Driving
on
Snow
or
Ice
Most of the time, those places where your tires meet the
road probably have good traction.
However,
if
there is snow or ice between your tires and
the road, you can have
a
very slippery situation. You’ll
have a lot less traction or “grip” and will need to be
very careful.
What’s the worst time for this? “Wet ice.” Very
cold
snow or ice can be slick and hard to drive on. But wet
ice
can be even more trouble because
it
may
offer the
least traction
of
all. You can get wet ice when it’s about
freezing
(32 OF;
0
’
C)
and freezing rain begins to fall.
Try
to
avoid driving on wet ice until salt
and
sand crews
can get there.
Whatever, the condition
--
smooth ice, packed, blowing
or
loose
snow
--
drive with caution. Accelerate gently.
Try not to break the fragile traction.
If
you
accelerate
too
fast,
the drive wheels will spin and polish the surface
under
the
tires
even more.
Unless you have the anti-lock braking system, you’ll
want to brake very gently,
too.
(If
you
do
have anti-lock,
see “Anti-Lack” in the Index. This system improves
your
vehicle’s stability
when
you
make
a
hard
stop
on
a
slippery road.) Whether you have the anti-lock braking
system or not, you’ll want to begin stopping sooner than
you would on dry pavement.
Without
anti-lock brakes,
if
you
feel
your
vehicle begin
to
slide, let up on the
brakes a little.
Push
the brake pedal down steadily
to
get
the most traction
you
can.
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