• December 16, 2008
• Category: General
• Written By: Chris
• No Comments

Living here in the greater Portland-Metro area of Oregon we occasionally get a bit of a snow and ice storm. Unlike our friends on the east coast who get a snowy winter every year, we do not, so our drivers tend to be a bit over zealous and end up in their neighbors yard. So I come to you to write about how to drive in snow and ice and stay out of your neighbors yard. But wait? aren’t I an Oregonian? How do I know how to drive any better? Well, I have taken several skid car courses and spent endless days on the mountain skiing and driving through winter road conditions.

The biggest mistake I see people make is using their brakes on the ice. Contrary to popular belief, using your brakes on the snow and ice will in fact induce a slide and you’ll potentially end up going faster than you were before you hit the brakes, but this time you are completely out of control. Even the most sophisticated stability assistance and anti-lock brakes will not save you in a slide on icy, snowy, or both icy and snowy pavement. The key is to A: never be going fast enough where you need to slam the brakes and B: use your transmission to slow yourself down. For automatic transmission drivers you can feel free to use all of the gears on your shifter (D, D4, D3, 2, 1) to slow yourself down, you’ll find by the time you end up in first gear you are going so slow that you can in fact barely brake to stop. This way you have full control over your speed and vehicle.

Let me offer a real world situation, I’m driving about 35mph in D and I see a corner ahead that is iced over and I should probably go through that corner at 15mph – 20mph, I’ll first shift down to D3, once my speed hits 30mph I’ll shift into 2, once my speed hit’s 25mph – 20mph I’ll shift into first, now I’ll be coasting through the corner between 15mph and 20mph. I have not even touched my brakes yet.

What if you need to use the brakes, you’re still going to fast? Don’t panic, make sure you wheel is straight (you’re not turning), and gently ease on the brakes, don’t slam the brakes just ease them on while going straight and use the transmission to help you slow down even more. If you hit the brakes while turning you are likely to lose control of the front or rear end of the car causing an out of control slide.

What if you’re in a slide? This is where it can get tricky and the method defies what we believe about our vehicles. If you’re in a slide the first thing you need to do is get off the brake, the brakes will not slow you down at this point and chances are they will exaggerate your slide. Grab the wheel with both hands at the 9:00 o’clock and 3:00 o’clock positions. Now using a side to side motion turn into the slide (if I am sliding to the right I am going to turn my wheel right), gently apply some gas, what we are trying to do is get the rear end to regain traction.

Once the rear end has gained traction (you’ll know when it has because you can feel it), gently turn the wheel straight and exit the slide, while your wheel is straight gently apply the brakes and use the transmission to aid in slowing down. Come to a complete stop and collect your senses.

This does not guarantee you come out a slide unharmed, you may have a slide that is bad enough that you cannot recover, however; using a combination of the above methods may mitigate the damage.

The key to getting out of a slide is to never get into one in the first place. The cardinal rules of driving in the snow and ice are typically those of common sense:

1. Always have a large safety gap between you and the car in front of you, we all know the two second rule, but in snow you may want to enlarge this to 5 seconds or more.
2. If someone is riding you too tight behind then pull over and let them pass, if you can’t pull over safely then increase your spacing between you and the car in front to allow you to take more time to slow down if you need to.
3. Drive slowly, much slower than you would on dry or even wet pavement.
4. Pay attention to what your car is telling you, feel the tires, the road, and your engine, listen for irregularities, these could be signs your slipping.
5. If your wheel becomes very light in your hands this is a good reminder you are losing traction and you need to slow down.
6. If you have a thermometer in your car, pay attention to it, anything below 35 degrees F could mean icy conditions may be ahead.
7. Watch the news, get a good look at the traffic and pay attention to the weather.
8. Pay attention to all local law enforcement recommendations, if chains are required they are required for a good reason.
9. Last but not least, always use good common sense, if you aren’t confident with yourself then you shouldn’t be on the road.

If you have suggestions of your own for safe driving feel free to leave them in a comment on this post.

*I nor JDMLove.org take any responsibility for your driving safety, these tips are meant as help and not as absolute fact, I nor JDMLove.org take responsility for any property or personal damage and/or injury from driving in any situation. I am not a professional driver, instructor, or teacher.