Driving in a Winter Wonderland

If you live in the northeast, it's a good bet you woke up today to a sight that many drivers dread: ice. I dread it, too. Not because I'm frightened of driving in slippery conditions, but because of the countless drivers on the road who are either too timid and should not be out, or are too bold and refuse to take the proper precautions.

People who know me well know that there are few conditions that I will not drive in. I've been doing it for a long time, and I've done it in many different cars. There are still times when even I will hesitate. But, if you follow a few easy suggestions, you, too, can be more confident and safer in the white stuff.

Consider this a drivers's public service announcement.

Visibility is Key

Photo Credit: Michael Cook

The worst road conditions are the ones you can't see. Not seeing branches, ice patches, or even pedestrians because you failed to clear your car is the definition of reckless.

Before you put your car in gear, make sure that all four windows, the windshield, and rear window are clear. This is common sense, but when the snow and ice are coming down, it's often the first thing that people overlook.

When you're clearing the ice and snow, make sure to take a look at your windshield wipers and lights, front and rear. Wipers with a coat of ice on them won't work, and lights covered in 4 inches of snow are pretty useless. Now that you've made sure these things all work properly, make sure you turn them on!

Remember, with blankets of snow and ice falling at you, you have enough of a disadvantage already. You want every chance you can get to be aware while driving.

Slow and Steady

....will get you home safe.

Slippery roads can slow your reactions, magnify steering and pedal inputs, and ultimately remove control over 4,000 lbs of metal, plastic, rubber, and combustible liquids. You can't always avoid problems, but you can minimize the risks and the potential damages.

For those people who currently drive, or ever learned to drive a stick-shift car, think of it like operating the clutch. Let the clutch out smooth and even and everyone has a pleasant ride. Rush it, and it's going to get bumpy!

Driving in a snowy mess can be chaotic

Now, this isn't just about your speed. This applies to everything: the brake, accelerator, and steering wheel. If you stab at the brakes or gas pedal, the tires will lose what little traction they had. Turn the wheel too hard or fast, and you may quickly find yourself veering off course.

When roads are slippery, the biggest nemesis to forward momentum is torque. Torque, or twist, has been simply described as the force that pushes you back in your chair when a fast car accelerates from a stop. It is also the force that will most likely make your tires spin uselessly when you try to start driving in ice and snow. If you drive a stick-shift car, try to let the clutch out a little more slowly and drive in a higher gear. If you drive an automatic, try to use as little gas as you need and engage any "winter" or "economy" modes that your car has. And, if you are coming up on a steep uphill, try to use momentum to carry you up as much as possible, instead of slowing down at the base and trying to climb up.

The best bet is to stay as relaxed as possible. How do you stay relaxed? Try the "knuckle test". Look at your knuckles when your hands are on the wheel. Are they the same color as the falling snow? Then you're too tense.Ease up in the wheel, sit back in the chair a bit, and take a deep breath. Your motions will loosen up as you do, ensuring smoother driving and a safer trip.

Test the Road

Here's my biggest secret. When I get out of my driveway, and there's not a soul on my little back street, I hit the gas. Then, I slam the brake. Then, I turn the wheel quickly left and right.

YOU TOLD US NOT TO DO THAT!

This is as safe an environment as you will find, and you're going <I hope> no more than 25 mph. This is the perfect time to find out what the roads are like. If your car is getting some grip, you may feel a little slip when accelerating or turning the wheel, and the anti-lock brakes (ABS) should kick in. Dangerous signs would be the car veering off track left or right, or the back of the car trying to rotate, indicating a possible spin. If these maneuvers are not manageable, you may want to think about whether you really need to go out.

If you lose control

No matter how careful you are, if you drive on slippery roads, at some point your tires will lose their contact patch, costing you all grip, and causing the car to slide. What you do at this moment will dictate the outcome of the slide.

The first thing to do is stay calm. If you passed the "knuckle test", you're halfway there. A lot of times, a slide will happen on a straight road or freeway, where you feel as if the car got lifted up. The best thing you can do here is nothing. Lift your foot off the pedals and simply hold the wheel straight. Do not turn the wheel, do not hit the brakes. Your optimal outcome here is to simply slide through the patch and back to safer roads. If you do anything to upset the delicate balance, you will likely just change the orientation of the car from forward to sideways.

When approaching a turn, it is always best to slow down before turning the wheel. However, if you slide into a turn, or if you start to lose grip approaching a curve, all the rules stay the same as above except for one. Hit the brakes. Don't try to steer out. Just stand on that brake pedal.

Not steering may seem counter-intuitive. But, remember that your brakes only stop in the direction your car is facing. Once you turn the wheel, you will likely slide sideways, possibly spinning, making the brakes completely ineffective. The difference could be as dramatic as crumpling a bumper head-on in a guardrail versus broadsiding the guardrail at full speed.

I want to reiterate the importance of staying calm through this process. If you've been testing the roads, and staying comfortable, you should have some experience with sliding, and that's good. On its own, sliding is not dangerous, and doesn't even mean that you've lost control. Professional drift-racers make a career living on that edge. You also should be used to having your ABS kick in. For many people, the first time you feel the pulse of the ABS, it can be a little scary. But,with a little experience, you learn to appreciate its benefits.

Know Yourself and Your Equipment

You should get to know this icon 

If you've read through all of this and still know that you cannot or should not drive in certain weather conditions, then follow your gut. Your car is designed to give you every advantage that modern technology has to offer, from stability aids and traction control to anti-lock brakes and winterized tires (for more on tires and all-wheel drive see my previous post "Buy What You Love"). However, as much as you should trust your vehicle, you still need to trust yourself. And, if you have trouble trusting either component, then it's probably best to sit this one out.

Buy what you love

The decision to buy or lease a car is an intensely personal one. We all have our own reasons, and they can range from the emotional ("I like the “swooshy” lines of that car," or "I grew up with a Buick in the garage,") to the purely quantitative (highest MPG, biggest engine displacement). I’m okay with any of these reasons. Except for one. I have seen or heard many examples where people buy a car because they think they have to. These people are ceding their choice for some made-up mandate.

I’ll show you what I mean.

“Buy American”

This is probably my biggest pet peeve.

In the days following 9/11, a national mandate went around to support America by consuming American-made goods. This was a good idea. But more than a decade later, this mentality still has a foothold in some circles when looking at cars.

I’m going to start off and say that I don’t criticize anyone for buying a Chevy or a Ford. It’s the people who say, “I bought my Chevy to support America,” that drive me crazy. What they are effectively saying is that they look at a Ford Fusion and a Honda Accord, two cars that are comparable in almost every discernible category, and decide that the Ford is superior because it is “made in the USA.”

The problem is that it’s not. In fact, I look at these two cars and say that my money does more for America by buying the Accord, a car made in America, by American workers in the American Heartland (Marysville, Ohio) with parts that are sourced in America. Look at the sticker on that Fusion. It might as well say “hecho en Mexico.”  If you buy the car, you make sure that a factory employing Mexican workers stays open and Mexican parts suppliers can continue to operate. The only Americans that benefit from this sale are the shareholders who own Ford stock and the dealership that sold you the car.

Plenty of American cars are truly 100% American. And, likewise many cars sold under foreign nameplates are produced outside of the US. But, it really shouldn’t matter. I don’t buy my cars to make others happy, and I hope no one else does, either.

 “4 wheels are better than 2”

I’ve lived in the northeast for a long time. We know what a nor’easter means, and we coined the phrase “black ice”. When I got my license back in the 90’s, I learned how to drive in nasty weather, and have kept the lessons learned from back in the day with me. But with the increasing prevalence of all-wheel drive (AWD) cars, some people believe that they have found the cure for bad weather.

When a friend was preparing to buy a new car this summer, the requirements he listed were: Under $30K, heated seats, good cruising range, sedan, and AWD. Check, check, check, check….wait a second.

There are many more AWD cars on the market than there used to be, that’s true. But when you try to find sedans under $30K with AWD, you’ll find in a hurry that it’s slim pickins. What my friend was left with was a Subaru Legacy, a Fusion AWD that wasn’t available anyway, and a Mini Countryman. After driving the two that were available, he wasn’t happy. His options were to buy a car that didn’t make him happy or stretch and spend too much money to get something from Audi or BMW.

I made a radical suggestion: Skip the all-wheel drive.

I offered that by getting a front-wheel drive (FWD) sedan, he could have all the features he wanted for the price he wanted, and had the option of getting winter tires to handle the nasty weather. While he was skeptical at first, it didn’t take long before he was visiting an Acura dealership, testing a FWD TSX.

A basic Google search on winter tires will tell any interested person that these tires are designed not just for snow, but for colder temperatures and bad road conditions. They make the claim of offering more stability than AWD on traditional all-weather tires, and the ability to grip nearly as well in deep snow.

This week, my friend had his snow tires, mounted to a second set of wheels, put on his car. The total cost was about $1600 – less than the typical cost of upgrading from FWD to AWD (think BMW 3-series).  I’ll be curious to see how it goes. But the moral of the story is that he is driving a car that he enjoys and still finding that all of his basic needs were met.