A lesson I learned at around 22 was to drive carefully in winter weather even when the roads look fine.
I grew up driving in snow, with 4WD vehicles, RWD, FWD et al. I knew it pretty well. When it actually came to driving over snow or even ice I knew what to do, how to handle things. I was a pretty good judge of how fast I could go without getting in to trouble, and I knew what to do when I started to skid.
I even knew about the dangers of hidden ice or black ice and such and drove accordingly. But one winter when I was 22 I was driving fast right as a snow storm was beginning. It had snowed a little bit earlier in the day but the roads were mostly clear, a little bit of slush on the sides. In general I had a lot of experience driving the backroads covered in snow but not as much the interstate. The road looked clean and people were driving on it fine so I didn’t see any problem. I was going about 70, moved in to the passing lane and then boom I hit some slush and start swerving out of control. Anytime I’m driving in the snow or ice I know what to do when I start to swerve, but haphazardly driving down the interstate and for whatever reason viewing the road conditions as “normal” I just wasn’t mentally in the right place to do what I knew I was supposed to do. I slammed on the brakes as hard as I could, if I hadn’t done this things probably would have been okay. But, I did slam on the breaks, did a few donuts on the interstate and spun harmlessly into the grassy (snow covered) median. I was lucky. It took me 30 minutes and the help of a fellow motorist to get my car out of the wet soggy ground of the median, and I definitely modified my driving habits after then. I knew snow and ice made driving rough, and I knew driving in the rain meant added caution and especially when there was the chance of hydroplaning. But I’d never really confronted mostly-invisible slush on the roadside before, I learned that it was just as bad as snow.
2 sheets of expanded metal grating, 12 inches wide and about 4 feet long, a bag of sand [like the kind used to make impromptu dikes] and a small sturdy shovel [like a military entrenching tool.]
If you get bogged and need to get out, first dig a short path in front [or behind if you are going to be in reverse] of each tire. Sprinkle a handfull of sand in each track. Try to get out gently.
If that doesnt work, then place the expanded metal tracks in each tire track, making sure that one edge is against the tire. Gently go onto the metal grating, and it will provide a gripping surface for each tire.
It is possible, with a fair amount of work to travel a fair distance slowly this way if you have to get out of a bad parking situation, or up a short slope like an exit ramp for a parking lot, or even if you have spun out into the edge of the road.
In a pinch, you can try putting almost anything under the tire to get traction, yesterday I hadnt noticed mrAru taking out the snow stuff to put other stuff in teh trunk, so we used an old wool blanket to provide teh traction to get out of a parking lot ramp.
Tire chains. Many states [including connecticut] have declared tire chains illegal, but you know? in an emergency Ill take the damned ticket and just use chains to get traction.
We experiance very long winters where I live. Our driveway and the road to our house is such that I use 4 wheel drive every day for about 6 months out of the year.
My Wife and I both have SUV’s. I have snow tires on mine, my Wife has All Seasons. She has gotten stuck a couple of times this year. I done fine so far. I much prefer the snow tires.
Bridgestone BLIZZAK WS-50 winter tire features an exclusive TUBE MULTICELL® compound developed by Bridgestone to deliver snow and ice performance without studs! And with the addition of UNI-T technology, the BLIZZAK WS-50 helps drivers of imported and domestic sedans, coupes, and sports cars meet the challenge of adverse winter conditions.
Others have addressed the tires/loading/behavior issues, and I have nothing to add there.
However, you said ‘6 to 12" of snow’.
Your CAR probably has 5 to 8 inches of ground clearance. If the snow on the road in front of your house exceeds your car’s ground clearance, STAY HOME. I saw a guy who ignored that rule manage to get stuck while pointed DOWNHILL in a 4WD Chevy Blazer. Gotta’ love Southern drivers in snow.
If you don’t know your ground clearance, check out your automaker’s web site. If your car is old enough that it no longer shows up there, try edmunds.com or carpoint.msn.com.
Everyone here is right on, but to echo, rule number one is:
Get snow tires.
Snow tires will make any car handle SO much better in snowy weather. I had summer tires on my Nissan Sentra for the last 3 winters, and the car handled like absolute crap. I was ok with it, having grown up in Ohio, and spent the 6 years before I moved to Germany in upstate New York, but this year, I went and picked up 4 snow tires, and what a difference. I wouldn’t have been caught dead without snow tires in New York, but where I’m at in Germany, I could get by with summer tires, because it doesn’t snow a whole lot here. However, for the 3 big storms we’ve had this year, the snow tires made all the difference in the world.
Experience in snow is the biggie, though, and you can only get that by driving in it. I grew up driving in snow, so it’s always been natural to me (I took my drivers test at 16 during a snow day! :O)
