Topic: Winter Driving Tips : Collection

[aquadorhj]

maybe we all could chip in some learned knowledge about winter driving (and maybe Autos.ca could pick some good ones and make that into an article for more broad audience?  )

of course,  Winter tire   is a given so i'll skip that.

0. safety first.  keep blanket, emergency food, flare/flashlight, small shovel, battery booster cable, first aid kit in the trunk.

1.  drive just little bit slower than you think you should!  (and try to leave left lane open.) but if there's a long line up behind, you might be going too slow.

2.  leave lots of distance between your car and car in front.  stopping on ice is a long process.

3.  try not to come to a complete stop on snow or ice when you are facing up hill!!! otherwise you will be stuck there or roll back down.

4. if you are facing a stretch of snow drifts covering the road and you MUST get across it, don't slow down while you are in the snow.  (only when you actually know the road exists underneath the snow.)

5. don't change lanes un-necessarily.  and especially when lane markers are covered in snow, you can easily spin the car if lane changes happen abruptly over frozen compacted snow between the lanes.




wanna post your tips and tricks about winter driving?

[Fobroader]

-Traction aids, mats, sand, kitty litter and a small, collapsible shovel might be the difference between driving home or staying there
-All your inputs should be smooth, dont hammer on the gas, brakes or jerk the wheel
-For the love of god and all thats good, if you have 4x4...USE IT!!
-If you are in a winter storm, dont just blindly follow the guy in front of you....have heard and seen plenty of people follow the vehicle in front of them into the ditch
-Lights on....that means tailights as well
-Clean your hood off, all that snow blowing onto your windshield and into your heater intake could freeze your windshield
-Clean and scrape your windows, while you might like to fantasize you are Rommel riding across the sands of North Africa in your Tiger....not being able to see is bad.
-If you do end up in the ditch, make sure your exhaust pipe is clear and unobstructed...dont want to asphyxiate while waiting for CAA
-If the weather is really, really crap, re-evaluate the actual need for the trip
-Let people know where you are going
-Keep your phone charged/keep a phone charger in the car
-Also want to add, always plan an escape route. It saved me today, something happened ahead and I left enough time to go around it in the shoulder. If you cant stop you should be able to avoid.

[normancw]

Tow strap and know where your tow hook is and screws into.

[tpl]

Don't go out.    A minor joy of being out of the workforce is not having to be places on someones else schedule.  Yes of course there are exceptions but in balmy SW Ontario and NOT in either of the main snowbelts the problem doesn't arise that often.

And of course it IS what the police recommend in bad weather.

[Snowman]

Lots of good suggestions but tpl's is the best advice.

[Fobroader]

Don't go out.    A minor joy of being out of the workforce is not having to be places on someones else schedule.  Yes of course there are exceptions but in balmy SW Ontario and NOT in either of the main snowbelts the problem doesn't arise that often.

And of course it IS what the police recommend in bad weather.

My wife is really lucky that way in the winter, she can work from home via remote access to her companys server. Yeah, if I you can, by far the best advice.

[Northernridge]

I try hard to NOT drive in crash rush hour.

I also try to manage the distance between me and the guy behind me…world's longest slow down for red lights…I force the guy behind me to brake early and gradually. If I get to a light and there's no one behind I'll stop a couple car lengths from the guy in front to create a little run off.

Also, I'm finding I have to force myself to keep my courage up and stay on the gas in nice 4-wheel drifts in the Berlin taxi. That's another tip: Don't be chicken, stay on the gas.

[Fobroader]

That would be another good tip, take your vehicle to a deserted parking lot and play around with it, see what it does in drifts, know the limits.

[phazotron]

A lot of good points, here's a couple more:

-always have the fan running so you do not have the interior windows fogging up
-keep the windshield fluid tank topped up & keep a full jug in the car

[quadzilla]

I like to stop earlier than normal (3-4 feet) for stop signs just in case the corner has iced up.

[Black Hatch]

-Traction aids, mats, sand, kitty litter and a small, collapsible shovel might be the difference between driving home or staying there
-All your inputs should be smooth, dont hammer on the gas, brakes or jerk the wheel
-For the love of god and all thats good, if you have 4x4...USE IT!!
-If you are in a winter storm, dont just blindly follow the guy in front of you....have heard and seen plenty of people follow the vehicle in front of them into the ditch
-Lights on....that means tailights as well
-Clean your hood off, all that snow blowing onto your windshield and into your heater intake could freeze your windshield
-Clean and scrape your windows, while you might like to fantasize you are Rommel riding across the sands of North Africa in your Tiger....not being able to see is bad.
-If you do end up in the ditch, make sure your exhaust pipe is clear and unobstructed...dont want to asphyxiate while waiting for CAA
-If the weather is really, really crap, re-evaluate the actual need for the trip
-Let people know where you are going
-Keep your phone charged/keep a phone charger in the car
-Also want to add, always plan an escape route. It saved me today, something happened ahead and I left enough time to go around it in the shoulder. If you cant stop you should be able to avoid.

Those are all good suggestions.

[Patrick_D1]

I agree with Snowy and tpl; the best suggestion is to just stay home when the weather is truly terrible. I'm typically asked to come along on our winter testing programs as a driver, so I don't always get a choice. It's always an interesting experience to head into northern Quebec in a convoy of vehicles where 2-3 drivers are Korean engineers who may have never driven in snow before. I'm tasked with running sweep to keep speed in check, yelling over the radio as required.

If you're forced to drive in bad weather, there are two general rules I find more important than any other:

1) Speed appropriate for conditions. Evaluate visibility and traction (both current and predicted), manage speed accordingly. If visibility is truly poor, DO NOT STOP ON THE HIGHWAY. Keep moving, even if it's slowly. Last year I saw what happens when you stop in white-out conditions first-hand, witnessing 30+ vehicles pile into one another on the opposite side of the 401 during February's winter storm.

2) Maintain an appropriate following distance. Gauge how long braking distances will be, and keep other vehicles out of that envelope.

It's not rocket science.

[tenpenny]

Don't forget, feel free to clean the snow off your headlights and tail lights once in a while. 

[tpl]

I agree with Snowy and tpl; the best suggestion is to just stay home when the weather is truly terrible. I'm typically asked to come along on our winter testing programs as a driver, so I don't always get a choice. It's always an interesting experience to head into northern Quebec in a convoy of vehicles where 2-3 drivers are Korean engineers who may have never driven in snow before. I'm tasked with running sweep to keep speed in check, yelling over the radio as required.

If you're forced to drive in bad weather, there are two general rules I find more important than any other:

1) Speed appropriate for conditions. Evaluate visibility and traction (both current and predicted), manage speed accordingly. If visibility is truly poor, DO NOT STOP ON THE HIGHWAY. Keep moving, even if it's slowly. Last year I saw what happens when you stop in white-out conditions first-hand, witnessing 30+ vehicles pile into one another on the opposite side of the 401 during February's winter storm.

2) Maintain an appropriate following distance. Gauge how long braking distances will be, and keep other vehicles out of that envelope.

It's not rocket science.

From those old pics from the Korean 'police action'   Korea gets plenty of snow and cold weather....which does not, of course, mean that those engineers have ever had to drive in snow.

[opg210]

Good thread, lots of good advice here. Going through a rare storm here in cowtown I hope a lot of drivers new to winter read it. I actually love driving in these conditions, if you love the feeling of car control there's nothing like it. Miss my WRX though...

Other advice...mostly said but what I try to do:
- smoothness is critical
- keep your head on a swivel, be aware of what's going on all around you, speed of other cars, the guy behind you, the guy ahead
- don't trust anyone
- go to a snowy parking lot, learn the feel, try turning and accelerating, braking and turning, spinning the wheels, play with traction control settings, play with starting in 2nd gear, try accelerating hard, braking hard, try to feel the car slide, try to make it understeer and oversteer so you know what it feels like
- learn to rock a car
- try to get some fundamental understanding of a car's momentum, if you've never driven on low traction roads before!

[safristi]

I need tpl's Garmin co-ordinates...and the pubs and Curry houses he frequents....
i could get thru this 2014 Winter with LESS...but I go with the BEST....

[tpl]

I need tpl's Garmin co-ordinates...and the pubs and Curry houses he frequents....
i could get thru this 2014 Winter with LESS...but I go with the BEST....

43 81.        80 14

Fat Duck,Tanners (Acton), The Woolwich (when the students are not around)

Bollywood Bistro,Diwa in G and the Bombay Grill in Milton and my kitchen.


And where is the show and shine of your new car.... And the Lotus for that matter?? 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[rrocket]

Go to an empty parking lot an play "Formula Drift".  Good fun..and good practice.   

[X-Traction]

Don't rely on momentum to get up a hill if there's a good chance you won't make it.  Your traction may not be enough to keep you from sliding back down and appearing in funny YouTube videos.

Don't put your 4wd in locked mode on the highway.

[Fobroader]

Don't rely on momentum to get up a hill if there's a good chance you won't make it.  Your traction may not be enough to keep you from sliding back down and appearing in funny YouTube videos.

Don't put your 4wd in locked mode on the highway.

Ive been in a lot of situations where this was requiered....why do you say not to??