Winter driving tips

[CDN_Merlin]

1) If you own a rear wheel drive car and are going up an incline and sliding, don't floor the gas.
2) Use winter tires.
3) Stop trying to pass during a blizzard.
4) Drive with more room between vehicles.

Common sense people.

[shaktazuki]

Move to sunny SoCal, where you virtually never have to deal with it.

[CDN_Merlin]

No thanks

[Foil]

One thing I like about moving here to Denver is that the drivers know how to deal with snow and ice. Of course there are a few whackos (the stereotype is that they're all from Cali, heh), but most know what they're doing.

... as opposed to Oklahoma, where I'm from, and where drivers have no clue how to deal with snow and the heavy ice storms the plains get. I have to admit I was one of them - never really learned to drive in winter weather until we moved to Colorado.

[Krom]

Leave more room, plan every stop/start as if it will take twice as long as it would under normal conditions, go easy on the breaks and accelerator to conserve traction. If the car starts to slip or slide, carefully steer towards where you want to go and just let the car coast if the situation permits it, resist the temptation to hit the brakes unless it is necessary. (In front wheel drive cars you may even want to LIGHTLY use the accelerator and steering to attempt to pull the front end back to where it needs to be.)

But most importantly, if conditions don't look absolutely perfect; slow down. The first big snow of the year and the radio and news always light up with so many accidents because some jerk forgot you can't drive 70 on snow and expect to pull all the same g-forces around corners.

[Top Wop]

If there is an ass who is tailgating you, leave extra space in front of you to accommodate you and the bumper huger behind you, you dont know if he can stop as well as you.

I can tell you this is one of my biggest pet peeves. There's a foot of unplowed snow on the ground and a couple of idiots last night tailgated me at 30 mph like it was summer and sunny.

[CDN_Merlin]

This morning, while driving to work, I was crossing the highway. There were 3 cars and 3 trucks sliding all over and one car actually changed lanes into mine while sliding and I had a dumb ass van stuck to my bumper because I refused to move since I wasn't sure if the guy in front would roll back and hit me.

PS: I have winter tires and I was sliding a bit on the ice so imagine others without winter tires.

[Top Wop]

You dont necessarily need winter tires as long as the tires you have still have some tread on them. Its all about how you drive and maintain control of the car and anticipating what could happen.

[CDN_Merlin]

With 5+ inches of snow falling over night, all season tires are worth crap. Most people also tend to beleive all season tires will work in winter even if 50% or more of the tread is gone. Once 30% of all season tread is gone it's no longer good for winter. Buying winter tires will also save your regular tire use.

[Testiculese]

If you have an automatic, second gear is your friend. (I would hope those with manuals already know to drop gears and let the engine slow you instead of the brakes.)

[Grendel]

Dangerous -- if you let go of the gas on ice you may easily loose traction. Use motor braking only by letting go of the gas slowly. Don't be shy to hit the brakes if your car is equipped w/ ABS (hit the clutch as well in a manual.)

Know what electronic assistants your car has, what they do when, and if you need to disable them in certain situations.

If you can find an empty spot like a deserted parking lot it's a good idea to prcatice these and other maneuvers so you know how you and your car react.

Have chains ready, better to put them on early than too late..

[shaktazuki]

Don't forget the whips, too.


... so you can \"mush\" the dogsled. What were YOU thinking?

[Kilarin]

My dad grew up in the mountains in New Mexico. He is VERY good at driving on ice and snow. But he moved to Dallas Texas, and now refuses to go on icy roads unless it's an emergency. I asked him about this when I was a kid and he told me, \"It doesn't matter that *I* know how to drive on ice, no one ELSE here does.\"

[Sedwick]

Once on the interstate I saw an SUV about 150 feet out in front of me in the fast lane lose control and hit the center dividing wall at a perpendicular. Fortunately I was in the middle lane and eased on by. I might have stopped to help, but that would have made me late for the movie.

I find that letting the (FWD) car coast through a turn restores traction (static or \"rolling\" friction) and tightens the radius.

[Canuck]

I burned into the City to pick up some equipment and had to literally dodge about six vehicles that were totally out of control. The main drag in was like a sheet in a curling rink. Two vehicles in a row slid sideways across three lanes and back right in front of me. I just drove in second gear nice and steady and always left a load of space in front of me.
The drive back was interesting as well as the RCMP did not recommend travel due to white out and ice conditions, yet I had people passing me doing 120 Kmh. Some of them I ended up passing again further along the road as I suspect they had an \"incident\" that scared them straight. I always use winter tires... all seasons are meant for California, not Canadian Winters.

[Tunnelcat]

TIP! If you see somone making a running start up the STEEP hill in front of your house, for the love of God, don't pull out of your driveway in front of them so that they have to come to a stop! Some idiot down the hill from me did that today and I had to back down and start over. @$#^%$%&#*@

We lived in Colorado for years and never had any trouble driving in the cold snow. But here in Oregon, we get 32 degree snow/slush crap and it gets slippery as snot! Half the time they don't get gravel down or plowing done. What a pain! At least when it was 12 degrees a few days ago, it was drivable.

Edit: The effing snow plow just came by, after a week of snow! Jerks!

[Grendel]

At least you have a plow. Try driving in Corvallis, Benton County has exactly 5

[Tunnelcat]

I live in Corvallis, Grendel, remember? I also live at about 500 feet elevation, so I get nailed with snow WAY before all those lucky stiffs that live on the valley floor! When I finally slogged out today after a week of being snowed in, the lower part of Corvallis was clear, although I could tell it had snowed down low earlier in the week. Up here, it's a slushy mess! But wait! Now the snow is starting to come down hard in showers today. Big, giant flakes and it's 35 degrees outside, very wet and the ground is still cold and it's sticking!

What kills me is the stupid plows have gone by my house at least 8 times today! Where were they at days ago when I needed to get out? I'm getting so sick and tired of getting stuck on the hill when it's clear down below that I think I'm going to get a set of studded tires that I can throw on my Jeep when it snows. Even it has trouble in this crap! Chaining up is useless when it's clear just down the hill.

Grendel, do you know that before the 1990's, Corvallis really didn't have very many snowplows? When Hewlett Packard started having trouble getting deliveries and shipments one really snowy year, 1992 I think, they broke down in 1994 and bought the city a good snowplow, it was impacting their operations that much!

Another tip: Don't park your car on the outside edge of a curving downhill sloping street. You're sure to get it smacked by someone sliding down the hill as they come down it when it's icy. There's one guy's down the street that is a good target for the next sliding car.

Here's a fun car/hill slidefest from the Northwest.

[Canuck]

Some people were smart and used the snow on the left side for traction. I used to drive for a living, over 1,400 km. a trip at times when younger, and I have to say the stupidity on the roads has definitely increased. I attribute it to cellphones, text while driving freaks, and also it seems that many kids today learned how to drive by playing GTA.

My 2¢

[Top Gun]

Best suggestion: stay at home and read a book/watch a movie/play a game/make whoopie instead.

[Grendel]

I live in Corvallis, Grendel, remember?

Doh! Somehow I thought you are in Portland

Grendel, do you know that before the 1990's, Corvallis really didn't have very many snowplows? When Hewlett Packard started having trouble getting deliveries and shipments one really snowy year, 1992 I think, they broke down in 1994 and bought the city a good snowplow, it was impacting their operations that much!

Hahaha, figures. Circle Blv. has a similar story AFAIK (it is what it is today because of HP), I hate that intersection w/ 99 tho. Oh well, I got a lot connections to people at HP, not a happy place anymore..

[Bet51987]

When I was learning to drive, my dad brought me to the school yard on a slippery day in our Honda Pilot to make a point. He said that an SUV with it's big tires and all wheel drive can give you a false sense of security when driving in slippery conditions. His claim was that an SUV doesn't give you a realistic \"feel\" as to how bad the roads really are.

I was able to start off from a standing stop every time without spinning my tires and felt comfortable driving around the parking lot..but when I came to the stop sign I could hear the anti-lock brakes chattering letting me know that the tires were slipping.

Since I've been driving both the SUV, and our car, I found a lot of truth in that. When starting off and driving the SUV it seems like summer but when braking it seems like winter...more so in the SUV than the car.

Just my 2 cents.

Bee

[Tunnelcat]

Do you live in the hills Grendel, or in flatland? We've got 3 more inches of snow last night up here. Now we're getting sleet occasionally. The elusive city plows have even been going around here, blocking driveways with big boulders of snice (hard snow and ice clumps). Looking at the OSU cams, I see about an inch of snow down on the valley floor.

Yeah, I remember Circle Blvd. when it was 2 lanes wide and hazardous to your health if you tried to ride a bike to HP. That's probably another reason the city widened it, for all those crazy biking-in-the-rain loving Oregon commuters that worked at HP. I agree that the Circle/99W intersection sucks! ODOT really screwed up with all those pavement height changes too!

[Tunnelcat]

Out of curiosity, I wonder who came up with the stupid \"pump the brakes\" winter driving tip years ago? Every once in awhile, I hear someone spout that ridiculous and dangerous tip.

[Top Gun]

I think it's only supposed to apply to vehicles without anti-lock brakes. You apply pressure until the wheels start to lock up, ease up, and repeat.

[fliptw]

Threshold breaking: basically applying the brakes till the point of sliding, then backing off, applying again and so forth.

It takes practice to do right. To anyone else who is in a car when the above happens, and doesn't know about it, it looks like the driver is \"pumping the brakes\".

So it comes from the time before anti-lock brakes. If your car has anti-lock brakes, never pump them.

[Tunnelcat]

I think it's only supposed to apply to vehicles without anti-lock brakes. You apply pressure until the wheels start to lock up, ease up, and repeat.

That should be called 'modulating' your braking, not 'pump the brakes'. Do you know how many idiots actually think it means 'stomp and release'? I used to watch a friend of mine take the 'pump the brakes' advice literally. She'd actually stomp and release over and over, never actually trying to feel when the wheels were letting go. We got a few 360's until she learned what was proper.

Actually, shouldn't you be modulating your braking with both types of brake systems? I have 2 cars and only one has anti-lock brakes. I use them both with subtlety and feedback. The only difference in feel is the anti-lock system will pulsate when the wheels start to slip, whereas if your foot is too heavy with the other type, a slide will start, in which case you ease up.

I was just wondering who started the 'pump the brakes' bad advice in the first place? Every once and awhile, some idiot reporter at a news station will say it. Ice braking is not a bang-bang type of input.

[Octopus]

My dad grew up in the mountains in New Mexico. He is VERY good at driving on ice and snow. But he moved to Dallas Texas, and now refuses to go on icy roads unless it's an emergency. I asked him about this when I was a kid and he told me, "It doesn't matter that *I* know how to drive on ice, no one ELSE here does."

I love Texas be we are wusses when it comes to weather. We freak out at the sign of it.

[Kilarin]

I love Texas be we are wusses when it comes to weather. We freak out at the sign of it.

Heh. Yep. We close schools on days that the folks in Ohio would consider really GOOD weather.

[Ferno]

Threshold breaking: basically applying the brakes till the point of sliding, then backing off, applying again and so forth.

This technique is actually called Cadence Braking. Threshold Braking is when you apply pressure to the point of lockup, backing off to the point when the wheels start to turn.. and holding that pressure.

[woodchip]

I just aim for a snow bank and hope for the best.

[shaktazuki]

Try not to aim for the snow banks with deposits of gold...

[Tunnelcat]

Cadence, threshold or modulated braking is all semantics if you don't have the common sense to learn how to drive in the snow and ice! News reporters that tell idiots to 'pump the brakes' to stop in the ice only make a bad situation worse!

I find driving in Colorado and Oregon only dangerous because of the noobs from southern climes that move here, have never seen a snowflake in their lives, and will try to drive on it first thing! You never want to drive the first day it snows around here for that reason. AAAHHHHH!

[Ferno]

Cadence, threshold or modulated braking is all semantics

no it's not. they're two very different techniques.

[Top Wop]

With 5+ inches of snow falling over night, all season tires are worth crap. Most people also tend to beleive all season tires will work in winter even if 50% or more of the tread is gone. Once 30% of all season tread is gone it's no longer good for winter. Buying winter tires will also save your regular tire use.

I've driven through a ★■◆● load of snow in all winter tires and made it just fine. If there is a foot of snow on the ground and the roads aint plowed its best to stay at home and find another day to get your milk and bread.

[Canuck]

That's three times a week here, guess you would be out of a job and starve if you moved here.

[Lothar]

I find driving in Colorado and Oregon only dangerous because of the noobs from southern climes that move here, have never seen a snowflake in their lives, and will try to drive on it first thing! You never want to drive the first day it snows around here for that reason. AAAHHHHH! :P

Yep. My rule for Colorado snow driving was: first snow of the year, stay home. Second snow of the year, it's safe, since all the cali/texas transplants either wrecked or got scared straight.

Here's another classic slippy-slidey video from Portland:


Here in Seattle, we have about 6-8" of snow on the ground. My complex is on a fairly steep hill -- about 100' rise over the 1200' from the stop sign. It's pretty slushy, but there's enough sand to have made it passable. The hardest part of my drive today was getting out of the parking lot. At one point this morning we had 15 people taking turns with the 2 shovels we collectively owned, removing snow in big chunks to get enough clear pavement to let people get out of the complex. After 3 hours, we could finally get out, and I put in another hour and a half of shoveling once I got back to help some other people get their cars loose.

Winter driving tips:

1) go slow. Getting there late is better than getting stuck in a ditch. Better yet, if you don't have to make the trip, don't drive at all!

2) don't come to a complete stop unless you absolutely have to; roll through stop signs if there's nobody coming. This keeps you from having to start back up, but more importantly, it keeps you from creating a slick spot for the next person.

3) Test the slickness of the roads right away... on a straight stretch, give the gas and/or brakes a little push so you can see how your car responds. Know what you're dealing with.

4) Plan your route carefully. Know where the nasty spots are and how to avoid them if at all possible.

5) Your panic reflex is to slam on the brakes. That's very often the wrong response in the snow; stopping your tires when they have no traction just means you have no steering. Get the car under control by letting off the gas and steering into the skid, and then slow down / steer / whatever.

6) Have the right equipment in your car to handle whatever you might face. Emergency food and blankets are good. A bag of salt or sand can help. Have a traction mat, a spare blanket, or a bit of cardboard to help you get traction. Chains or winter tires are a good thing to have available as well.

[Tunnelcat]

LOL Lothar, I remember that video on the TV news last year. They never showed the whole thing though. Thanks.

It was clear in the TV version that the first car shown going around the intersection in circles was putting a lot of power to the wheels. The idiot was stepping on the gas the whole time, didn't even try to touch the brakes or even take the foot off of the gas, until finally hitting that last curb and sliding backwards downhill into more cars! You could barely see the wheels spinning and throwing street snirt rearward when they were circling the intersection!

TIP: If you start to slide in the snow, DON'T HIT THE GAS AND HOLD IT!

We've been lucky here in Corvallis, OR. It's been a little banana belt for the last few days, above freezing and melting out the 4 inches of drifted snow from last week. However, now it's below freezing, the streets are frozen and it's lightly snowing, AGAIN!.

[Top Wop]

That's three times a week here, guess you would be out of a job and starve if you moved here.

Im not the one having trouble getting around.

[Grendel]

Oops, missed this one. Better late than never..

Do you live in the hills Grendel, or in flatland?

The flat south (-east), fairly close to 99 (3 blocks.) Not too big a deal to get in & out of town. Streets are free, piece of cake getting my cats to the vet today. Well, at least I don't have 5" of water in my backyard -- yet