someplace with a big empty parking lot and practice skids and donuts and such.
There should be another list of objects to carry in the car while driving in snow:
- snow shovel
- tow strap
- flares
- tea candles, lighter, tin can to burn them in
- blankets
- sand or salt for traction
- cell phone
- flashlight
- 12 volt air compressor
Get your windshield (front an back and windows too) all de-iced before you go. You’d be amazed at the number of people who do a half-ass job and spend the whole time peering through the front of the windshield.
Let the car run for 5 minutes, starting with the moment you get to it and start working the outside if need be. If it’s warm inside, you’ll be more comfortable and relaxed, plus it’s better on the car.
Fill your windshield washer fluid before the first snow and top it off frequently.
Wear gloves with little grippies for handling the wheel better. Like these puppies. I have a great pair of wool gloves - that allow the steering wheel to slip and slide. No accident, just an unnecessary shimmy and a lesson learned.
Do not get in a car with someone who is a worse driver than you. You know the type - your partner, your family member, your friend. If they’re bad, they’re only gonna be worse. Suck it up and offer to drive.
Do not get in a car with rear wheel drive or very low ground clearance.
If I had a time machine I would go back and smack the guy that first said turn into the skid. I have known people who when faced with that emergency turned the wheel the wrong way thinking it was “into the skid”
Grrrrrrr
Think of it this way. Turn the front wheels the direction you want the car to go.
Front of the car moving to the left? Turn the wheel to the right.
Front of the car moving right? Turn the wheel to the left.
easy and simple to remember.
My suggestions?
First snow fall? find a big empty unplowed lot and practice. Turn the wheel, spin the car, practice skiding the car. It’s fun and great practice.
Second, leave late and drive extra fast. It is safer that way cause you are on the road for less time.
(not really)
That’s what we’ve been saying. (But as I’ve said, I’ve only dealt with rear-end skids, so turning the wheel in the direction I want the car to go is ‘turning into the skid’.) But your common sense advice of turning the wheel in the direction you want the car to go is easy to remember.
I live in the Michigan lake effect snow belt and one of the biggest things I have noticed over the years is people excessively spinning the tires. They don’t seem to understand that once traction is lost, spinning the tires by accelerating will only make things worse.
It’s amazing to see so many people, even ones that are raised in this region do this - when trying to get traction they put the pedal to the floor.
That’s when you have to have prepared in advance by anticipating that all intersections are going to be slippery and slow down well in advance. Also, keep your eye on your rearview mirror after you’ve stopped in case someone is about to plow into YOU (and you can move into the large cushion you’ve left in front of your car).
That’s not entirely true; the recommendation is to let your car warm up for only about 30 seconds - that’s all it needs before driving. Of course, when it’s -30ºC, we just ignore that and let it warm up until you can drive in the car without shivering so hard you change lanes back and forth from it. 
You gotta rock and roll, baby. Back and forth, back and forth, gently. I used this just yesterday when I almost got stuck parking at work.