Living in canada you get to see some nice winters! and also some idiot drivers... too many in my opinion. here are some myths and findings that i have found.

!st and probably well known:
lots of people out there still believe that all season tires are good enough for winter use. this may be the case for very mild winters but in reality, all seasons start to lose grip BEFORE it gets below freezing temperatures. all seasons are designed to be a bit softer than non winter tires but still become hard and lose ability to effectively grip the surface like the can when its warm out. dedicated winter tires improve traction and stopping immensely.

I remember on a family skiing trip a few years ago we had a flash white out that came in in less than 30 minutes. on the drive i counted over 20 vehicles in the ditch. only 2 of them were cars. the rest were 4X4 trucks and suvs. of these 4X4s 90% of them had flipped onto their roofs, which leads me to another misconception:
4X4 vehicles and AWD can drive winter conditions as if it were summer weather.
I have been surprised how many people believe this, even people who experience winter every year but never had a 4X4 before. fact is its always the same 4 wheels that bring you to a stop regardless of 2wd or 4wd. 4wd helps acceleration and in some cases cornering and traction.

*heres a new one i just learned*
in wet conditions when you stop seeing wheel spray from the vehicle in front of you, it is likely that black ice is starting to form or has already formed. this one is a killer of even the most experienced of drivers, and there isnt much that can be done if black ice is hit and control is lost. hard braking is a definite bad idea and in some circumstances you are better off to accelerate slightly. always steer to where you want to go and try to never over correct or make too sudden of movements.

one situation i read about in the news, there was a vehicle on the mountain roads that lost control and the back end started to slide out. there was a corner in front of them so they turned left to match the left corner but the back end was sliding to the right. they also braked further causing the back end to slide out and ended up over the edge.
now every situation is different and its impossible to say if it would have avoided the accident,but turning to the left to try and avoid the edge only worsened the situation and loss of control despite it being many peoples instinctive reaction.
all braking SHOULD in a perfect world be done BEFORE entering a corner and once you are in the middle of the turn accelerate to maintain traction and control, otherwise it is possible that the turning action overcomes your tires grip because they are not "actively" grabbing at the ground

My dad always told me to carry candles in my vehicle during winter because it will keep you alive. ive done some research on this and have found that one candle lit inside your vehicle creates enough heat just to keep you alive, now it doesnt stop hypothermia but it can prevent frostbite!

I hope everyone has a safe winter and remembers to keep a safe distance! my dad always said that its not his driving that scares him, its everyone else on the roads so be careful of everything, not just yourself!

 

thanks for posting that, you may well have saved a life or three.

 

i have a short winter check list. all fluids checked/full, 4 studded snow tires, tow strap and cell phone. unless i'm going on a road trip i dont worry about the extra food,coats..blah blah because in reality i'm in town it wont take long to get any sort of help if need be.


i drive pretty fast year round...but awesome tires make that much easier that and knowing what to expect in a winter driving situation 6 months of snow/ice covered roads does that to a person.


i personally cant wait for full on winter driving!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8t5l9nJ-fw

 

dont be so quick to assume... edmonton gets a good winter every year and common to get to -40 but it seems as if everyone forgets what snow and ice is and how to drive on it.... its disgraceful

 

oh i know, we go through the same thing every year. like they all forget how to drive! last week when we got a very light coating of snow..it froze over night making everything a ice rink. they had something like 55 wrecks that night. highways closed..i was still on summer tires and i was able to do 5 over the limit without a problem.

 

hahaha... ya, the other week when it was 25C i was seeing one crash every day and one day i saw 4... last year i got to watch, from a safe distance!, many crashes its terrible. driving smart, experience and knowing how to react are the most important things. good tires always helpand are vital but dont make up for experience or stupidity

 

You must have a way of deifying gravity and inertia, don't kill anyone out there.

 

Throw a sleeping bag or 2 and some water in there, it only takes a few minutes.............plus some canned food.

 

no not at all. just be smart about it. start braking sooner, slow smooth turns. if you loose traction turn into the slide and dont start braking like crazy. very easy to keep in control even at high speeds(80-100mph) on snow/ice you just have to pay close attention.

 

last winter i had a very reckless and stupid moment, i am a very confident driver but sometimes i make mistakes.

i was driving through the kootenay passes in the interior of BC on my way home from edmonton to basically vancouver. i had just worked 12 hours and had a 12 hour drive ahead of me so i didnt want to waste any time.(i had very few days off to visit family and friends) it started snowing heavily and within a short time it was a white out. ahead of me was a really slow chevy, but i couldnt pass him so i waited until finally i found a spot, where at the time it looked like i could pass him, so i did.

as soon as i hit the throttle i could feel my tires slip so i let off and gave it more gently. that should have been warning enough!
I got to 120km/hr and then i saw the lights of a semi round the corner that i didnt know was coming up so i cut back into my lane as the semi was closing in fast, i cut too hard and my back end slid hard right.

i tell you looking through the passenger window at a semi doing 120/hr is a very frightening situation! thankfully i knew how to handle losing control and not freak out or overreact. i steered into the drift but not too hard, did not brake at all just let off the throttle, and pulled out of my slide, then the back end kicked out ever so slightly to the left and i simply corrected for that and continued on driving.

scared the living **** outta me...
then i remembered when i first started driving my dad used to take me to empty parking lots during the winter, and i always loved 4X4ing in the mud, so i always learned right away how my vehicle handles when it slides out and loses control. i guarantee that if i had not taken the time to learn how to handle my vehicles by testing them in such a way that i would have hit that semi or the ditch. no doubt in my mind on that.

ALWAYS take the time to know your vehicle, learn how it reacts to different situations, different speeds, losing control in various ways. doing this helps you keep calm cause you know how to react when it happens for real.

 

lol OK I'll remember all that.

 

What I watch for with black ice is for the tire tracks to quit. In rain when it's warm, you can always see tire tracks from vehicles as the water shoots out from under the tire. When it turns to ice the tracks go away and the road stays shiny. The tire spray thing is wrong. You can still have water on top of the ice causing wheel spray.

 

I would just go slow so the ice is easier to negotiate when it comes up. Black ice is just clear ice with the blacktop showing through. A lot of people go too fast in bad conditions and a couple minutes gained means nothing compared to a wrecked vehicle.

Hurry up and get home so we can watch TV!.......

 

Being a confident/capable driver is fine, but it's the unexpected that changes things (like other drivers). Going 5 over in the snow or ice is fine until you have to stop way short of what you thought you did.

Another thought, the faster you are going, the more damage you and your vehicle will suffer in a crash (like when someone runs a light at an intersection). That 5 MPH could make the difference between a repairable X or a totalled X.

 

were you in 2wd? thats a huge issue right there. i stay locked in 4x4 all winter long unless its warm out and pavement is showing. then its only in 2wd for sharp turns or parking lots. i have seen more people go off the road in a 4x4 because they thought it would be fine or save them gas to run in 2wd on the highway...first time they go up a hill or go to pass the rear end steps out and they loose it. i dont take chances and it stays in 4x4.


i'm a fast driver always have been always will be. do i take precautions and do 5-10 over as safely as possible yes. out of all the wrecks i've been in, only one was my fault and it was a 5mph summer time fender bender.

i have never driven in winter conditions in the lower 48 but from the sounds of things its a whole different world compared to AK. we will run 70 on the highway all winter long bumper to bumper without much worry. you are correct its easier for bad stuff to happen but its just how we do things.

driving in alittle snow - YouTube


stay safe guys