Winter Weather Driving Safety Tips for Snow and Ice

Learning to steer out of a skid at the Porsche Winter Driving School. Photo by Evelyn Kanter (c)

Winter driving requires more space between you and the vehicle ahead, more attention to changeable road conditions, more attention to the speedometer, and more time to get to your destination safely.  Winter driving also requires less speed on icy or slick roadways, less dependence on technology like anti-lock brakes and traction control, and less trust of other drivers.

Here are some rules of the road to help prevent spin-outs and accidents driving on snow, ice and other winter conditions:

Slow down.  The bigger your vehicle and the faster you are traveling, the more distance you will need to stop. Expect to need as much as ten times more distance to stop in bad weather. 

Photo courtesy AAA

Accelerate and brake gently. Everything takes longer on icy and snowy roads. Start and stop slowly and smoothly to maintain traction. The only exception is when you are skidding out of control. If your vehicle has ABS brakes, jam on those brakes fast and hard, and keep your foot down firmly, to activate the system. The grinding noise tells you it’s working.

Watch the thermometer. Temperatures right around freezing are especially dangerous, because wet snow and ice are more slippery than the frozen solid variety. Most dangerous of all is so-called black ice, a thin veneer of ice on an otherwise dry road. It is not visible, and you can spin out without knowing why. Be aware at dips in the road and other shady spots, bridges and overpasses, where melt-down can freeze while the rest of the road is only wet.