Tips for Safe Winter Driving

Accelerate slowly to reduce wheel spin. If starting from a standstill on slick snow or ice, start in second gear if you have a manual transmission or gear-selectable automatic so that the vehicle is less likely to spin the tires.

Reduce your speed and drive smoothly. In slippery conditions, tires lose their grip more easily, affecting all aspects of your driving: braking, turning, and accelerating. Keeping the speed down will give you more time to react to slippage or a possible collision, and it will lessen the damage should things go wrong.

Allow longer braking distances. Plan on starting your braking sooner than you usually would in dry conditions to give yourself extra room, and use more gentle pressure on the brake pedal.

Don’t lock your wheels when braking. Locked wheels can make the vehicle slide or skid. If you have an older vehicle without an antilock braking system (ABS), you may need to gently apply the brakes repeatedly in a pulsing motion to avoid having them lock up the wheels. If your vehicle has ABS, simply depress the brake pedal firmly and hold it down. The shuddering sounds and pedal feeling are expected (don’t lift off the brake); the system is doing its job.

Do one action at a time when accelerating, braking, and turning. Asking a vehicle to do two things at once—such as braking and turning, or accelerating and turning—can reduce your control. When taking a turn on a slippery surface, for instance, reduce speed sufficiently, then slowly apply the brakes while the vehicle is still going straight.

Avoid sudden actions when cornering. A sudden maneuver—such as hard braking, a quick turn of the steering wheel, sudden acceleration, or shifting a manual transmission—can upset a vehicle’s dynamics when it’s taking a turn. Rapidly transferring the weight from one end or corner to another can throw a car off balance. In slick conditions, this can cause it to more easily go out of control.

Beware bridges and overpasses. They can freeze before the roads do.

Be ready to correct for a slide. Should the rear end of the vehicle begin to slide during a turn, gently ease off on the accelerator and turn the steering wheel in the direction of the slide. This will help straighten it out. Electronic stability control will also help keep control in a slide situation. But remember, safety systems may bend the laws of physics but they can’t overcome unwise decisions. If you’re turning and the vehicle keeps moving straight ahead, you may be tempted to turn even more. But it’s better to slow down and turn back straight for a moment until you can regain traction, then make your turn.

Don’t let four- or all-wheel-drive give you a false sense of security. 4WD and AWD systems provide extra traction only when accelerating. They provide no advantage when braking or cornering. Everyone has four-wheel brakes.

Be extra wary of other motorists. They may not be driving as cautiously as you, so leave extra space, avoid distractions, and be predictable, signaling clearly ahead of any turns or lane changes. If you feel you’re being "pushed" by someone wanting to go faster, pull over and let them go.

Don’t pass snow plows. The road is likely to be more treacherous in front of the trucks, and the added speed needed to complete the pass can risk sliding. Instead, hang back and let the trucks do their job. Don’t follow too closely because there’s a high risk of windshield-threatening pebbles being thrown up from sanding machines.