I read this as sarcastic, but you may actually be asking for advice:
Don’t drive so fast in the first place.
I find this … amusing at best.
how exactly do you do that? be in Nebraska? I can’t think of anywhere I would possibly want or need to go that doesn’t involve at least one hill.
I also follow the “don’t go near the car until the snow is gone” method - took 4 days this time. So far, winter hasn’t been near as bad as predicted.
Winter hasn’t been that bad yet? We haven’t even quite made through the very end of Nov, forcryingoutloud.
If you have snow covering your windows, clear the snow off ALL your windows. We’ve all seen idiots driving with a little rectangle of cleared windshield in front of them.
Turn your lights on when it’s snowing, even if you can see. The other drivers may not be able to see you otherwise.
Keep your gas tank as full as possible. The added weight of the gas will help to prevent skids.
Here’s one I learned the hard way: If your car is covered with snow, you may want to start the car and warm up the engine while you clear it. If you do, always open the driver’s window, in case you accidentally lock yourself out. In fact, any time of year, if you ever get out of the car while it’s running, open the window first.
That’s an oversimplification. For maximum braking efficiency, don’t let off that brake pedal as long as you’re moving in the correct direction. Stand on the pedal until you need to correct where you’re going (say, to avoid hitting someone) or if the car starts to spin. However, that takes a bit of training to do correctly, and if you drive on snow only occasionally, it’s probably easier to learn to “pump” indiscriminately.
QFT.
Also, driving with 4WD usually gives you no warning before you lose control completely. With front or rear wheel drive, a fine-tuned driver’s butt (the most important instrument for driving on ice and snow) will feel those microscopical skids and slips which give you ample warning before you really wash out. So, if you’re driving 4WD, check the traction once in a while by braking slightly and watching for tires skidding or ABS kicking in. Without that, you won’t get any warning!
Ay-men, brother!
Experienced snow/ice driver here. My experience is largely rear wheel drive but I believe what follows applies to front wheel drive also. 4 wheel drive ?
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As has been suggested, practice in a snowy empty parking lot. Great experience and even an hour or so will make clear what you need to do when/if the rear end breaks loose. As a teenager in NY, I spent time over several winters doing this and it served me well.
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Turn the wheel in the direction you want the car to go, in other words, into the skid. BUT don’t overdo or you’ll end up in a cycle of fish tailing that gets progressively worse. An anecdote: cruising on a dry, nearly deserted interstate at night. Hit a long patch of black ice and found myself sliding down the highway at 65 mph facing left at a 45 degree angle. It was second nature to snap the wheel an eighth of a turn to the right. The car immediately straightened as I snapped the wheel back to straight ahead, all in a blink of an eye. Needless to say, I slowed to 55 after that.
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Weight added over the rear wheels is good. A couple of 90 lb bags of sand worked well for me and if you should get stuck, the sand is a handy traction helper.
Another anecdote: For several years I lived VT in a house that sat a hill with a long steep driveway. To make it up, I often had to take a good run at it from the straight away at the bottom. Occasionally, I’d just almost make it to the top and was then faced with sliding back down to try again. I discovered (counter intuitively) that by dropping into first gear, allowing the car to roll back (easy enough in an automatic and I suppose by riding the clutch in a stick shift) and whenever the car started sliding to the side, giving the gas a little goose to spin the rear wheels a bit, they immediately slid in behind the front wheels. Repeat as necessary.
Good luck.
I don’t see how it can be accurate to say “turn the wheel in the direction you want the car to go.” If I’m sliding, I should do the same thing to regain control of the car, regardless whether the road I’m on is curving left, curving right, or going straight.
You are quite correct regarding drifting or sliding on curves. Sloppy of me.
Gotta stay with “into the skid”.
I’d have to stock up six months of food. Of course YMMV. If you don’t think it’s safe, don’t drive.
Really, all of the suggestions are pretty good. Especially the easy and obvious ones like CLEAR YOUR WINDOWS. It surprises me that the ‘turn into the skid’ or however you want to explain it isn’t innate and a natural response to a slide. If it’s something you have to think about, you should practice. I understand that most people don’t have an easy opportunity to do this. But try if you can.
I also agree that it’s good to check traction if you have a safe place to apply brakes and see how slippery it is. Note, though that conditions change rapidly. A bit of road that was in the shade all day (or every day) is way different than one in the sun.
Also, pay attention to the temperature. Cold snow and ice usually provides better traction than when it is hovering right around freezing. Again, though, conditions can change fast.
I am also in the warm your car up group. Not just for comfort, but to help keep your windshield clear. No, it’s not very green, but it’s safer.
Steering into the skid:
This works great on dirt.
However, personal experience with Seattle conditions is that the snow stops and all the unplowed/unsanded roads quickly become compact snow and ice. Once the back end kicks out, often it’s game over, no steering will make a significant difference.
I took my kids out during this snow to practice this stuff and purposely had them give it a little gas around a corner (15mph) so they could see that once you lose traction on the really slippery stuff, the car is just going to keep going until it hits a rough patch or stops. Most of the time the car spun all the way around despite steering into the skid properly (like dirt track racers).
A tow truck driver speaking on Spokane local news the other night claimed that about 80% of the “slide offs” they respond to in winter are 4WD vehicles.
He blamed the discrepancy on overconfidence. People seem to forget that 4WD helps the vehicle GO in bad condidtions…doesn’t do a damn thing to help it STOP.
That’s actually a little scary - my finely-tuned butt is extremely aware of how my traction is doing all the time - I’d feel like I was driving blind if I had no feedback from the tires.
Fucking black ice. Black ice is proof that God hates us and wants us all to die.
I respectfully offer an alternative.
He’s teaching us to skate on dull skates.:dubious:
Don’t just clear snow from the windows. Clear it from the bonnet, boot, and roof too. You don’t want a sheet of snow sliding down and blocking your sight when you brake. Nor do you want a chunk to fly off and hit the vehicle behind, blocking their vision - or worse if it’s a bike.
I get the push broom and clean off as much snow as is reasonably possible. Primarily this is because I hate being behind other people who don’t, and have to drive through their clouds and clods on the freeway.
I clear the front part of the roof of the Jeep first. This prevents snow from falling inside. Then I start it up and turn on the heat so it an warm up while I’m sweeping the rest of the vehicle.
Oh yeah, the snow. The snow on the hood blows onto the window and blocks the driver’s vision, and the snow on the roof blows onto the back window and blocks the driver’s vision. Actually, in the right conditions, the snow on the roof will slide in a big chunk onto either the front or back window when the driver comes to a stop or starts up again, and we can all point and laugh. 
Big ones;
Allow three times the distance (or more) from oncoming cars before you pull out in front of them. No way in hell are you going to be able to zip around the corner and accellerate before they get to you, and they might not be able to stop. I’m goddamned tired of people thinking they can just pull out in front of me the same as on dry pavement.
DO NOT STOP ON HILLS. Not even on on-ramps. YOU might be able to get moving again (or NOT), but you’re fucking over everyone behind you who might not be able to get moving again. If they’re on an on-ramp, they’re doubly fucked because they can’t just turn around and go the other way.
Take an extra second and look both ways before moving after the light turns green. Better that than to get nailed by the guy who slid right through the newly red light.
Take your foot off your damned brakes, especially when in traffic. This largely goes year-round, but doubly so in snow. People see brake lights ahead of them and they panic and jam on their breaks, and before you know it, there are accidents all over the place. Rain, snow, dry pavement, just drive a slow, steady speed with a reasonable gap (not excessive) and take your damned foot off your brakes.