Driving through the Snow

By Catherine Powell

Image courtesy of wikimedia

With the holidays in full gear, the airwaves are filled with Christmas carols.  One of my favorites is Dashing Through the Snow.  Since that and White Christmas are the closest I’ll get to snow this year, I don’t have to worry about dealing with the trials and tribulations of those who live a little further north.  However, since some of my clients drive north to visit family or ski during the winter, I thought I’d take the time to write a blog about driving through the snow.

Make sure you’re prepared for the white stuff

Even if you’re going no further north than Atlanta, you could wind up seeing snow.  It isn’t unusual for northern Georgia to wind up with an inch or so of snow once or twice a year.  While an inch of snow does not a blizzard make, even that paltry amount can cause roads to wind up as slippery as a banana peel.  Since nobody in Florida has ever heard of a snow tire (the exception being displaced northerners), dealing with so much as a dusting of snow can be a challenge. 

Before you head north, you need to do an inspection, that includes several areas:

1.      Tire Check – If you’ve been waiting for a tire sale to replace the nearly bald set your vehicle now sports, don’t drive where it’s likely to snow.  Driving through snow on bald tires is asking for trouble.  Either spring for a new set of radials or make other holiday plans.  Nobody wants to wake up on Christmas morning in the ICU.

2.      Wiper Check – If heavy snow begins to fall or light flakes begin to blow, you will need a good set of wipers to be able to see the road ahead.  If it’s been more than a couple years since you’ve replaced your wipers, spend a few bucks now, rather than spending a lot more later when you wind up rear ending another vehicle because you couldn’t see what was ahead of you.

3.      Washer Check – Another thing you will need plenty of if you head north is windshield washer fluid.  Just make sure it’s the kind that won’t freeze solid when the weather drops into the teens. 

4.      Battery Check – In this case, you need to check two kinds of batteries: the one in your vehicle and the one on your cellphone.  If the one in your car is more than 3-4 years old, it may be on its last legs.  If you subject an old battery to bitter cold, you could find out that it will refuse to start your car when you need it most.  Better to take your car to your mechanic or an auto parts store to check the condition of your battery than wind up stranded because your battery gave up the ghost.  Make sure your cellphone is completely charged before you head north and take your car charger with you as well.  If you do wind up sliding off the road or getting stuck in a drift, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to call for help?

5.      Gear Check – Depending on how bad of a snowstorm you encounter, or whether your car drifts off the road into a ditch, make sure you bring plenty of gear that will allow you to spend the night hunkered down in your car.  While a cellphone is a kind of lifeline, depending on the amount of people calling for help, you could find yourself waiting hours or even overnight for help to arrive.  When I head north in the winter, I always pack blankets and pillows, extra food and water, a first aid kit and even a 1-burner camp stove just in case the worst comes to pass.

Driving Tips

Image courtesy of flickr

Unless you’re used to driving through snow and on ice, there’s nothing intuitive about it.  As soon as your tires lose traction, jamming on the brakes will only make matters worse. On snow and ice, you aren’t so much driving a car, you are piloting a toboggan. Trying to swerve in a winter wonderland will only serve to throw your vehicle into an uncontrolled spin that will only stop when you hit something stationary.  Here are some tips to help you deal with snow and ice:

1.      Speed is not your friend – If you normally have a heavy foot, you need to remind yourself easy does it when accelerating and decelerating on snow and ice.  Jump on the gas and you could quickly find yourself spinning around in a circle.  Also make sure you leave a lot more room between you and the vehicle ahead.  I mean a lot more room, like ten times the amount of distance you normally allow.

2.      Your car has gears for a reason – While most people seldom use any gears aside from Drive, Reverse and Park, should you encounter snow or ice, you may need to drop your car’s transmission into a lower gear to gain traction.  Especially if you find yourself in hill country, you don’t want to wind up being a downhill racer because you failed to downshift.  If your car comes equipped with Traction Control, turn it on before you head out onto snow or ice. 

3.      If you do start to slide, don’t panic – Don’t hit the brakes, simply take your foot off the accelerator.  Hopefully the tires will regain traction.  If the car starts to slip and slide, make small corrections with the steering wheel.  Sometimes you’ll need to make several small course corrections to get your car headed where you want to go.  If you do need to slow down, do so before you enter a sharp turn on snow, not after you’re in a turn that’s too hard to handle in slippery conditions.

4.      An understeer skid happens when the front tires lose traction and you are unable to complete a turn.  If this should happen, take your foot off the accelerator and make small adjustments with the wheel to try to regain traction to go where you want to go.  If you must hit the brakes, do so gently or you may cause the rear end to break away. 

5.      An oversteer skid is caused by the rear wheels losing traction where the back end of your vehicle starts sliding sideways.  In a rear-wheel drive vehicle, the best way to correct this is to take your foot off the gas and make small course corrections with the wheel to try to get your vehicle back on course.  In a front-wheel-drive vehicle, accelerate gently while making small course corrections to get back on course. The trick to surviving a skid on snow or ice is not to overcorrect or jam on the brakes, either of which can cause your car to spin out of control.

6.      If you find your car sliding on ice, turn your front wheels in the same direction that the rear of your vehicle is sliding.  Don’t hit the brakes since this will only make the slide worse.  Also, don’t overcorrect or you could completely lose control.

7.      Buy an ice scraper – No matter how good your heater is in your vehicle, if you stop at a rest stop or for a meal when it’s snowing, you could come back to an iceberg.  Unless you wish to sit there for an hour while the defroster melts the snow and slush from your windows, an ice scraper is far more efficient. 

Catherine Powell is the owner of A Plus All Florida, Insurance in Orange Park, Florida.  To find out more about saving money on your auto insurance, check out her website at http://autoinsuranceorangeparkfl.com/