According to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, there are over 150,000 car crashes each year due to snowy road conditions. Over 1300 deaths and 116,000 injuries occur each year due to snowy and icy conditions. Over 70% of the U.S. population live in areas that see snow every winter and nearly 24% of all winter car accidents are due to snow and ice.
It is important to know how to handle yourself in snow or ice. In fact, Finland has some of the best racer drivers around the world because of their strict requirement for getting a regular drivers license. In order for a Finnish person to receive their license, they need to show the instructor that they can handle themselves in slippery conditions. They are required to know how to drift, how to recover from a slide, and how to perform other tasks that American drivers could only dream of. Here are the basics that even a 15 year old Finnish teenager would understand.
1. Snow Tires
Installing Snow, or Winter Tires, is the most impactful thing you can do to improve driving in snow. These Snow Tires are made up of a different rubber compound that performs best in cold temperatures under 50 degrees Fahrenheit. In fact, if you try to drive in warmer weather with Winter Tires, you will notice poor traction, wobbly handling, and increased tire squeal. Ask me how I know. In addition to the different compound, snow tire tread patterns are designed to push water and snow out the sides of the tire.
Snow tires make a world of difference. I purchased my 2012 Mazda2, a 2300 lb little front wheel drive hatchback, in February of 2015. With the “light” snow we received early February, I quickly found out how bad my car was in snow. I was losing traction and sliding around the road with less than 1″ inch of snow. I purchased a set of Dunlop Winter Maxx tires and mounted them on for less than $400. Suddenly, I was plowing through 8 inches of snow without ever losing traction. I felt invincible.
Ever notice how police don’t have much trouble with snow, even though their Crown Vic’s and Chargers are Rear Wheel Drive? Rear wheel drive is the worst configuration to have in snow. Using winter tires or “skinnier” tires have made a huge difference for police officers around the nation. They are worth the investment if you live in an area that sees snow every year.
2. Keep Your Distance
The term “Car Length” refers to the distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. One Car Length is equal to roughly 15 feet. For example, you are considered tail gating if you are driving at highway speeds within two car-lengths (within 30 feet) of the vehicle in front of you. Most driving manual’s will tell you to distance yourself one car length for every 10 miles per hour. If you are driving 60 miles per hour, you should be six car lengths, or 90 feet behind the vehicle driving in front of you. Almost no one follows this rule, but you can see it programmed into self-driving technology with automatic cruise control. Our Subaru’s EyeSight system does not let us get too close to the vehicle in front of us. It always maintains its distance automagically.
When it comes to cold, wet, or icy conditions, you really need to Double your Car Lengths at the minimum. Cold temperatures under 50 degrees Fahrenheit will greatly affect the braking performance and traction ability of your summer tires. Under 35 degrees Fahrenheit? Your All Season Tires will start to lose their effectiveness. After snow tires, keeping your distance is the safest way to drive in snow.
3. Know When and How To Brake
When dealing with rain, snow, or ice, the key to driving safe is to drive smooth. To stop safely, you need to slow down slowly. Don’t ever slam the brakes. Being sudden with your brake movements can easily cause your tires to lose traction. If you ever watched professional automotive racing or if you tried indoor go-kart racing, you may have noticed that it is never a good idea to step on the brake while you are turning.
Avoid braking while turning at all costs. Braking during a turn will send too much force to your right or left front tire (depending on which way you are turning), and that tire will lose traction. Your car will slide in a fashion known as “Understeer”. Understeer happens when your car does not turn as tight as you are expecting it to. It happens when you lose traction in your front wheels while turning. It is what causes many drivers to drive off a cliff or into a tree.
Instead, downshift to a lower gear and let your engine coast the car to a stop. Brake ahead of time while you are driving straight, then turn after you are done braking. If your car was made after 2010, it likely came with ABS standard. ABS stands for Automatic Braking System. It rapidly pumps the brake for you if it senses that you lost traction. It can be scary when ABS is activated because it feels like the car is breaking. ABS often makes weird banging noises, but it is completely normal. If your car does Not have ABS, make sure to softly and repeatedly pump the brakes when you try to come to a stop. If you break traction, you do not want to keep your foot down on the brake. Try not to panic and just keep pumping the brakes until you safely come to a stop.
4. Knowing When and How To Accelerate
You just learned about Understeer. Ever heard of Oversteer? Oversteer happens when you lose traction in your rear wheels turning you more than you were expecting. Think Donuts or Drifting. Oversteer is common in Rear Wheel Drive vehicles. In fact, there are thousands of Ford Mustang Memes and videos showing Mustang’s oversteering into crowds of people or other vehicles.
Oversteer happens when you apply too much power while turning the steering wheel. To get to the point, you should NEVER brake OR accelerate while you turn, especially in unfavorable road conditions. Braking while turning will cause understeer. Accelerating while turning in a front wheel drive car will cause understeer. Accelerating while turning in a Read Wheel Drive car will cause oversteer.
Instead, accelerate slowly when you are nearly done turning. Shift to a higher gear so that less torque goes to your drive wheels as you accelerate. As someone who drives a stick shift vehicle, I start off accelerating in 2nd gear when there is rain or snow. My 1st gear has too much torque to give my car traction in wet or cold conditions. You don’t need a stick shift car to do this. All Automatic Transmissions have a “L”(low) gear option along with 2nd and 3rd gear options to help you get out of low traction situations.
5. Knowing How To Recover After Losing Control
Recovering from a skid is very simple, but can be difficult to do when you panicking. Try not to panic and simply turn in the opposite direction of the slide. Try to match the angle of the turn so that your front wheels are always facing straight ahead. See the diagram provided by Haynes.com below.
Summary
Practice these five snow driving techniques in an empty parking at slow speeds. Remember that you can still get into an accident when practicing in a parking lot so BE CAREFUL. An AWD Subaru WRX driver learned the hard way and someone filmed it. This popular Youtube video was filmed down the street from my house at a place called Philadelphia Mills Mall.
