Tips for Driving on Snow and Ice

It's about that time of year...folks have a tendency to react to snow as if it's White Death Raining From the Sky. They listen to fear-mongering TV newscasters, they stock up on milk and bread like armageddon is approaching, and they barely dare to venture out in a vehicle. When they do, they hold the wheel in a death grip, stare wide-eyed at the car in front of them, creep along at 10 mph, and refuse to change lanes, like the little mound of snow between lanes is a nest of dragons.

And if they crash, this is what they say: "The car just went out of control, there was nothing I could do!"

That's nonsense. Seriously. There's almost always some things they could have done, if they only knew. There's a big difference between situations you have no control over, as in "there was nothing I could do", and things you DO have control over, like driving a car. If an engine falls off a plane and hits your car, OK, I'll give you that: There was nothing you could do. But if you spun out in the snow and hit a pole, yes, I'm here to say, there absolutely was something you could have done to prevent it, and I don't mean just staying home. But first your car needs decent tires, good wipers, and washer fluid. If your car has crappy tires, or summer-only tires, worn out wipers and an empty washer tank, yes please, do stay home or call a cab.

Otherwise, cars, trucks, and SUV's are all quite controllable in slippery conditions, but only when the driver has the right attitude and the right skill sets, which really aren't that hard to learn. But the key to a lot of bad-weather driving is fighting what your instincts want to do. The skills may be unfamiliar, and they require practice, but they work.

We have to fight the instincts we've developed from all our driving in normal conditions on dry pavement. If you want to turn more, you turn the wheel more, right? If you want to slow down more, press the brakes harder, right? NO, not when the car isn't doing what you want it to do! You have to make the logical side of your brain, the one that says "this isn't working", take over from the animal side that says "do this" no matter what. So that's where knowledge like what I'm about to tell you comes in.

Just so you know where I'm coming from, I learned to drive on snowy roads in Michigan and Ontario. I've been driving for 28 years, and I instruct high-performance driving situations and for Street Survival. I've attended the Bridgestone Winter Driving School and I can vouch for its effectiveness.

So, with all that out of the way, here are my tips for successfully driving in snow:

1) Look way ahead of the car. WAY ahead. That way, your brain is already aware of situations as they're developing, minimizing the amount of surprise involved. Look way behind you, too, in your mirrors. There should be no surprises coming up behind you. Of course, you can't look way ahead of the car or way behind the car when you have your face full of mobile phone texting or reading email, so put the mobile down, it can wait. Seriously.

2) Slow down a little. I don't mean slow to a crawl, unless conditions really are so slippery that you can't accelerate or brake very well at all. I mean just slow down at least a little. Give your brain a little more time to consider what's happening and react accordingly.

3) All-Wheel-Drive and 4-wheel Drive can't change the laws of physics...AWD and 4WD vehicles accelerate better than others in slippery conditions but they do not stop or turn any better! have you ever noticed that so many cars spun off the road or rolled over are SUV's? Those are the people who didn't notice how slippery the conditions were because their car still accelerated well, or they knew it was slippery and figured 4WD would save them. They were wrong, and they found out the hard way. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security just because your car accelerates better than others in the snow.

4) Always look where you want the car to go, not at what you're afraid it's going to hit. I can't emphasize this enough, and it'll be a recurring them. It's called Target Fixation, and it's part of the human condition. When we're surprised or scared, we have a tendency to focus on what it is that's surprising us or scaring us. We get tunnel vision as our brains actually tune out everything else but the thing that's spooking us. But because the car will follow your hands, and your hands follow your eyes, when you stare at something, you'll drive right into it. Fighter pilots sometimes fly right into their opponents thanks to target fixation. Skydivers sometimes drill right into the ground without pulling their cords, thanks to target fixation. Motorcyclists quite often drive off the road in a turn, thanks to target fixation. And drivers very often hit things in the middle of nowhere, thanks to target fixation. Remember: If you're staring at it, you'll drive right at it. No matter what.

So this is critical: when you get spooked that you're approaching a stopped vehicle faster than you think you can avoid it, do not stare at the car...look to the empty lane next to it, and drive there. If your car starts skidding toward a curb, do not stare at the curb, focus instead on the road next to it where you want the car to go, and have patience with the controls. Car coming into your lane? Do not stare at the car, focus instead on moving out of its way, which doesn't necessarily mean slowing down. You've been looking ahead of the car, and all around, so you know where the empty places are, right? Right. Right? Yes, because you're a driver, and not just a passenger behind the wheel.

5) Learn how to modulate the gas and the brakes. "Modulate" means learning how to apply just the right amount of gas or brakes so the tires don't spin or slide. Spinning or sliding tires hardly generate any traction, so they can't start or stop the car. More importantly, sliding tires can't steer the car, either. You must keep the tires rolling in order for them to do their jobs. Be gentle with the controls squeeze on the gas and squeeze on the brakes. My dad always said that in really slippery conditions, drive like you have an egg between your foot and the pedals, and drive so you don't break the egg. Sage advice. Be gentle with the controls.

Feel and hear what the car is doing...is the engine revving up but the car isn't accelerating? That means your tires are spinning. Lift off the gas and start over again, gently. Is the car sliding when you press on the brakes? Do you feel the brake pedal pulsing and pushing back on your foot? Quickly lift off the brakes and very quickly but gently start over again. You may have to repeat this over and over very quickly. You're trying to find the amount of pedal pressure just before the amount that causes the tires to lock. That's called "threshold braking", where you're generating braking forces just on the threshold of locking them up and skidding, and it's physically the best traction your tires can provide. Any more than that causes skidding, and that's actually slows the car less than not skidding.

Is the pedal vibrating and is there a whirring sound from in front of the dashboard when you apply the brakes? That's your ABS (Anti-lock Brake System) doing its job. Don't freak out, just look where you want the car to go, and keep after it...modulate the brakes and steer to safety. Drive the car.

If your car seem stuck in place and just won't move without spinning its tires, try to get it started in 2nd gear instead. And be gentle. It usually works.

If the front tires of your rear-wheel-drive car are sliding when you're approaching a stop, put the car in neutral.

6) Be prepared for the car to slide around a little. It's OK...did you know your car always slides a little, every time you turn it, even on dry pavement? It does, just a little, it's how tires work, but you're so used to it you just don't even know it happens. On snow, it happens more, and if it happens too much, you have to correct for it. How? First, look where you want the car to go (see a theme here?).

If the back end is sliding, that's called oversteer, and the way to correct for it is to turn the steering wheel in the direction that the rear end is moving. For example, you're making a left hand turn, but the back end starts sliding to the right. Move the steering wheel to the right, and be steady with the pedals. Most people get this almost instinctively. But here's the important part: Be ready for the car to "catch" and come back the other way. When it does, you'll have to correct for that movement, and if you don't, you'll simply spin out in the opposite direction. Remember "CPR": Correct (turn the wheel into the skid), Pause (hold it there momentarily), Recover (quickly move the wheel back to center before the car catches and darts that way).

And here's the part that makes people scratch their heads, but it's true: In most cases, you need to gently accelerate when this happens. Key word being "gently". Release the brakes and apply just a little gas. What this does is shift weight, and traction, from the front tires to the rear tires, giving them what they need to stop sliding. This does not apply if you're driving a rear-wheel drive car and giving it too much gas is what caused it to skid in the first place. Otherwise, it applies.

If the front wheels are sliding when you're trying to turn, so that the car is going more straight than you want it to, that's called understeer. It can be very frightening and the natural reaction most people have is to stand on the brakes and turn the wheel more and more. These are both the exact opposite of what needs to be done to correct understeer. So, in these situations, first (wait for it....) look where you want the car to be going, and resist the urge to turn the steering wheel more and more. The front wheels are already over their turning limits, so turning the wheel more actually makes the situation worse. It can be a very, very hard habit to break, but the best way to start is look where you want the car to go, not at what you're afraid it's going to hit. You actually have to turn the wheel back to center a little, so it's a little less than what caused it to start sliding, causing the tires to regain traction, then gently add more steering angle back into it so the car will turn. This will ONLY work if you're not standing on the brakes and staring wide-eyed at what you're afraid of hitting, and that's a tough impulse to overcome when the car is sliding. But you must overcome it.

Need to change lanes, and there's a mound of snow between them? It's OK, you're not going to die. The car will "yaw" when the front wheel catches the mount, that means the car will rotate a little around its center, and if you're not used to it, you may feel like it's going to spin out. It won't, unless you do something wrong. Let it yaw. Don't panic. Correct for it, focus on where you want to be, and you'll get there.

7) Slow down before you have to make a turn. A tire can brake or accelerate, or it can turn, but it can't do 100% of both at the same time. When traction is reduced by snow or ice, you need to slow the car before you turn so the tires can devote all they have to changing the direction of the car. Finding out mid-turn that you're going too fast to make it is about 10 seconds too late to do anything about it, but again, if you find yourself in that situation....look where you want the car to go.

8) Prepare your car. Tires with no tread don't grip the snow. Cars with no window washer fluid get crusty windshields, and if you can't see out the window, you can't focus on where you want the car to go. Cars with no gas in the tank don't go anywhere at all unless they're being towed. You get the drift.

And finally, with all this said, when the first snowfall comes, I recommend getting yourself out to the biggest parking lot with the fewest obstacles you can find, and practice. I still do this, every season, even approaching 3 decades of driving, and you should too. Get yourself lots of room so you can't hit anything, and get a feel for how long it takes to stop the car from 30 or 40 mph. "Change lanes" and get a feel for that. Lose control a couple times and learn what it feels like when it's about to happen, and how to catch it when it does.

Be safe, and happy motoring. Drive. You're in control.