Snow Driving Tips and Techniques

^This

 

stay away from ice, had a very bad accident back on New Years Eve 1980 and don't venture out on it, now snow i love to drive in..just take it easy and don't lock up your brakes if you start sliding down hills, throw it in neutral and gently apply brakes...i know there will be disagreement on neutral but i grew up in a low area and the only way to get home was down 2 big hills and neutral worked better than low since your drivetrain is still engaged and pushing the truck forward.

 

Stay home and have a beer or 2 maybe 3.

 

As a NH native, you speak the truth!

 

Yeah, this too!!

 

We drive on crappy roads around here all the time.
My best advice is just S_L_O_W down.

 

Wow ... this is a great discussion and lots of good advice here ... Obviously comb through the notes here and make a mental checklist.

That said, as has been pointed out, all snow is not the same. I drive from upstate NY to northern Quebec (think Gaspe where it snows like you cannot imagine). That is a wet and heavy snow. I know how to drive on that as I have been doing it for years. I am not sure I would drive where that video is ... it would scare the bleep out of me. Sometimes a lot of snow is easier to drive in than a few inches of compacted, hard snow with ice underneath.

Since there are so many good comments here, I will only throw out three. I agree with everyone, weight in the back, chains, pump the breaks, etc.

1) Consider studded tires. That would have helped many of those drivers. I know they are not allowed in a lot of places but if you can have them get studded tires. Worth their weight in gold.

2) Watch the gas! I watched that whole video and it was scary! In my opinion all of those people were driving way way way too fast !

3) If all else fails, take your foot off the gas and drive with one tire on the road and one tire on the shoulder where there are those ruts that will give you some traction. Sometimes there are rocks or dirt. I would not do that on the highway, obviously, and I would be very careful but I've done some tough streets roads with my right tire about a foot off the right (even when there is snow there piled up). It can slow you down and can also give you traction. Just throwing that out there as something to think about. Not all the time but in some cases.

Side note, who were the people parked at the end of road? What a crazy place to park !

 

Note the white pickup at 0:30 - when his brakes are locked up and the front wheels are turned, it just keeps moving in the direction that momentum was carrying it. As soon as the brake was released and the wheels rotated the truck turned left. Subtle but important thing to note.

 

Suggest if you don't have experience, then stay home until the roads are clear.

If you insist on going out. Learn how to drive without using brakes, throttle control (gentle control), learn how to counter steer out of a slide, learn how to power thru a slide with counter steering. Learn how to get unstuck, you will get stuck. Above all, the other drivers on the road don't have control either. Speed is not your friend. Keep extra distance between you and other vehicles.

Practice in an empty parking lot. Begin in 2WD. Get 2wd down, then go to 4wd. The 2 drives will make the truck behave differently. Do donuts, force slides, stops, starts, different speeds...... watch the light poles. They can really cave in a door.

Remember, the anti-lock brakes are your friend. Don't worry about "pumping" the brakes, the ABS will be quicker than you. If the ABS fires, don't back off the brake, just hold the same pressure. Let the brakes work.

A sliding wheel has less traction than a rolling wheel. A physics thing about the difference between dynamic and static friction.

 

Don't be an idiot, go slow, don't cut people off (mind their longer stopping distance), reduce lane changes. When in a safe stretch without others, tap your brakes to get a feel for the road. Slow and straight is the best way to stay on the road. Never forget mother nature will still own your 4x4 truck without notice.

Think of slush like driving through really thick water, your tires have to push all that material out to reach the ground. Same problem as hydroplaning just happens at much slower speed.

4x4 can reduce the risk of your rear end breaking free and pulls in the direction of your steering. But normally all 4 wheels stop you... so don't expect some magical improvement in slowing down. ABS should give you a tiny bit of steering. Just remember to keep steering in direction of travel if you start to slide, otherwise catching traction again will cause you to f* off.

Freezing rain and sheets of ice - just don't. Find any place to stop moving where other idiots cannot slam into you.

 

^2nd^

 

Slow down, look well ahead/behind and get blizzaks! I have got in the habit of watching the roof or hood line of the car behind me when at a stop light etc. Helps me detect if theyre sliding.

 

True dat

 

Enough said

 

That was pretty icy snow for them to be sliding like that.

 

What

What he said. Snow slow down. Ice, find a safe place way out of harm and wait it out. Don't ask me how I know.

 

When it's that icy, why not just use chains? What if you come back at night and it's all frozen over?

 

You can use chains if you have to get through. Just take it super easy. I am talking under 30 mph.

 

It’s almost as bad as driving in sloppy clay, only not as bad. But that's not much help if you’ve never driven on that either.

Moreover, you’ll get great suggestion here from this great bunch, they are experts and it’s why they drive Tacoma. That said, the only advice I maybe able to contribute here besides slowing down, is to gain momentum when climbing up hill.

And whatever you do don’t stop midway or someone’s gonna ram your butt.

Have FuN in it!

 

The snow in the Dakotas is typically pretty dry and fluffy. Where people run into problems is late winter early spring - late wall early winter where the moisture content goes up. This and coupled with day time heating and nigh time freezing makes for compacted snow that turns into ice.

My experience in Nor-Cal was it was typically wet and heavy. It was a lot more slippery all through winter.