I know there’s a lot of like, younger teenagers that follow me so check this out, if this is your first time driving in winter, don’t just stamp on the brake pedal to stop, if you’re on ice you’ll continue to slide for quite some distance and could possibly hit something/someone
ease into it, like small pumps on the pedal. And brake earlier, like give yourself some room because even if you’re driving slow and braking correctly you’re still probably gonna slide a bit
Remember the 3-second rule you learned in driver’s ed? Follow it. Give yourself AT LEAST 3 seconds. On slippery roads, give yourself five. Or (and this is one I learned from my mother), for every 10 miles you’re going, give yourself a car length. So if you’re going 25, give yourself 2.5 car lengths. If you’re doing 55, give yourself 5.5. This is crazy good at estimating how far you’ll need to stop on slippery roads if you absolutely must slam the brakes to avoid hitting a car or an animal. (Seriously. I was on I-66, hit a patch of black ice on a downhill, and the car in front of me was stopped. I hit the pavement doing close to 90 and barely managed to avoid a crash. If I was following the 3-second rule I would have totaled both of our cars.)
ALSO. If you hydroplane/skid on ice and end up spinning in circles, TURN YOUR STEERING WHEEL IN THE DIRECTION OF THE SKID AND SLOWLY STRAIGHTEN. Do not - DO NOT - turn your wheel the other way to try to correct, because it won’t work. Be safe.
It’s also super important to know if your car has ABS or not, because this will change the required behavior to try and correct out of a skid. The owner’s manual for your car will indicate what the proper procedure is, because ABS will “pulse” the brakes to try and keep the wheels from locking up, so it will be ineffective if you use the older method of pumping the brakes to keep from locking the wheels up.
Also, Don’t jerk your wheel or over correct. If you slide, just turn your wheel a bit to straighten out. Ys, it will take time. But over correction is far more dangerous.
If there’s a big, open parking lot you can access after a snow/ice storm drive your car in it. Try to spin out a little (the lot needs to not have tons of poles and cars in it. Let me reiterate that again.)
Get a feel for what it feels like to cause spinning out, prevent spinning out, and properly (not over!) correcting a spin. This is the best way to prepare. I heard and read advice like the above and that’s great but I had no idea how to really do it all correctly until my dad took me to our church lot and let me practice.
I found out all cars after the 80s have ABS automatically built in. I personally hate ABS. in my first car it would consistently make me slide out. Whether I pumped the brakes or slowly pushed them or hit them, my car would always skid. I also had shit tires and a lemon for a car but I hate ABS.
That’s another thing: tires. Make sure you have tread. If you’re not sure, have a place like AutoZone look for you.
In CO, a lot of us keep sand bags in our cars to keep the weight in the back so we have a lesser chance of fishtailing.
AVOID CURBS WHEN THERE’S SLUSH. As much as possible. That slush in the curb will grab your car and pull you in.
If you’re driving on the hiway, please go slower than the established speed limit in dangerous conditions.
And if you drive a manual: USE IT, THIS IS ITS TIME TO SHINE.
All this stuff! Also water tends to collect at the bottom of hills so those places (and shady spots) are more likely to be icy. Stay calm and go slow.
